Catch me if you can! #jesuissharapova

Well, not really! First, je suis not Sharapova for obvious and less obvious reasons and second this is not about Maria, but more about the crazy and endless race to extend the list of banned substances in sports. 

If you have been following the news, you might have read the recent World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) ruling to ban Maria Sharapova for 4 years after testing positive during her last Australian Open Tournament participation. While nobody’s disputing the legal facts, the current world no. 7 (my third favorite player after Steffi Graf and Serena Williams) and her team simply failed to read the WADA memo sent to the Russian Anti-Doping Agency and published on the WADA website since September 2015, stating that Meldonium (the substance she’s been using for 10 years!!) will make its way into the banned substance list starting Jan 1, 2016. And... she kept taking it during the Oz Open! Bang! Who said ignorance is a bliss? - This is plain stupid!

WADA now classifies Meldonium under the substances prohibited at all times in the S4 category of ‘Hormone and Metabolic Modulators’. What Meldonium does is simple: it increases the oxygen uptake by tissues, enhancing therefore the muscular (read more energy), mental capacity (read focus) and physical endurance of the athletes. Now, under that metabolic category, there is quite an interesting row of other molecules that achieve the exact same energy outcome however under a different pharmacological pathway. You’d expect these to be on the WADA list, but to my biggest surprise, they are NOT there! One of these prominent molecules is commercialized under the name of Striadyne. The oral form of Striadyne (Striadyne Forte 15mg - tablets) has been withdrawn from the market since Jan 1, 1996 but its injectable form is still flowing today and very much used in hospital care for cardiac emergencies. The molecule it contains -Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)- is the nucleotide known in biochemistry as the "molecular currency" of intracellular energy transfer; that is, ATP is able to store and transport chemical energy within cells.

I have personally and periodically used oral Striadyne back in the days when I was on the circuit and running 5 to 8 daily hours on a tennis court and boy, I was tireless for loooong hours like a Duracell bunny on nuclear batteries. The stamina was just unbelievable. Was it legal? - you bet it was, as much as it is today - but that is not the right question. The question is: "is it ethically correct to use it during competition and gain -a hidden- competitive advantage?" - I for sure know better today.

Meldonium is dead - Long live Striadyne and all its hidden militia cousins! - Not!

Food for thought…