They tested and had contamination - this arbitrator is not some schlump appointed by Knightons people. What will be instructive is if WADA/AIU appeals. If they don’t, that says a lot. If they do, the plot thickens. There’s a definite rift between Tygart and WADA/AIU, so he did a full CYA maneuver with this arbitrator. I think they’d go scorched earth on him if he let a top athlete off the hook without 100% literal evidence (eg the exact meal tested by USADA). What they got appears to be firmly plausible and now we get to see if WADA/AIU thinks the arbitrator got it wrong.
Have you ever had Oxtail even? Pretty tasty.
Ironically, there was an article in the New York Times a few days ago about the rapidly rising popularity of oxtail. The price has tripled as a result of the increase in demand.
No track athlete would or could take trenbolone. It is a vile steroid that even many bodybuilders avoid. It ramps up prostaglandins, which causes inflammation and vasoconstriction. Look up "tren cough". You often can hardly breath on it. Find someone in the gym wheezing, and it's likely their drug of choice is tren. Your aerobic ability drops hugely. It really is just common sense!
Russia was using it in track athletes. You do realise side effects depend on the dose?
Erriyon Knighton had not competed at all since the Florida Relays on March 30 and now we know why: he tested positive for trenbolone on March 26 and had been provisionally suspended since April 12. That is the same substance Jarrion Lawson tested positive for back in 2018.
Knighton claimed the positive test was due to consuming contaminated meat. Sometimes when that happens, USADA will clear the athlete, but this time it took the case to an independent arbitrator. That hearing was held on Friday and Sunday and today the arbitrator issued her decision and cleared Knighton. So he is immediately eligible to compete again.
This story may not be over though, because WADA and the AIU both have the right to appeal the decision. It could wind up in CAS, but for now Knighton can run.
Would love to see some actual reporting on this instead of message board speculation. I'm not buying the tainted beef excuse. Would love to see some data on that. Would also like to see how arbitrators are chosen. Are there friendly arbitrators that get picked that are pro athlete? My opinion doesn't change until I know how neutral an arbitrator actually is in cases like this.
Of the roughly 500 people currently serving suspensions under AIU, 6 used Trenbolone. All 6 were also banned for additional steroids, not tren alone.
From USADA, no Track athletes have been banned for tren is the last 10 years (as far back as the list goes).
So he’d be the only Track athlete under AIU or USADA to be banned for Trenbolone alone in atleast the past 3-4 years. (I can’t find old suspensions for AIU). Given the trenbolone was literally found in the meat he has a receipt for, I’m not sure how a reasonable person could just say “nah, he was for sure doping”.
USADA has athlete-resource tabs for TUE’s, supplements, Medicines, etc. but I don’t see anything about meat consumption- other than athletes are encouraged to get their protein/nutrients from food, rather than supplements.
Sure, athletes should be proactively more careful and not rely on USADA to educate them that trenbolone is legal in cattle farming, but can we also take a second to acknowledge it’s pretty wild we’re saying athletes can’t go to a normal restaurant and have anything with beef in it. Besides the vegetarians, there’s a good chance literally 100% of us have eaten meat we didn’t know the specific farm it came from.
Yep. American sprinters tend to enjoy the same protections afforded E. Africans and various third world athletes. It’s all so obvious.
Yeah, people keep dancing around the fact that the tainted meat excuse is fine for certain athletes and no good for others.
Did you read my post above? There are exactly ZERO track athletes banned for trenbolone alone. So there isn’t a single example in the past 3-4 years (likely longer) where an athlete tried to use the tainted meat exercise for trenbolone and was still charged. In other cases, athletes likely tried to use tainted meat as an excuse for substances that aren’t actually legal for cattle and are therefore rare to find in meat.
A couple years ago a Russian gold medalist from 2015 I think said America has an unfair position with anti doping. This was the final straw and I completely agree with him.
ya. the west now has an advantage in doping in that they have more siphistication in avoidance , micro dosing and new PEDs. like peptides.
that said, the third world and russia had quite the party for 20 years.
so the drug show goes on.
but maybe women with baratone voiced. linebacker sholders and 5 oclock shoulders will disappear.
Erriyon could easily be clean, but I wonder how many athletes who are using also conveniently eat meat from unusual sources (ox tail from mexico?) every week so they have a convenient excuse if they ever test positive.
What I’m wondering more is what the hell kind of meat are we eating here in the US?
Right? That's why the EU prohibits importing of some meat from the USA as they contain carcinogens and other harmful chemicals.
This is my take as well. I'm not by any means a steroid user or involved in that scene, but even I have heard trenbolone has a reputation as some scary stuff (you may have heard of 'tren cough', and it doesn't end there). It would be strange for a top-level guy like Knighton to be using a steroid that has been known about for decades, has crazy side effects, and is easily caught.
This is not to say I think Knighton is clean necessarily, just that his explanation for this finding is more plausible than the typical excuse.
Yeah - tren is the crap 19 year olds in their first year of hitting the gym take, not world championship medalists. Speaking from a strictly utilitarian perspective, it makes 0 sense for Knighton to be taking tren on purpose. There are many, many more steroids on the market these days that are far more effective and far less detectable.
Also, I guess this explains why his agent was so reluctant to say anything about his status.
Bro, this is sophisticated sh*t.
some products are taken to mask others. Some are taken to better absorb others. some, maybe tren, are taking to provide an easily explained excuse like tainted meat.
there are many layers to the charade and the stakes are high, so it’s very complex.
Of the roughly 500 people currently serving suspensions under AIU, 6 used Trenbolone. All 6 were also banned for additional steroids, not tren alone.
From USADA, no Track athletes have been banned for tren is the last 10 years (as far back as the list goes).
So he’d be the only Track athlete under AIU or USADA to be banned for Trenbolone alone in atleast the past 3-4 years. (I can’t find old suspensions for AIU). Given the trenbolone was literally found in the meat he has a receipt for, I’m not sure how a reasonable person could just say “nah, he was for sure doping”.
USADA has athlete-resource tabs for TUE’s, supplements, Medicines, etc. but I don’t see anything about meat consumption- other than athletes are encouraged to get their protein/nutrients from food, rather than supplements.
Sure, athletes should be proactively more careful and not rely on USADA to educate them that trenbolone is legal in cattle farming, but can we also take a second to acknowledge it’s pretty wild we’re saying athletes can’t go to a normal restaurant and have anything with beef in it. Besides the vegetarians, there’s a good chance literally 100% of us have eaten meat we didn’t know the specific farm it came from.
Another option could be that tren is easy to mask and hard to catch, and its quite easy to blame on beef if you get caught.
"It is difficult to understand how Travis Tygart can declare with such certainty that 'justice was served," said WADA. "In this case, given USADA had argued that the analytical result was incompatible with meat contamination and had originally sought a sanction of four years against the athlete."
So USADA said themselves that this couldn't be contamination, but for some reason changed their mind.
The World Anti-Doping Agency questioned an arbitrator's decision to clear American sprinter Erriyon Knighton of a doping offence on Thursday, saying it is was considering an appeal while accusing U.S. anti-doping chief Travis...
Of the roughly 500 people currently serving suspensions under AIU, 6 used Trenbolone. All 6 were also banned for additional steroids, not tren alone.
From USADA, no Track athletes have been banned for tren is the last 10 years (as far back as the list goes).
So he’d be the only Track athlete under AIU or USADA to be banned for Trenbolone alone in atleast the past 3-4 years. (I can’t find old suspensions for AIU). Given the trenbolone was literally found in the meat he has a receipt for, I’m not sure how a reasonable person could just say “nah, he was for sure doping”.
USADA has athlete-resource tabs for TUE’s, supplements, Medicines, etc. but I don’t see anything about meat consumption- other than athletes are encouraged to get their protein/nutrients from food, rather than supplements.
Sure, athletes should be proactively more careful and not rely on USADA to educate them that trenbolone is legal in cattle farming, but can we also take a second to acknowledge it’s pretty wild we’re saying athletes can’t go to a normal restaurant and have anything with beef in it. Besides the vegetarians, there’s a good chance literally 100% of us have eaten meat we didn’t know the specific farm it came from.
Thank you for posting here
It's a strange thing to see the mental gymnastics people on here perform to try tear down what is obviously an incredibly gifted athlete. but it happens with nearly every great athlete, normal people can't fathom how some athletes are so far beyond their own capacity that they want to attribute it to drugs.
Erriyon ran 21.15 as 15 year old, 20.33 as a 16 year old, 19.84 as a 17 year old, 19.49 as an 18 year old, 19.72 as a 19 year old and then 20.21 in the one meet he's run as a 20 year old so far.
Meanwhile, he still looks like he's about 17. He's got a very bright future ahead. Wait until he's an actual man in 4-5 years.
As for those suggesting he or anyone is microdosing trenbolone or any sort of androgenic/anabolic steroid: doing so (especially with tren) would shut the endogenous supply of testosterone down quickly. It's not a successful strategy which is why people don't employ it.
Of the roughly 500 people currently serving suspensions under AIU, 6 used Trenbolone. All 6 were also banned for additional steroids, not tren alone.
From USADA, no Track athletes have been banned for tren is the last 10 years (as far back as the list goes).
So he’d be the only Track athlete under AIU or USADA to be banned for Trenbolone alone in atleast the past 3-4 years. (I can’t find old suspensions for AIU). Given the trenbolone was literally found in the meat he has a receipt for, I’m not sure how a reasonable person could just say “nah, he was for sure doping”.
USADA has athlete-resource tabs for TUE’s, supplements, Medicines, etc. but I don’t see anything about meat consumption- other than athletes are encouraged to get their protein/nutrients from food, rather than supplements.
Sure, athletes should be proactively more careful and not rely on USADA to educate them that trenbolone is legal in cattle farming, but can we also take a second to acknowledge it’s pretty wild we’re saying athletes can’t go to a normal restaurant and have anything with beef in it. Besides the vegetarians, there’s a good chance literally 100% of us have eaten meat we didn’t know the specific farm it came from.
Thank you for posting here
It's a strange thing to see the mental gymnastics people on here perform to try tear down what is obviously an incredibly gifted athlete. but it happens with nearly every great athlete, normal people can't fathom how some athletes are so far beyond their own capacity that they want to attribute it to drugs.
Erriyon ran 21.15 as 15 year old, 20.33 as a 16 year old, 19.84 as a 17 year old, 19.49 as an 18 year old, 19.72 as a 19 year old and then 20.21 in the one meet he's run as a 20 year old so far.
Meanwhile, he still looks like he's about 17. He's got a very bright future ahead. Wait until he's an actual man in 4-5 years.
As for those suggesting he or anyone is microdosing trenbolone or any sort of androgenic/anabolic steroid: doing so (especially with tren) would shut the endogenous supply of testosterone down quickly. It's not a successful strategy which is why people don't employ it.
Even USADA thought it couldn't come from meat contamination though:
The World Anti-Doping Agency questioned an arbitrator's decision to clear American sprinter Erriyon Knighton of a doping offence on Thursday, saying it is was considering an appeal while accusing U.S. anti-doping chief Travis...
"It is difficult to understand how Travis Tygart can declare with such certainty that 'justice was served," said WADA. "In this case, given USADA had argued that the analytical result was incompatible with meat contamination and had originally sought a sanction of four years against the athlete."
The athlete was ultimately banned with levels of 1.5ng/mL (and 3.5mg/mL in B sample). However, it doesn’t appear they tested the meat source he ate from. So all the could use was the average ranges of “normal” trenbolone residue in meat. Ayotte said Tren residue in normal meat was .1 ng/g whereas the study I posted on my previous post says it’s .3-.7 ng/g (which is equivalent to .3 ug/kg). Anyways, anywhere from .1-.7 doesn’t matter. It’s pretty much mathematically impossible for his A & B samples to be what they were if the trenbolone residues levels in the meat he ate were in normal range. Since he didn’t have the meat source to prove otherwise, there was no way of winning.
This answers my question of why more people don’t test positive. If they get tested within 72 hours of eating meat, they likely will have some Tren in their system, but it will be far far less than .1ng/mL. Ayotte said Tren is detectable within 3-7 days, however the defense noted a study where 25mg of Tren is detectable after 32 days. Ayotte said the amount in normal meat, such as 85ng in a large serving of 850g of meat would be completely gone in 72 hours.
Of course, there remains the possibility the meat tested in Knighton’s case had far more trenbolone concentration than ‘normal’. Since they actually were able to test the meat source, I’m assuming a much higher than normal concentration is the only way the arbitrator ruled in his favor (in conjunction with his exact sample concentration). If the math doesn’t make sense, WADA will appeal this, and Knighton will lose, but I find it unlikely the arbitrator could be that bad. So I’m going to assume when the full report comes out, the numbers will add up, and reasonable people that understand basic math can move on.
*Also, feel free to correct my reading comprehension.
Tygart is lobbying for loosening consequences of coincidental contamination.
But is in the media talking out of the other side of his mouth trashing China for the circumstances and alleged cover-up of the swimmer hotel contamination case.
How does anyone reconcile the fact that if you allow free reign on the coincidental contamination excuse that it can and will be used in an intentional manner?
To put the Tygart/WADA dispute about the Chinese swimmers in perspective, it is not about the No Fault finding per se, but about how the cases were handled.
Tygart complains about WADA's rules, but dutifully follows them. He is understandably critical because CHINADA and WADA did not follow the same WADA rules.
Even in cases of No Fault Contamination, which is still considered a rule violation (ADRV), according to the WADA rules:
- CHINADA should have provisionally suspended the swimmers. They didn't. USADA suspended Knighton.
- CHINADA should have nullified any competition results. They didn't. USADA reported that they would have nullified Knighton's results, but there were no results to nullify.
- CHINADA should have announced the No Fault findings. They didn't. USADA reported Knighton's no-fault findings.
- In its own review WADA has the authority and should have enforced their own rules. They didn't.
This is a best case scenario. There are other factors:
- USADA gave whistleblower details back in 2020. Apparently WADA never contacted the whistleblower.
- CHINADA should have started an investigation into athlete support personnel. They didn't.
- WADA consulted their lawyers and scientists, but not their Intelligence and Investigations (I&I) unit, who were unaware of the 23 cases of the Chinese swimmers.
- WADA accepted the Chinese findings on the basis of plausibility, and cited a lack of evidence to launch an appeal. This is not the standard under athlete "strict liability".
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