She's suspended for one year "as a result of Scherf’s refusal to take a drug test after the Gold Coast Marathon in Brisbane, Australia on July 1, a race in which she finished second."
"both Scherf and USADA have emphasized the role of an apparent abundance of misunderstandings that occurred at the Brisbane event."
The reason for the half-length suspension is "the unusual circumstances in [Scherf’s] case."
"Scherf refused to submit to sample collection in part because she was unsure about the requirement for a therapeutic use exemption in order to use her asthma medication," the [USADA] release said.
"Scherf now acknowledges that her decision to refuse the doping control test was not excused by these circumstances," the statement continues, "but at the time...she believed she was justified in doing so.
"I was assessed the smallest penalty that USADA’s rules allowed (half the normal two-year suspension) because USADA found that I had ‘no significant fault or negligence’ in this matter," Scherf wrote in an e-mailed statement yesterday. "There was never any dispute of the facts in this matter. Only the appropriate penalty was in question."
Damn, this is quite the situation. So this keeps her out of NCAA competition for a year as well, huh?
Also, on a largely unrelated note, I'm really not a huge fan of when college students take a year off to train on their own to prepare for the Olympics or Olympic trials. It seems that most collegiate runners who do well at the trials are ones who have a good relationship with their coach (the McDonnell's, Wetmore's, Lanana's, and Warhurst's of the world) and trust in his or her judgement and ability not to burn them out during the NCAA season. Taking a lighter course-load and training with your coach while still at college seems a lot smarter than totally changing your living and training arrangement and deciding to train yourself at age twenty or so. You've got enough other complicated stuff going on at that age already.
So she can't run any of the Majors in the marathon, right?
Also, she can't ever run for Hansons as I know they have a strict rule as far as any drug suspension.
That's a stinky situation. The girl is incredibly talented but her choices and judgements are worrisome. Hope she comes around after the suspension. Would be a shame if this talent goes to waste.
the more I read, the less I trust her judgment.
why didn't she just take the test? I trust her about as much as I trust the DOW holding 12000 for a month.
where are all the saretsky haters now? looks like he knows what he's doin'.
Haha...I was just going to say -- Im shocked we havent yet had some disgruntled parent or unsuccessful Harvard job applicant come on here and try to tie this to Jason...after all, this is obviously his fault
hahaha wrote:
where are all the saretsky haters now? looks like he knows what he's doin'.
Is saretsky that coach that turned Harvard around? Why didn't Lindsay just do what he gave her, it was obviously going to help her, maybe she'd still be running and not have a black mark on her record?
girls these days.
Is she the kind of person that would use drugs? I know her and her parents have been pushing running success since she was in high school. She should have just declared her inhaler and taken the test.
what is the kind of person to use drugs?that is a stupid question -are the dopers shady looking? black? poor?there are no stereotypes when it comes to doping
questions wrote:
Is she the kind of person that would use drugs? I know her and her parents have been pushing running success since she was in high school. She should have just declared her inhaler and taken the test.
She says she wants to come back and use one last year of NCAA eligibility. But...correct me if I'm wrong...it can't be at Harvard, right? The Ivy League doesn't recognize any "fifth year" eligibility, does it?
misunderstanding?
It seems she had a very clear understanding: If she took the test she was gonna get popped for roids.
Hmmm, what if this was a sprinter, or better yet, an Ethiopian female distance runner?
This thread would be sizzling hot.
Either way, a drug offense is a drug offense but just in case some people don't know, this is a situation where she had an asthma inhaler prescribed to her in college that is LEGAL to use in the NCAA but that she has to take a special test for and needs a specific waiver for (Therapeutic Use Exemption) in order to compete under USADA/WADA rules.
This case needs to be used to educate collegiate runners!!! Some may just assume that if what they are using is legal in college and it's just a normal asthma inhaler, that it is legal post-collegiately or in non-collegiate competitions as well and that is NOT true.
Why was she so much smarter after the race when they asked her to take a drug test? (Smart enough to refuse a sample)
Did she run past a sign on the course saying that inhalers are PEDs and are not allowed?
My shallow judgmental side thinks that she was well aware that inhalers were illegal and did not think she would get drug tested. But when they came for her piss, well...
In this age of rampant cheating, there should be NO reduction of penalty for Stupidity, especially when it is possible that is was a case of a calculation gone wrong rather than that of genuine ignorance.
anEconomist wrote:
what is the kind of person to use drugs?
that is a stupid question -
are the dopers shady looking? black? poor?
there are no stereotypes when it comes to doping
True, but you seem to be a card carrying apologist of people who use recreational drugs. Is that because you have used many recreational drugs in your youth?
not kilgore wrote:
My shallow judgmental side thinks that she was well aware that inhalers were illegal and did not think she would get drug tested. But when they came for her piss, well...
When you do a drug test, don't you list any prescribed medications you're taking, which would make you exempt from a 'positive test' if they do contain a banned substance?
sounds like someone didn not have her forms filled out and turned in rather than a drug cheat.
that said, she should of piss tested and then went public that she is on a prescription for allergies.
if she is taking a prescribed medication for a medical condition, then she can fill out her TUP forms and be in the clear.
i think a more interesting post rather than bashing a college girl is start a thread with a list of athletes who compete with Treatment Under Physician Forms on file with WADA and USADA.
black rainbow wrote:
sounds like someone didn not have her forms filled out and turned in rather than a drug cheat.
Sounds like someone who knew that she had violated the PED rule and refused to take the test.
BTW, Asthma/Allergy medication is a powerful PED and it is much more of a process than simply filling out forms. There is a very tough testing standard of diminished breathing that needs to be "PROVEN" before the USADA approves asthma medication. Why? Because the medication is a PED to those who do not have asthma.
black rainbow wrote:
rather than bashing a college girl is start a thread with a list of athletes who compete with Treatment Under Physician Forms on file with WADA and USADA.
College girls are just as likely to cheat as any other highly competitive athlete.
If you want to clean up this sport you cannot let an incident like this be treated any differently than if other athletes from other countries "found" "special reasons" to not comply with drug testers.
She should have been treated with the full force of the standard punishment. The full punishment is too lenient anyhow.
TUE, not TUP. Therapeutic Use Exemption. It is a very involved test, and some athletes have no access to the equipment/physicians needed to take the test and complete the required forms unless they travel to an OTC. The same inhalors/asthma medications that require a TUE under USADA/WADA rules only requires a doctor's prescription under NCAA rules.
College athletes who have recently turned pro or who are redshirting and competing for the US in their redshirt year need to be aware that they cannot assume that their inhalor or any other meds prescribed for them by the team doctor that are legal in the NCAA are legal under USADA/WADA rules. Lindsay's experience needs to be used as an example, a teaching tool.