Drugs ban

I saw this news story...:

http://www.athleticsweekly.com/news/world-1500m-leader-alaoui-selsouli-faces-lifetime-ban-after-drugs-positive/

She tested positive for something called furosemide.   I've never heard of it, so I looked it up on google and found this...:

http://www.everydayhealth.com/drugs/furosemide

ok..  so if its banned, its banned...   but having read the description I can't see why she would use it and how it would have helped her...   it sounds innocent enough..  any ideas why it is banned and what advantages it would have given her..?

Helps metabolites of actual drugs, e.g. EPO, to pass through the system more quickly, hence reducing the chances of a drug test picking anything up. Not performance enhancing in itself, but it's similar to searching a yobbo and finding out he's got a bolt-cutter and a set of lock-picks - you'd suspect he's stolen something!

Either she is bloody stupid and really very thick, or she is being pressured at some point to do the doping as she has just come back from a ban.

If she is found guilty thats it over. Has no one explained that to her?

What a way to go! sheesh!

Pethead wrote (see)

Helps metabolites of actual drugs, e.g. EPO, to pass through the system more quickly, hence reducing the chances of a drug test picking anything up. Not performance enhancing in itself, but it's similar to searching a yobbo and finding out he's got a bolt-cutter and a set of lock-picks - you'd suspect he's stolen something!

ahh...   yes I see...   so it masks the real drugs that may be helping her...?  

How bloody stupid to come off a ban and then do it again....

Dark Vader wrote (see)

Pethead wrote (see)

Helps metabolites of actual drugs, e.g. EPO, to pass through the system more quickly, hence reducing the chances of a drug test picking anything up. Not performance enhancing in itself, but it's similar to searching a yobbo and finding out he's got a bolt-cutter and a set of lock-picks - you'd suspect he's stolen something!

ahh...   yes I see...   so it masks the real drugs that may be helping her...?  

How bloody stupid to come off a ban and then do it again....

Indeed. There'd be no reason to take it if she didn't have something to hide...idiot! IMHO, once is a bad mistake but twice means the sport's far better off without her!

DV, furosemide is   a diuretic, it eliminates excess water(oedema) in patients with high BP, so flushes out things faster through the system as said above. and yes,stupid to do it a second time.....

apart from flushing out drug metabolites, which is the main use of diuretics, they can also dramatically reduce body weight in a short space of time by reducing the amount of fluid you retain.  now for your average punter, this will show little effect in performance but for those at the top of their game where the difference between gold and silver is measured in 1/100ths of a second, that small weight loss can help increase speed over short distance.   over long distance it's a negative effect due to the dehydration effect of diuretics so has little use for long distance athletes.

many many years ago I used to sell a very powerful diuretic used for patients with high levels of oedema - often a side effect of CHD. we used to sell an injectable version which looked like water and was tasteless and odourless.   for a laugh we'd occasionally break a vial open and drop it into someone's drink - sure enough, the drinker would be off for a pee very quickly, and again, and again, and again etc...

A rider on the TdF got caught with a similar/the same drug in his sample this year.

I guess with this runner she knew she wasn't going to be good enough without drugs, so took the view that it was the only way.  Or maybe she wanted out.

that was Frank Schleck - different diuretic but same results.  he's the brother of Andy Schleck who was awarded the 2010 TdF when Contador got (eventually) banned for anabolic steroid use, which kind of brings Andy's win into disrepute given he and his brother have been on the same team since year dot.  

could be that the one brother took it as he was fed up with being in the other brothers shadow

Those we see at the Olympics are not simply the best at this or that sport.As I am sure they can all tell you of someone they knew who was just as good as them at some point and then lost it. The hunger just went or just walked away. I suspect the dopers find themselves at that point when self doubt and self belief create a feeling of entitlement. "Ive worked hard, harder than all those out there. What do they know of training 20 hours a week just to come 3rd?  I just need a little to get me back on track, get this tiredness out the way then I'll stop" Thats why I admire those who manage to avoid it all, and I never really feel anger at those who succum. Knowing that you were "tested" literally, and found wanting in both character and moral fibre in the eyes of your peers is greater than any criticism I could level at them.

I remember Ian Kimber swimming champion.  Went to school next to me in Southampton.  He was picked for the Olympics aged 14 - thrown out of Olympic Village for smoking cannabis, given second chance at next Olympics then two weeks before found trying to break into a car so immediately thrown off squad.  Last heard of some years later in court for forging severance cheque having been sacked from job as life guard in local pool.  I always felt it was a real tragedy and that he was probably cursed with a talent he did not want.