What do we know about meldonium (drug Aregawi was busted for)?

sticky figure wrote:

This drug finally banned! wrote:

It will be interesting to see if there is a drop off in performances in the Olympics now that this drug has finally been banned. Long delay by the governing associations to ban it, given the rumored widespread abuse by athletes over the last several years.

There are very few fast times set in Olympic running events (except for sprinting) because the races are tactical. So no, there will hardly be a visible effect. Maybe people are faster, because there are many PEDs around, and places to go for training, and advance notices on tests.

That's incorrect, whenever there is a popular PED added to the bad list or a new test, performances do drop off. You saw this with the EPO test and the BP. Go back and look at the sprint and distance times prior to 2013 vs post 2013,

Used by Soviet military.

http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2016-03-08-TEN--Sharapova-Meldonium/id-7485876228ff413989613e1577682808

Honestly, who gives a crap? The top athletes in ANY sport that requires strength, speed, power, endurance and/or lactate tolerance will ALWAYS be on a cocktail of drugs. It's been this way for 30, 40, 50, 60 years and it will ALWAYS be this way.

She took a drug that was legal two weeks before. So what? You think Simpson has never taken anything? Rowbury? Wake the f*ck up.

Anyone running within 2% of a world record is DIRTY. Guaranteed.

They really just need to realize that the dopers will always be 5-10 years ahead of the testers, and that even when tested they will be able to mask 90%-100% of what they are taking-and if not, certain athletes don't even need to worry about any results being ever seen.

Again, it has been this way for decades.

rekrunner wrote:

I see a lot of people thinking the same way, that every athlete is sophisticated like Lance Armstrong. I wouldn't call that an example of critical thinking.

critical thinker wrote:

i really don't think that these athletes are going to see a doctor to use only meldonium. They will be using bunch of other PEDs as well. Arsmtrong was not just using EPO; EPO was just one part of his PED arsenal.

And your assumption that these athletes were/are taking only meldonium is what I would call simplistic thinking.

I'm starting to think that the top, and by the top i mean national medallists and above are all on something.

Its scary to think what the next drug will be to be banned that everyone has been on.

UK guys, look at the people who made huge jumps in the last couple of years, think who they are coached/supported by, why they’ve made the jump (London Olympics, upcoming word champs) UKA were basically fighting for survival after 2008 - seems conspiracy theory but it’s beginning to add up. It’s not just limited to russians and east africans. I just hope they bloody get caught.

More interesting stories since Sharapova made Meldonium famous:

At the European Game in Baku in 2015, 490 athletes were on Meldonium, including 13 medalists:

http://in.reuters.com/article/us-tennis-sharapova-meldonium-idINKCN0WB1WM

Dick Pound says Sharapova was willfully negligent to take Meldonium:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/pound-sharapova-guilty-willful-negligence-drug-test-151623472--ten.html

Online meldonium sales now have "used by Maria Sharapova" in product descriptions:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2016/03/09/maria-sharapova-meldonium-online-sales/81526900/

So if she can't endorse Nike, at least she can endorse PEDs.

Doping in our time wrote:

More interesting stories since Sharapova made Meldonium famous:

At the European Game in Baku in 2015, 490 athletes were on Meldonium, including 13 medalists.

It's worse than that. Here's the direct link.

Two unnamed national olympic committees imported it. So, national doping programs are still around.

23 athletes declared use. it's not doping if it's not illegal.

66(!!) tested positive.

The number of false negatives must be extremely high.

Meldonium was declared as imported into Azerbaijan by 2 of 50 National Olympic Committee medical teams at the Games, but athletes from 6 countries declared the use of meldonium. Only 23 of the 662 (3.5%) athletes tested between 8 – 28 June 2015 declared the personal use of meldonium, which included 13 competition winners. However, 66 of the total 762 (8.7%) of athlete urine samples analysed during the Games and during pre-competition tested positive for meldonium. Meldonium use was detected in athletes competing in 15 of the 21 sports during the Games.

Um wow...

Drug used by Maria Sharapova banned after tip to USADA

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2016/03/09/maria-sharapova-meldonium-banned-wada/81537960/

Also, check out the sponsors of Partnership for Clean Competition.

http://www.cleancompetition.org/Pages/supporters.aspx

soren wrote:

Um wow...

Drug used by Maria Sharapova banned after tip to USADA

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2016/03/09/maria-sharapova-meldonium-banned-wada/81537960/

Also, check out the sponsors of Partnership for Clean Competition.

http://www.cleancompetition.org/Pages/supporters.aspx

You should find one of the Lance Armstrong articles Sports Illustrated ran.

They go through the process by which the USOC would fund a little meaningless research for the express purpose of delaying the ban of a PED. The answer was always the same and perfect, "Yes, we are researching that..."

More than 60 athletes have tested positive for Meldonium this year-

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/sports/tennis/maria-sharapova-meldonium-positive-tests.html?_r=0

Very interesting is that meldonium busts reveal a drug connection between Ethiopia and Eastern Europe. This might give us a clue as to why Ethiopia has avoided the drug fails of the Kenyan athletes.

Basilisk wrote:

Very interesting is that meldonium busts reveal a drug connection between Ethiopia and Eastern Europe. This might give us a clue as to why Ethiopia has avoided the drug fails of the Kenyan athletes.

Disclaimer..............this is a copy and paste from a previous post, on another thread on the topic:

I reviewed 192 studies on the drug in question, lots of studies, several on its effects on swimming hypoxic rats, the effect on sexual function of rats, lot more rat studies. A number in humans on its protective effect on cardiac function in the presence of ischemia, in the presence of cardiovascular disease, etc. One........one mind you on potential benefits to athletes, with a number of faulty assumptions and a lack of understanding of heart physiology. My opinion..............not a PED. WADA banned it because they now want to regulate and punish INTENT to dope..............whether the drug in question is a PED or not, OR irrespective of whether the athlete actually intended to or not. We now know that certain diets provide added physiological benefit if consumed, relative to athletic performance............do we now try to level the playing field there too?

Read more:

Did you review studies written in Russian?

Meldonium may or may not have marked PED effects. I honestly doubt Sharapova would take it for 10 years if she didn't feel it had a noticeable benefit. She is a top athlete, and a smart one, for the most part.

I'm more interested in what other drugs are being funneled into Ethiopia via these E Euro connections, and possibly using E Euro doctor(s) to cover their use.

Lupu pulls out of world indoors, has been taking meldonium for 15 years due to 'certain changes in my cardiogram'

http://www.foxsports.com/other/story/ukrainian-runner-lupu-to-miss-world-indoors-over-meldonium-031516?cmpid=feed:-sports-CQ-RSS-Feed

I don't speak or read the language, I did however ferret out several abstracts of the studies in English. Not impressed. Also, an organization that bases a ban on roughly 4 human studies of dubious experimental design is not credible. As in a previous post of mine it appears they are trying to regulate intent to dope, not actual doping itself, since in this case it appears to not be a PED.

Basilisk wrote:

Meldonium may or may not have marked PED effects. I honestly doubt Sharapova would take it for 10 years if she didn't feel it had a noticeable benefit. She is a top athlete, and a smart one, for the most part.

I'm more interested in what other drugs are being funneled into Ethiopia via these E Euro connections, and possibly using E Euro doctor(s) to cover their use.

"Belief" is the operative word, however she may or may not have seen any demonstrable benefit. Her physician is likely a quack. The mechanism of action of the drug does not lend itself to benefit in a normal health quite good looking athlete.

OLD SMTC SOB wrote:

PubMed wrote:

Did you review studies written in Russian?

I don't speak or read the language, I did however ferret out several abstracts of the studies in English. Not impressed. Also, an organization that bases a ban on roughly 4 human studies of dubious experimental design is not credible. As in a previous post of mine it appears they are trying to regulate intent to dope, not actual doping itself, since in this case it appears to not be a PED.

In all this extensive reading did you spot this bit by chance?

"How does a substance get considered for the WADA Prohibited List?

Typically, a substance or method will be considered for the WADA Prohibited List if the substance or method meets any two of the following three criteria:

It has the **potential to enhance** or enhances sport performance

It represents an actual or potential health risk to the athlete

** It violates the spirit of sport**

"

OLD SMTC SOB wrote:

"Belief" is the operative word, however she may or may not have seen any demonstrable benefit. Her physician is likely a quack. The mechanism of action of the drug does not lend itself to benefit in a normal health quite good looking athlete.

Does it work better if you're butt ugly?