Abdelwahad, 2nd in Euro Champs steeple, accused of doping - probable ban for several years!

lequipe.fr

L'Italien Ahmed Abdelwahed suspendu provisoirement par l'AIU après son contrôle positif

L'Italien Ahmed Abdelwahed, médaillé d'argent sur 3 000 m steeple cet été aux Championnats d'Europe de Munich, a été suspendu par l'Unité d'intégrité de l'athlétisme après son contrôle positif au meldonium.

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translation to follow.

Source: (le journal l’équipe du jeudi 15 septembre 2022 - +Ghost1 edit) “La Fédération italienne avait annoncé vendredi le contrôle antidopage positif d'Abdelwahed (26 ans). Le test incriminant le coureur italien a été effectué durant les « Europe ».
Le produit détecté était le meldonium avait révélé La Repubblica. La joueuse de tennis Maria Sharapova avait été testée positive à cette substance en 2016 et avait purgé une suspension de 15 mois. Abdelwahed a nié s'être dopé. « J'ai découvert l'existence du Meldonium, pour la première fois, quand on m'a dit qu'ils l'avaient trouvé dans mes analyses. Je n'ai jamais pris volontairement cette substance », a-t-il écrit sur son compte Instagram.”

Ghost1 approximate translation :The Italian Federation has announced a positive finding against the Italian steeple chase runner Abdelwahed, 26 year old. The positive test came about during the European championships in Munich recently. Meldonium what is the product detected. People remember that the Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova had also tested positive for the same substance in 2016 and had been suspended for 15 months following that. The Italian runner denied having doped himself voluntarily. He said: “ I discovered this product for the first time when they found it in my blood and urine tests following the race. I never voluntarily took this product, he claimed, as cited on his Instagram post, which I posted earlier.

Meldonium diminishes the heart rate and provides more oxygen in addition to adding recuperation and assisting training development among other positive benefits.

Would others more knowledgeable about these products please compare the above product to EPO in terms of benefits overall and dangers.

Sad that this Italian of Egyptian origin crossed the line because he was very talented and probably did not need to do this.

If I recall correctly Maria Sharapova was banned for using this.

Oh I see you mentioned this. Well dopers are gonna dope.

This guy has improved a lot in the last 2 years. So maybe doping has helped him.

Meldonium is completely different than epo. Epo stimulates the production of more red blood cells, allowing you to carry more oxygen, staving off the arrival of lactic acidosis longer.

Meldonium essentially prevents the body’s synthesis of carnitibe, which causes a number of effects. Supposedly increases endurance and muscular strength, though this has not been proven. It’s more of a medicine given to European cardiac patients long term after suffering a heart attack. Very popular in Russia- fir both athletes and cardiac patients, alike.

Going by what you say the effects of Meldonium might not have given a significant advantage to this Italian steeplechaser, but it is difficult to know from the outside. I think what we do know is that not many distance runners who choose to cross the line select this product as an aid to their performance, which poses the question - why did this Italian athlete chose to take this, because he’s still claiming his innocence, even though that is the usual tactic of those who have been found guilty. Deny, deny, deny until it even becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and the perpetrator of the nefarious infraction believes himself to be innocent of the charges brought against him.

A pity his career has ended this way because even if he gets back this judicial episode will always hang on his shoulders and he will be viewed differently. What boggles the mind is that in the grand scheme of things - he did not need to take this product. He could probably still have been a great athlete without taking it.

gazzetta.it

L'azzurro Abdelwahed positivo al doping. È l'argento europeo dei 3000 siepi

Il controllo è stato effettuato a Monaco di Baviera. Il farmaco incriminato sarebbe il Meldonium, lo stesso del caso Sharapova. L'atleta: "Non ho mai assunto volontariamente questa sostanza, sto cercando di capire come mai fo...

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Going by this article (today, September 15, 2022) in the famous Italian daily sports newspaper, La Gazetta dello Sport, there is a reference in this article from a British medical Journal stating that back in 2015 there was a tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan, in which around 66 athletes were found to have taken the product Meldonium, but it is not clear from the article whether those athletes were suspended or not. What is clear from the article is that after that episode in 2015 the product was added to the list of banned products (WADA) for sports people. In summary, this is a rather new product which many athletes who wish to seek an advantage do not use, in general.

Abdelwahed: Interestingly this Italian athlete is still convinced that he can get off the hook and prove his innocence in this latest post on Instagram. In this post, he writes that he always ran for purely amateur reasons devoid of any motivation to gain an advantage over other athletes. Reading these lines, the athlete want to spread the message that this was a mistake but not of his own volition but rather an accident that took place which implicated him wrongly and he wants to prove his “not guilty” status. Perhaps his defense team will attempt to demonstrate that he did not take this product of his own volition and that he may have been contaminated which opens the question and the possibility that he might be let off the hook.

This is why, in my opinion, in a case like this, athletes should not be named and dragged through the mud before the full judicial inquiry uncovers all the aspects of the case before coming to a decision. Even if this athlete is subsequently shown to be innocent, his name will have been mentioned and negativity will stick to his name permanently, and that is not fair.

worldathletics.org

Ahmed ABDELWAHED | Profile | World Athletics

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He started his career back in 2012/2013 as a 2:00/4:02 runner (800/1500), as a 16 and 17-year-old. Quite logical/linear progression which does not raise eyebrows. What comes across in his profile on this world athletics website is that this guy does not have blazing speed but is more of a strength guy.

In addition, “my bad” for misspelling his name in the original title to this thread. It is Abdel Wahed not Abdelwahad.

However, Abdelwahed’s Best Road times both achieved in 2021 appear to be very mediocre for a man of his status, 10km 29:34, Half marathon 1:08:45, but perhaps he simply ran both those events “for fun” or to fill a duty for his sponsors. I noticed he was wearing New Balance shoes on one of his Instagram posts. This is not the choice of shoe for most world-class athletes. I think the famous Spanish athlete, Adel Mechaal, a resident of Istanbul, Turkey, where his wife comes from, also wears New Balance.

Just posting stuff you are clueless about. There are a ton of world class athletes using New Balance

This can be the 1st test of my "doper's box" idea.

Ban of only 6 months to 1 year if he attends 6 to 12 high profile meets and sits in the doper's box.

You may be correct because the benefits he derived from taking this product appear to be marginal at best, although those with more knowledge of pharmaceutical products may think otherwise. This is a regrettable episode for the Italian athlete nevertheless because guilt less or not, the exposure of this case will not favor him in the future in anyway, so once again, in my opinion, they should not have brought up this case before reaching a reasonable conclusion somewhere down the road.

Pure conjecture that the drug does not work.

The intent to cheat is there regardless. He thought he was not good enough and should know more than you.

Abdelwahed claims he never voluntarily ingested anything. He appears to be a good and honest guy, but perhaps this view is naive. He is shouting from the rooftops (see Gazetta dello Sport and Instagram), that he never took anything voluntarily. There’s a small window here that this unfortunate Italian athlete was the victim of having his comestibles spiked which brought about this positive test finding. We should not dismiss this possibility from our frame of thinking.

mensjournal.com

What Would Happen If You Took Meldonium? | Men's Journal

Men's Journal

What Would Happen If You Took Meldonium?

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Meldonium: This article appears to be relevant even though it’s just a general health magazine.

Yeah but it's uncanny how soooo many of these 'unfortunates' are of North African extraction. Do they use Morocco as a kind of Regional Ethical template?