WADA Chairman Wants to Investigate Jones

yeahright

yeahright

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New York Times
September 10, 2006

WADA Chairman Wants to Investigate Jones
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:08 p.m. ET

LONDON (AP) -- World Anti-Doping Agency chairman **** Pound wants to investigate why Marion Jones' backup sample came up negative, clearing her of a positive doping test.

The ''B'' sample from the 30-year-old sprinter did not detect the banned endurance enhancer EPO, her attorneys said Wednesday. That means her initial positive result is thrown out. She was tested after winning the 100 meters at the U.S. track and field championships on June 23.

Pound said he found the inconsistent tests ''disturbing.''

''We are going to see how that happened, learn from it, and try to make sure it doesn't happen in the future,'' Pound told BBC Radio on Sunday. ''The worry we have is that someone is misinterpreting things or doing things wrong.

''I suppose if our experts look at it and say on the basis of what we have seen there is no question it should have been positive, we have an opportunity to put that into play.''

One of Jones' attorneys, Howard Jacobs, criticized Pound's remarks.

''From what I have heard from our experts ... it was borderline positive to start with, so although it is very unusual, I cannot say I was shocked by it,'' Jacobs told the same BBC program. ''I would assume if the 'B' was negative, you have to assume that the 'A' was the mistake. Marion is very clear she has never taken performance-enhancing drugs and I think people should accept that.''

Jones dominated athletics in the late 1990s. At the Sydney Games, she became the first woman to win five Olympic medals -- taking gold in the 100, 200 and 1,600 relay, and bronze in the long jump and 400 relay.

Since then, her reputation has suffered. She is one of several athletes who testified to the federal grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative. Her ex-husband, C.J. Hunter, and BALCO founder Victor Conte have accused her of using banned substances, allegations she has denied.
 
jomi822

jomi822

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the EPO test is not a simple "positive" or "negative". The machine prints out an ink-blot like reading, and its up to the tester to decide if the ink-blot means positive or negative.

lets be serious

also, up to an hour after strenuous exercise EPO levels are high enough to cause a positive result in some cases. she probably did use something, but i think that WADA's tests fail to factor in that they are dealing with the world's top atheltes, of course their hormonal and chemical makeup is going to be superior to that of youre average joe. common sense

im surprising atheletes are just saying "**** it" at this point and quitting.
 
yeahright

yeahright

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''I suppose if our experts look at it and say on the basis of what we have seen there is no question it should have been positive, we have an opportunity to put that into play.''

This is the part that disturbed me. From my understanding, the WADA rules state that if a B sample is ruled negative, then the athlete is cleared. Period.

Here, he seems to imply a "do over" analysis where if a second set of experts believes the first set interpreted the results wrong, "we have an opportunity to put that into play."

She's such a stunning athlete and so intimately associated with people who have been caught doping, that everyone assumes she has been (I do).....but it disturbs me to see the goalposts being moved on someone. Set-up rules, publicize them and live by them. If you find the rules inadequate, you change them prospectively not retroactively.
 

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