A pair of Indonesian swimmers have received three-month suspensions after positive tests at the 2013 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games that took place in Incheon, South Korea in late June/early July.
Indra Gunawan will have to forfeit his gold medal from that meet, won in the 50 short course meters breaststroke (27.29). He is currently training in Hungary, according to Indonesian news site Liputan6, and said “Any decision LADI (the Indonesian Anti-Doping Agency) makes, I will appreciate and obey.”
Guntur Pratama, who took a silver medal as part of Indonesia’s men’s 200 free relay and a bronze on the 400 free relay, will receive the same suspension.
Both positive tests have been blamed on methylhexaneamine in the supplement JACK3D. Methylhexaneamine is a vasoconstrictor which can make the blood vessels more narrow. This is seen as a potential advantage in periods of training, as it can force muscles to become more efficient.
The Indonesian swimming federation says that it will begin keeping closer tabs on what supplements its athletes are taking.
The three-month suspensions will leave both swimmers eligible in time for the 27th South East Asian Games that begin in December in Myanmar: a major multi-sport event.
So sad to hear that. Looks like the whole sky falls down as the contingent just been celebrating good news. I’m really, badly disappointed.
Does the whole relay have to forfeit their medals then?
I would think so, China was stripped of its w4x100 free gold in 1994 asian games.
These two swimmers must be really stupid, as I keep repeatedly say: only the most stupid gets caught in competition.
And on conservative estimate, at least one gold medalist in Barcelona used banned PED.
Haha you’re optimistic, I have to imagine there’s a lot more than one gold or any other color medalist that used PEDs in Barcelona. There was a report that recently came out that said 29% of athletes at the 2011 Athletics Championships doped, and WADA and the IAAF wants the report buried. They got that number from an anonymous survey from the athletes that admitted it themselves.
We would be naive to think swimming is pure (cough cough Russia).
I was just trying to be polite 🙂
But of course some swimmers are actually talented enough to produce PBs by so much in each of their many events, and even after more than a week and thousands of meters still produced stunning swim. *wink*
But of course, only Ye Shiwen can be accused as doping.
If only Ye Shiwen had been born Jane Smith Doe as a european, australian or american, she’d have been lauded as having great talent instead.
If we’re talking about using intentionally or accidentally whichever of the things mentioned on the list of prohibited substances and methods released by WADA, ranging from only a theoretical performance-enhancing effect to indisputably major one, aka ‘hard stuff’, the percentage is likely over 50 %.
If we are talking about performance-enhancing in a more pragmatic sense, that is trying to gain real advantage by using prohibited means, I’d say the percentage is much closer to 0 % than 10 % of the athletes attending World Championships.
One thing I find disturbing in this doping conversation too, is people’s almost total inability to identify any difference between the things listed. Have you ever bought a Vics inhalator sold in an ordinary… Read more »
And for the record, as to my last paragraph I wasn’t pointing my finger at any of you guys, I meant the doping conversation in general.
Anyway, I’d like to see that survey Philip Johnson referred to, just to see if it managed to make difference between the methods used. If it didn’t, it’s a so called ‘study’.
Hey SwimFanFinland, just out of interest, is Finland as strict as Denmark where Anti Doping Danmark can come into any gym/sports centre and dope test ordinary members of the public? I think Norway has a similar system but not Sweden.
I agree, there is a lot of ambiguity with prohibited substances. I say, put more money towards catching the offenders who are using the “hard stuff” rather than the offenders who are using substances that don’t exactly give you a significant edge.
We need to catch the blood dopers and such, not the “Mellouli’s” out there.
This is the result of the research:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/sports/research-finds-wide-doping-study-withheld.html?smid=tw-share&_r=2&
Thanks for the link, an interesting (if somewhat depressing) read.
DanishSwimFan,
As far as I know such tests are not made by any officials in Finland, but the spread of PEDs among ordinary exercisers has been a topic of conversations in recent years. The Finnish customs have been confiscating constantly increasing amounts of PEDs which indicates the use of PEDs is increasing among the public as well.
And that I’d really answer your question, I don’t believe it’s even possible to test a random “bodybuilder” against his/her will as it would be definitely an infringement of the right for self-determination. In Finland it’s not a crime to use PEDs (barring they are classified illicit narcotics) unless you’re an athlete obliged to give such samples. So Finland is not as strict as Denmark in that regard and can’t even become so unless an amendment takes place to make it possible.
All kinds of distributing, forwarding, importing, exporting, producing, selling etc. of PEDs constitute a crime if it’s done without a proper authorization.