The FINA Anti-Doping Commission has heard the case of Russian breaststroker Yulia Efimova, and is now verifying facts and reflecting upon arguments ahead of a hearing in the matter, according to Russian media.
Efimova tested positive in October of 2013 for the banned substance DHEA, and would go on to break the FINA World Record in the 200 short course meter breaststroke en route to a European Short Course Championship in December. A few weeks prior, in November, she also broke the short course meters World Record in the 50 breaststroke, and she also took European titles in the 50 breaststroke, the 200 medley relay, and the 200 mixed medley relay after her positive test.
“At the meeting of Yuliya Efimova came together with a lawyer from the United States, where she trains,” said Russian Federation chief Vladimir Salnikov in Russian. “The hearing was also attended by a representative of the Russian side with an interpreter. The meeting lasted almost the whole day, but as I was said, the decision will be announced later.”
Efimova trains with the Trojan Swim Club in Southern California, and several eye witnesses report that she has continued to train there during her temporary suspension, which FINA issued on January 24th.
Any appeals of the decision of the FINA Doping Panel would be heard in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland.
I’m having a mind blank. Didn’t efimova do well at the London Olympic? Didn’t she win something? Sorry, just too lazy to look it up.
Hmmmm very interesting indeed. I wonder how it will end?
I think there is a good chance she gets off …..unfortunately. She is using the same lawyer that has gotten the others a reduced penalty or off completely. Again, money talks.
While I can’t speak to this exact substance, I do know that when they test for these type of things, they set the standard really high. For example if the average concentration were 5 ppm DHEA in the blood you wouldn’t trigger the test unless you had over 20 ppm. The chances of having such a concentration naturally would be close to zero.
This is why doping-passport programs are seen as important. Because the thresholds are set really high, a sophisticated program could keep dope levels just below the limit and never raise any red flags. This is probably
Yes, to echo CraigH’s comments, this is the benefit of the “blood passport program.” If you have naturally high levels of a substance like DHEA, then a random drug test wouldn’t be seen as a ‘spike.’ One of the flaws in the current doping program comes with natural substances like DHEA. As CraigH mentioned, the thresholds are set high, so people don’t get caught by natural fluctuations or body chemistry differences, but professional blood-doping doctors/scientists are very good at taking them just to that threshhold and not over.
The cynic would say that this is why athletes argue so hard against making blood passports the norm on grounds of ‘privacy.’ The stand for ‘privacy’ for many could be a way… Read more »
good post. I’d imagine it is very similar to what we see for testosterone testing. Wouldn’t surprise me if there were many athletes who stay just below the allowable 4:1 ratio.
This appears to be an organically produced substance in the human body, how does one test + for it? Wiki (great source, I know) indicates women who suffer from endocrine issues can have elevated levels of this as well. Before we condemn her, perhaps we should wait for the entire story.
And the.. how she ends her race.. again this?
We heard this about Ye, and there are several others who crush the field at the last 50… using That as proof is not something serious..
I am sure that the threshold that WLA or FINA set before triggering positive test is much higher by multiple times than any possible natural cause.
No lawyer can help her if they just re-watch how she swam last 50m of her races. No better proof needed.
For once I agree with you Psychodad.
Damn, I am losing my edge… let me see how I can delete the previous post.
* Don’t agree
For Efimova’s sake, I hope she retains the same lawyer that defended Jessica Hardy, Mads Glaesner, Ous Mellouli, and Omar Pinzon. They got away nicely.