A ban of two years has been imposed on Surya Prasad Sharma of India after testing positive for an anabolic steroid.

The doping incident has once suggested that the use of anabolic steroids is still prevalent in the circles of professional sports despite claims made by government and anti-doping agencies.

From Timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

FINA says Sharma had traces of stanozolol in a sample given at a competition in Trivadrum, India.

India’s national anti-doping agency imposed a two-year ban which expires in November 2013.

Sharma’s case is among a series of doping suspensions involving steroids handed down in recent months to Indian athletes across several Olympic sports.

The ban of Sharma will expire in November 2013.

Tags:  anabolic steroid, Anabolic steroids, doping, professional sports, Stanozolol, Steroids

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A Madrid court has declared police evidence gathered in the Operation Greyhound anti probe of Spain as invalid, which means that the outstanding charges against the accused are to be shelved.

Phone recordings and materials collected in raids, like bags of blood, transfusion equipment, and anabolic steroids could not be used, according to the ruling.

From Timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

Operation Greyhound hit the headlines in December 2010 when a series of raids by Spanish police across the country saw sports doctors, pharmacists, trainers, coaches, agents and athletes taken in for questioning.

Around 14 people were suspected of involvement in the trafficking of drugs and crimes against public health.

Spain’s former world steeplechase champion Marta Dominguez was the highest profile person implicated but she was cleared of three charges last year.

“The police sought judicial authorisation to record phone conversations (of suspects) and the judge agreed without the existence of a basic and consistent investigation,” the ruling said.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, doping, Marta Dominguez, Operation Greyhound

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Lance Armstrong, the cyclist who beat cancer and won the Tour de France seven straight times, has finally been relieved of all drug charges after a US attorney in Los Angeles decided not to pursue charges against him.

Throughout his unprecedented run, the career of Armstrong has been shadowed by doping allegations.

From Thescore.ie:

After all the time and effort that has gone into such cases, some are wondering whether the government should continue the pursuit of athletes who are suspected of cheating with performance-enhancing drugs.

“This is an example where prosecutors are out scouring the countryside to bring charges against a high-profile athlete,” said defense attorney Mark Werksman, a former federal prosecutor. “It’s disturbing that they contort and stretch to find a crime. It’s an abuse of federal power. It’s wrong.”

The 40-year-old cyclist was accused in 2010 by former teammate Floyd Landis of participating in a doping program.

Tags:  cyclist, doping, Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Tour de France

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A Madrid court recently said the doctor at the centre of a Spanish doping probe may be jailed for up to two years for crimes against public health.

Prosecutors have asked for a two-year sentence for Eufemiano Fuentes and six others, including his sister Yolanda and former cycling team directors Manolo Saiz, Vicente Belda and Jose Ignacio Labarta, according to a court statement.

From Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

Authorities also wanted them banned from practising their professions for the same period, the statement added.

Raids at the start of the operation uncovered anabolic steroids, blood transfusion equipment and more than 200 code-named blood bags, some of which were linked to cyclists including former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich and Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso.

The investigation was halted twice without any prosecutions having been made but a court ordered it to be reopened last year.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had expressed frustration at the refusal by judicial authorities of Spain to allow them access to evidence related to the operation.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, doping, Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, Tour de France

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Doubts about the reliability of doping violations for clenbuterol in the past have been raised with an outbreak of positive tests for the anabolic steroid clenbuterol at this summer’s under-17 football World Cup in Mexico.

An astonishing 109 positive tests were recorded for the banned drug out of 208 urine samples taken during the tournament, according to a revelation by FIFA.

From Telegraph.co.uk:

The statistics are so extraordinary that both FIFA and the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) have confirmed they will not be prosecuting any cases, blaming the failed tests on contaminated meat.

Mexican authorities admit the country has a major problem with farmers feeding clenbuterol to livestock to produce leaner, more valuable meat.

Based on what it describes as FIFA’s “compelling evidence”, Wada has also dropped its appeal against the decision of the Mexican football federation not to sanction five senior Mexican players who tested positive for clenbuterol at the Concacaf Gold Cup in June.

The news is expected to help Contador and Priestley who have been accused of using clenbuterol but have blamed contaminated meat. The ban of Priestley is due to end in February, though he remains banned from the Olympics for life under British Olympic Association rules.

Tags:  anabolic steroid, clenbuterol, doping, football World Cup

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Doping case against five Mexican soccer players has been dropped after FIFA determined the clenbuterol-positive test of five Mexican soccer players were caused by contaminated meat.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said it had dropped its appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

From USAToday.com:

FIFA gathered the evidence while working with the government of Mexico.

“The studies conducted by FIFA showed the correctness of the footballers’ claim that the positive samples were the result of meat they had ingested at a training camp ahead of the tournament,” the governing body of international soccer said.

Mexico won the Gold Cup in June despite the absence of goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, defenders Edgar Duenas and Francisco Rodriguez, and midfielders Antonio Naelson and Christian Bermudez. It beat the United States 4-2 in the final.

“Already several arrests have been made pursuant to these laws and large amounts of clenbuterol seized. Investigations are to continue,” WADA said.

Tags:  clenbuterol, doping, soccer

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A traditional Chinese medicine is to be blamed for the biggest case of doping in FIFA history, according to North Korean officials.

This was said after three North Korean footballers at the women’s World Cup tested positive for banned steroids.

From Abc.net.au:

In a bizarre explanation for the failed drugs test, North Korean officials claim the steroids were accidentally taken with traditional Chinese medicines based on musk deer glands.

The officials say the remedy was used to treat players who had been struck by lightning at a training camp in June.

FIFA’s chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak says it is the first time the substance has ever been discovered.

It is the biggest case of doping at a major event that FIFA has ever dealt with and the first since Diego Maradona in 1994.

The incident brought total in the squad caught up in the scandal to five.

Tags:  Diego Maradona, doping, FIFA, Steroids

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Spanish civil guard have taken 14 people in for questioning around the country as part of an anti-doping operation known as “Greyhound,” according to the Spanish government.

Sports doctors, pharmacists, trainers, coaches, representatives and sportspeople were among those detained, suspected of crimes against public health, the Ministry of the Interior communicated in a statement.

From Reuters.com:

Spanish media reported that the initials MD, which the government statement said referred to a female athlete from Palencia suspected of supplying doping substances, was world steeplechase champion Marta Dominguez.

Spanish television showed images of police taking items from what they said was Dominguez’s home earlier in the day.

Reuters was unable to immediately contact either Dominguez or her representatives for comment.

Up to 15 addresses in Madrid, Las Palmas, Alicante, Segovia and Palencia were raided and police found anabolic steroids, bags of blood, hormones, EPO and laboratory equipment used for carrying out blood transfusions.

“The three people mentioned, after receiving the competition calendars for certain sports people, drew up doping plans for them, treating them occasionally with doping products such as EPO, anabolic steroids, and others, doing transfusions of blood recycled from the same sportsperson,” the civil guard said in their statement while saying that EF and two others were monitored.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, doping, EPO, Marta Dominguez

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The Barcelona coach, Josep Guardiola, has been cleared by a sports anti-doping tribunal from drug charges.

Anti-doping tribunal of CONI rejected the appeal after prosecuting office of the Italian Olympic committee (CONI) reopened the case.

From Espnstar.com:

Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola has been finally cleared by a sports anti-doping tribunal from drug charges.

The case started when Guardiola was a Brescia player in the Serie A in 2001.

Guardiola was then tested positive for nandrolone, a performance-enhancing drug, in November 2001 and was suspended for four months.

He denied doping and appealed the sentence. He was then cleared in 2007 by the Italian football federation (FIGC).

The case dates back to 2001 when the coach of Barcelona team was a Brescia player in the Serie A.

Tags:  doping, Josep Guardiola, Nandrolone

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The French police have been able to dismantle a French doping ring that indulged in making illegal supplies of anabolic steroids to bodybuilders and other clients throughout the country, according to office of the Marseille prosecutor.

Three people in the southern French port city were held on preliminary charges for their suspected role in running the operation ring in France.

From Winnipegfreepress.com:

Prosecutors say police have dismantled a French doping ring that illegally supplied anabolic steroids to bodybuilders and other clients throughout the country.

The Marseille prosecutor’s office said Saturday three people in the southern French port city have been handed preliminary charges for their suspected role in running the ring’s French operations. Officials say they are suspected of bringing in more than €1,000 ($1,300) a day.

The preliminary charges are for trafficking hazardous substances and doping products. Two of the three have been jailed.

The French operations are believed to be part of a larger international network. The French suspects are accused of selling steroids over the Internet in France, targeting bodybuilders.

The drug supply racket was involved in the sale and distribution of steroids over the Internet in France.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, doping, doping ring, Steroids

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