Sympathy For Sharapova?

[Ricardodaforce]

Ban her, and ban her good I say.

I get the feeling that because she's attractive some feel she should be given an easy ride. Would people say the same if she was a Russian athlete or Spanish cyclist?

 

[Nod]

A ban? I'd give her one.

A little sympathy since she's apparently been using it medically for 10 years and it's only recently been banned BUT, since she has apparently been using it since the ban (on it, not her), something should be done.

 

[nickEnackEnoo]

Ermmm, isn't she a Russian Athlete, of the tennis persuasion?

 

[Ricardodaforce]

Ermmm, isn't she a Russian Athlete, of the tennis persuasion?

Apologies, I assumed it was obvious I meant a track athlete due to the recent issues affecting the Russian Athletic Federation. Obviously it wasn't as obvious as I thought.

 

[Ricardodaforce]

A ban? I'd give her one.

A little sympathy since she's apparently been using it medically for 10 years and it's only recently been banned BUT, since she has apparently been using it since the ban (on it, not her), something should be done.

The Latvian makers of meldonium have said the standard treatment for taking the drug is four to six weeks, not the 10 years Maria Sharapova says she was was using it.

 

[Nod]

The Latvian makers of meldonium have said the standard treatment for taking the drug is four to six weeks, not the 10 years Maria Sharapova says she was was using it.

Haven't gone that deeply into it.

I'd still give her one! And a ban.

 

[nickEnackEnoo]

Okay, if it was an ATTRACTIVE Russian Field Athlete or an ATTRACTIVE Spanish Cyclist, in the same circumstances, then I'd have the same sympathy I have for Miss Sharapova.

There's a lot of conflicting reports on this so far, so am honestly reserving judgement.

 

[OldCarlos]

some feel she should be given an easy ride

I wouldn't say no.

 

[Ricardodaforce]

Today is International Women's Day.

Except in here.

 

[Steep]

News report I read said she was worth about $200 million but only made $37 million playing tennis, poor soul.

 

[OldCarlos]

Today is International Women's Day.

Except in here.

What? I appreciate women as much as any man.

 

[Nod]

Today is International Women's Day.

Except in here.

She's an international woman who's made more from her looks than from her sporting prowess.

 

[LASTOLITE]

IF its how she says it is then one would think she would have had a bigger fight about it, I would have thought. it would be more a mistake then a premeditated taking of a banned substance. As said by other players, you have to be careful even some cough sweets can cause an issue.

I think the sad thing is I expect sports people to take enhancing substances, is there a clean sport left?

 

[kendo1]

Sport? No.

People? yes.

 

[Uneducated_Rick]

The medication is for heart conditions (angina and heart failure), not sure why she needed it in the first place.

 

[simon ess]

I'll reserve final judgement for now, but....

I suspect she knew full well she was riding on the edge.

 

[camerassassin]

where has she been living ? USA isn't it ?

And that drug has not , I understand, been licensed for use in the USA - so how did she get her supplies ?

 

[onomatopoeia]

Today is International Women's Day.

Except in here.

I think women are generally excellent every day, not just 8th March (which is largely ignored in the UK anyway, only seems popular in sections of the media, none of my British female friends gives a stuff about it!)

 

[Marc]

where has she been living ? USA isn't it ?

And that drug has not , I understand, been licensed for use in the USA - so how did she get her supplies ?

She was based in the US but she would have spent most of her time in other parts of the world and she would have had her "people" to take care of obtaining supplies.

 

[OldCarlos]

What's with all these `days` anyway?
My moneyboss was reading something the other day about `hug a plumber` day. WTF? Who dreams these things up (apart from plumbers, of course )
Bonkers.

 

[viv1969]

where has she been living ? USA isn't it ?

And that drug has not , I understand, been licensed for use in the USA - so how did she get her supplies ?

She bought them in another country, where the drug is licensed. Nothing untoward about that.
Neosporin cream isn't licenced in this country, but I've never had any problem purchasing it from the US and having it shipped here
Not licensed simply means it cannot be prescribed or purchased here.

 

[jakeblu]

She's an international woman who's made more from her looks than from her sporting prowess.

Seems Andy murrays worth a few milion quid as well and seeing as he's not been as successful in the sport as she has, must be down to his looks too.

 

[viv1969]

Seems Andy murrays worth a few milion quid as well and seeing as he's not been as successful in the sport as she has, must be down to his looks too.

Greg Rusedski amassed almost $9m in career earnings.
He was, in the grand scheme of things, crap, and also looks like the back end of a bus.
Grand slam wins carry kudos, but the majority of earnings are made in the lesser tournaments.

 

[Yardbent]

if you're worth 200million ------ why work..?

 

[donut]

ban the cheatin bitch for life ,,,,,,not sitting on the fence too much am i ? oh and strip her ,,,,,,,,,,and take all her titles away as well

 

[StewartR]

Greg Rusedski... was, in the grand scheme of things, crap..

Oh come on, that's hardly fair. He was ranked in the top 5 in the world and he reached the US Open final. If that's 'crap', what's your definition of 'passable'?

 

[StewartR]

ban the cheatin bitch for life ,,,,,,not sitting on the fence too much am i ? oh and strip her ,,,,,,,,,,and take all her titles away as well

Taking her titles away would be highly unreasonable, because meldonium wasn't banned until this year. She hasn't won any titles this year.

 

[Ricardodaforce]

Some more information:

Grindeks, the Latvian company that manufactures meldonium, said a typical course of treatment should only run to a few weeks.

"Depending on the patient's health condition, treatment course of meldonium preparations may vary from four to six weeks," its statement read.

"Treatment can be repeated twice or thrice a year. Only physicians can follow and evaluate patient's health condition and state whether the patient should use meldonium for a longer period of time."

In response, Sharapova's lawyer, John Haggerty, said she had not been taking the drug every day for 10 years.

"That's simply not the case," he said, adding that she took meldonium "in accordance with the recommendations of her doctor".

 

[StewartR]

The Latvian makers of meldonium have said the standard treatment for taking the drug is four to six weeks, not the 10 years Maria Sharapova says she was was using it.

Mmm. And the reason it was banned was because the authorities noticed that a lot of people were taking it for performance enhancing reasons. And the ban on it was communicated by WADA in September.
https://wada-main-prod.s3.amazonaws...ohibited-list-summary-of-modifications-en.pdf

All this suggests to me that Sharapova knew exactly what she was doing...

 

[stupar]

is there a clean sport left?

Darts........or does beer and fags count as enhancements

 

[Ricardodaforce]

Mmm. And the reason it was banned was because the authorities noticed that a lot of people were taking it for performance enhancing reasons. And the ban on it was communicated by WADA in September.
https://wada-main-prod.s3.amazonaws...ohibited-list-summary-of-modifications-en.pdf

All this suggests to me that Sharapova knew exactly what she was doing...

I'm sure she wasn't taking it for health reasons, and I bet she (and her team) were stupid enough not to see the change in the drug's WADA status.

 

[nog]

A ban? I'd give her one.

A little sympathy since she's apparently been using it medically for 10 years and it's only recently been banned BUT, since she has apparently been using it since the ban (on it, not her), something should be done.

I was a bit confused by your first line but agree- she has to face a ban. Hard to believe she was not aware of the ban, if she wasn`t think she needs to look at her support team/advisors. BBC had some one on this morning who said the drug manufacturers recommendation was to use the drug for 6 week period and she had been using it for 10 years, his parting shot was some thing like : she used it for medical reasons and believe that if you can -

 

[Steep]

Seems Andy murrays worth a few milion quid as well and seeing as he's not been as successful in the sport as she has, must be down to his looks too.

Nah, Men get paid more than women in Tennis..

Sharapova has supposedly got $26(ish) million from Tennis and $176 million from endorsements/sponsorship/business deals plus her dad is stinking rich.

To be fair the drug was only banned on Jan 1st this year so it's not like she was breaking the rules for six years, up until then it was perfectly acceptable to use it though she had three months warning that the ban was going to happen.

 

[Steep]

Also read today that the Russian Army give/gave it to their troops to increase stamina.

 

[drounding]

Rules are rules. She failed the test, she pays the price. Sorry, no sympathy from me.

That drug has been on the watch list for some time, there was fair warning that the drug was going to be banned, it didn't come out of the blue. If she has a condition that she needed to take the drug in January then she shouldn't have played, simple.

It's not only her that has been taking the drug either, other athletes have either failed the test or were taking it before the ban.
She played the sympathy card by announcing it herself rather than wait for WADA to do it.

My son plays semi-pro ice hockey, occasionally he can't take some prescribed medication as he would fail any possible drugs test. He sticks to it very carefully, Sharapova should've too if she wanted play by the rules.

 

[Byker28i]

She's an international woman who's made more from her looks than from her sporting prowess.

Who has marketed herself successfully, like many other athletes, people

 

[Byker28i]

where has she been living ? USA isn't it ?

And that drug has not , I understand, been licensed for use in the USA - so how did she get her supplies ?

Quite a lot isn't licensed in the USA, or those that are are significantly higher priced than in say Canada, leading to regular drug shopping trips for many northern US citizens.
Quite a lot isn't licensed in this country also, sometimes because of cost so Nice don't have to recommend it and the NHS don't have to pay for it.

 

[Byker28i]

Mmm. And the reason it was banned was because the authorities noticed that a lot of people were taking it for performance enhancing reasons. And the ban on it was communicated by WADA in September.
https://wada-main-prod.s3.amazonaws...ohibited-list-summary-of-modifications-en.pdf

All this suggests to me that Sharapova knew exactly what she was doing...

Rules are rules. She failed the test, she pays the price. Sorry, no sympathy from me.

That drug has been on the watch list for some time, there was fair warning that the drug was going to be banned, it didn't come out of the blue. If she has a condition that she needed to take the drug in January then she shouldn't have played, simple.

It's not only her that has been taking the drug either, other athletes have either failed the test or were taking it before the ban.
She played the sympathy card by announcing it herself rather than wait for WADA to do it.

My son plays semi-pro ice hockey, occasionally he can't take some prescribed medication as he would fail any possible drugs test. He sticks to it very carefully, Sharapova should've too if she wanted play by the rules.

Honestly, and having spent some time with a chelski fixer, modern top athletes, football players etc are surrounded by a team of staff to look after their needs and manage everything so they can concentrate on their performance. At times they are very isolated from wat we would call a normal world. I suspect this was a lack of communication between her team and someones made a huge mistake.

No doubt the laywers are winding up their bills, sorry points of view, and we will be told how often she's taken it, why etc. At the monemt all is speculation

 

[DorsetDude]

I've just tried to google her but get a "server not found"

 

[viv1969]

Oh come on, that's hardly fair. He was ranked in the top 5 in the world and he reached the US Open final. If that's 'crap', what's your definition of 'passable'?

Winning.