Sharapova silliness

As Maria Sharapova awaits final judgment on her positive test for meldonium at the Australian open, the issue of performance-enhancing drug (PED) use is receiving far more attention.  Several players have offered opinions, and their comments reveal widespread prejudice and disorganized thinking on this issue. 

Take Kristina Mladenovic, for example.  She has stated that:  “All the other players are saying she’s (Sharapova) a cheater”, and she said: “You sure doubt and think that she didn’t deserve all she won until now.”  First of all, it is inappropriate for a player to speak for all of the other players unless he/she is specifically designated as a representative of those players.  Second, a person is by definition not cheating if they are taking any substance that is not on the banned list, as was apparently the case with Sharapova up until 2016.  Mladenovic’ expanded comments clearly indicate that she was motivated in part for a personal dislike of Sharapova, who is anything but gregarious and friendly with other players.  However, PED abuse and friendliness are two completely separate issues.

Andy Murray has joined the fray, saying not only that Sharapova should be punished, but also questioning Head racquets for not canceling Sharapova’s endorsement contract.  If Murray thinks Sharapova deserves to be banned on the basis of what is presently known, that’s fine.   But why would he offer unsolicited advice to a racquet company about its business decisions?  Is he hoping to be put on Head’s board of directors?  Murray also stated that no player should take any substance that is not for treatment of a specific medical condition.  So now, he has apparently appointed himself to the position of “physician in charge” of Sharapova’s care.  After all, how much does he really know about her medical history or health problems?

Another more fundamental indication of slovenly thinking on the PED issue is that of performance enhancement itself.  When it comes to meldonium, or in fact, any of many other drugs on the banned list, I am aware of no scientific study that establishes a positive correlation between use of the drug(s) and improved athletic performance.  It appears that many athletes have recently taken up meldonium use in order to enhance performance, but that doesn’t prove that the drug actually works.   Medical studies over many years have clearly shown a profound placebo effect, such that as many as 30% of patients given a sugar pill and told it is medicine for conditions such as ischemic pain experience relief.  Such findings indicate that if athletes were given a sugar pill and told it was a PED, a significant percentage of them might actually realize improved performance.  So perhaps we should ban the use of sugar pills or regulate what we tell players when we give them a protein drink etc.   It would be interesting indeed if all of the sports agencies were required to justify the banning of every substance on their lists with scientific data that demonstrated performance enhancement.   

One of the most amusing situations with PED’s involves erythropoietin (EPO), a substance that raises the red cell count.  EPO is a normal hormone produced mainly by the kidney.  The kidney increases EPO production under conditions of hypoxia, and exogenous EPO is on the banned list of many agencies.  So here’s the joke:

If you train at high altitude your kidneys will make more EPO and your blood count will increase.  This method of increasing EPO production is perfectly legal, but if you give yourself EPO with a needle instead, you will be banned for PED use.  Haha!!

The bottom line here is that the entire system of substance regulation is fraught with logical inconsistencies, and the thinking of everyone involved, including athletes, is incoherent and disorganized.  Nobody wants to see someone gain an unfair advantage by using a drug, and for the present, the most meaningful improvement in regulation of PED use in tennis would be a more rigorous testing regimen, as suggested by Roger Federer and Thomas Berdych.  Were I a player, though, I would try to organize my fellow athletes to challenge the regulatory agencies and demand justification both for inclusion of substances on the banned list and for whatever testing regimen is imposed.  At the moment players are passively accepting whatever tests are done.   Since their careers and livelihoods are on the line, they should be more organized and active on this issue.