Medeiros’ Positive Test May Be Result Of Paperwork Error, Per Report

The positive doping test from Brazilian Olympic Team member Etiene Medeiros may be the result of an error in her paperwork for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) on an asthma drug, according to a Brazilian reporter.

According to BestSwimming.br, Medeiros tested positive for the substance fenbuterol, which is used to treat asthma. Medeiros also scratched out of the Mare Nostrum series last week based on complications associated with asthma.

Now Alex Pussieldi, a coach who covers swimming for BestSwimming.br, has said via Twitter that Medeiros’ positive test appears to be the result of a mistake in registering the substance in her anti-doping paperwork.

“The Etiene Medeiros doping case seems an easy resolution,” a rough translation of his tweet (written in Portuguese) says. “It was a mistake in filling out the TUE – Therapeutic Use Exemption.”

Athletes who take prescribed medication to deal with conditions like asthma are allowed to file for TUEs in their anti-doping paperwork. Those medications can contain substances that are otherwise banned, but if an athlete can prove they require that medication to treat a medical issue, they can be given a therapeutic use exemption and be allowed to have the substance in their system.

Pussieldi also tweeted that the Brazilian swimming federation was likely to issue a statement today, and that Medeiros’ lawyer, Marcelo Franklin, has proven capable in these types of cases in the past.

Medeiros was in line to swim the 50 free, 100 free and 100 back at the home Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this summer. She could now be facing a suspension that takes her out of commission for those Olympics.

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Steve Nolan
7 years ago

A certain drug is prohibited in general athletes, because it aides in performance. That drug is allowed for other athletes because, medically, it aides their performance.

Hokay!

In other news, doping control agencies are worthless: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/16/sports/olympics/world-anti-doping-agency-russia-cheating.html

Crawler
7 years ago

Fenoterol is a prohibited substance because it is an anabolic (steroidal) agent. Medeiros will be defended by the same Brazilian lawyer who got Cielo off the hook.

G.I.N.A.
7 years ago

#UNDOCUMENTED

Irish Ringer
Reply to  G.I.N.A.
7 years ago

Always provocative 🙂

bobby gan
Reply to  Irish Ringer
7 years ago

I like Gina.
S/he is the most entertaining commenter here… by a long shot. Her comments are painfully incisive and yet so terribly funny!

MarkB
7 years ago

Here we go again… Never, never, NEVER the athletes fault!

spectatorn
7 years ago

does TUE expire? when is the last time she has a TUE for this substance or this is a new drug she is taking? Just wondering about the facts and the claim of error in TUE paperwork.

Attila the Hunt
Reply to  spectatorn
7 years ago

From the above article:
“…failure to register the substance in her anti-doping paperwork.”

Basically, she tested positive, and only after that she remembered she was supposed to register the drug for TUE. This is not gonna hold up.

commonwombat
Reply to  Attila the Hunt
7 years ago

Not necessarily, it is usually a team doctor or the like who fills in this paperwork. IF she has a previous history of TUE’s for this particular med which have expired, then there are precedents to suggest that she may get off. If, however, there isn’t such a history then your scenario comes into play

Crawler
Reply to  commonwombat
7 years ago

It seems to me that her real problem is that the drug she took, fenoterol, not only dilates the brochial airways, as an anti asthmatic prescription should, but also raises the EPO and helps build muscles.

Assuming she was asthmatic, as seemingly many high level athletes are when they are caught, can her defense be (besides the paperwork) that the doping substance also worked for asthma?

It seems to me that swimming is quickly getting caught up into the same doping excesses that have ensnared other sports, and it must decide which way it is heading.

spectatorn
Reply to  commonwombat
7 years ago

it would be interesting to hear whether there was a prior TUE for this substance for her. Otherwise, kind of suspicious that she were caught in an unannounced out-or-competition testing (while she has competed multiple times this year), and then pull out in June siting asthma issue that seems to work too well for her story.

TAA
Reply to  spectatorn
7 years ago

Based on the length or her career she should have a 5 or 6 year history of filing the TUE assuming she is a lifelong asthma patient. If thats the case and she made a mistake I think she gets off with a warning. I would like to hear her side of the story, her history with asthma, what other drugs she lists on the TUE form etc. Right now I have put her name on the naughty list next to Efimova

Crawler
7 years ago

The Folha de São Paulo reports that she tested positive for both A and B samples on May 8. According to the same paper, the drug action, besides dilating the bronchial passages, is to produce EPO and anabolic processes ( in clear, build up muscles).

A big blow to Brazil. It will be interesting if she can evade suspension as Cielo did.

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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