Ray wrote:
Just going from memory here, a study came out about a month before Mary tested positive that suggested that although normal T/ET levels are 1:1, there are factors that may affect that driving it as high as 6:1 in extremely rare cases. Those factors? Birth control, red wine, and sex in addition to an abnormally high testosterone level. Mary tested at 11:1!! Her defense was "coincidentally" that her level was normally high, she is on birth control, drank a high volume of red wine the night before the test and had sex. I can't remember the name of the sprinter who used the same defense, except he didn't take the pill and he bragged that he had "a lot of sex" just before the test. Could it have been Butch? In any case, the rules now allow a 3:1 which you have to believe many athletes are abusing, but 11:1???
1:1 is normal for males at peak testosterone production. 2:1 would be rare cases but would exist with a small % of males. 3:1 would be extremely rare; something like 1 in a billion. With women it's even worse since females produce about 1/10th the testosterone that males do.
Like casual obsever states they'll let you get away with a 3:1 ratio though they'll flag the ABP and conduct target testing hoping that it's steroid use raising the levels. Anything over 3:1 and it's the CIR test which is the only test currently that can detect synthetic testosterone use. It's expensive so WADA reserves it only for the 4:1+ T/E ratio cases. I imagine if they use it routinely as part of the regular post-race drug screens you'd have a whole different ball game.
And athletes will make up all kinds of crazy excuses for a high T/E ratio. Lol
https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/9506/mike-rowbottom-lashawn-merritt-is-stretching-something-probably-the-truth-