MANCHESTER, April 12 — The revelation that banned teenage Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva had been plied with 56 medicines and dietary aids has shone a lightweight on the murky world of authorized dietary supplements, the place a contaminated powder or poorly-worded label may spell catastrophe for an elite athlete.
Canada’s double world figure skating champion Meagan Duhamel by no means trusted antibiotics throughout her aggressive profession and was even hyper-wary of nutritional vitamins and minerals for concern of triggering a constructive doping outcome.
“I didn’t take antibiotics as soon as in my elite profession and I questioned any nutritional vitamins,” she informed eNM.
“No athlete is taking over 50 dietary supplements as a teen on their very own or with out unwell intent. The athletes I do know questioned every little thing and took perhaps Advil (ibuprofen) and some nutritional vitamins and that’s it.”
“When we needed to fill out an inventory of no matter we took inside a sure quantity of days, mine was at all times the identical: iron, magnesium and calcium,” Duhamel mentioned.
“The lists that got here from Chinese and Russian skaters generally wanted the back and front of the paper.”
In January, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) discovered Valieva responsible of committing an anti-doping violation after Trimetazidine (TMZ) was present in a pattern in December 2021.
Valieva blamed her constructive take a look at on a strawberry dessert ready by her grandfather on a chopping board he used to crush his treatment capsules.
CAS’s detailed report surprised observers. The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) known as it “surprising”, whereas athlete-led group Global Athlete mentioned it was “proof of abuse of a minor.”
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada throughout the ISU (*50*) Prix figure skating ultimate for pairs free skating in Marseille December 9, 2016. Duhamel mentioned she by no means trusted antibiotics throughout her aggressive profession and was even hyper-wary of nutritional vitamins and minerals for concern of triggering a constructive doping outcome. — eNM pic
Potential dangers
Sport nutritionist Stefano Montanari has warned dad and mom and coaches on the lookout for a aggressive edge that there are potential dangers in feeding dietary dietary supplements to youngsters.
“Even with out wanting on the record, in such a younger athlete, (56) is rather a lot,” mentioned Montanari, a lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University who works with elite athletes of all ages.
“When I’ve a name with dad and mom, they ask me about dietary supplements. It’s normally their first or second query. I at all times back-pedal and say, ‘Before wanting into any dietary supplements, let’s have a look at their weight-reduction plan’.”
He additionally warned of potential unhealthy uncomfortable side effects.
“There is little analysis, clearly for moral causes, executed in youth athletes, so we don’t know a lot about what could possibly be side-effects of taking dietary supplements,” he mentioned, including there was a harmful message in younger athletes searching for success by way of capsules and powders.
“You’re educating that athlete that by simply taking some capsules she is going to get the perfect out of it for her profession and her efficiency and restoration,” he mentioned.
“It appears to be like roughly just like the bodybuilder on the gymnasium who jumps on the bandwagon and takes every little thing, considering ‘Oh, that might work’.”
Jeremy Luke, the CEO of Canada’s anti-doping watchdog the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport mentioned the large concern around dietary supplements is their lack of regulation.
“What’s actually vital for an athlete is you’re accountable for what’s in your physique,” mentioned Luke.
“Talk to your nutritionists and docs, and just be sure you’re actually, actually, actually cautious with what you’re consuming. And be sure you have an entourage around you who you possibly can belief and that’s correctly certified and offering you with medical experience.”
Common defence
Ingesting a contaminated supplement is a typical defence from athletes after a constructive take a look at.
Rachel Hannah, a five-times Canadian champion distance runner and registered dietician, mentioned sport dietary supplements are a multi-billion-dollar trade with advertising guarantees that entice athletes around enhanced power, restoration, weight reduction, efficiency and extra.
“Athletes are at all times methods to enhance efficiency and restoration so flip to dietary supplements with this precise aim in thoughts,” she mentioned.
“(Elite athletes) ought to completely be certain that dietary supplements are third-party examined to verify what’s listed on the label is in actual fact within the product. This additionally ensures security in relation to banned substances.”
In its January report “Operation Refuge, An Examination of Doping Among Minors,” Wada mentioned that since 2012, 1,416 under-18s throughout all sports activities had returned constructive doping assessments.
They discovered the athlete typically bore the complete brunt of the constructive take a look at, reporting abandonment and blame from coaches and staff mates.
One athlete mentioned within the report mentioned: “I bear in mind nobody, not a staff mate, a coach, or one other mother or father, supplied any assist or sympathy after I examined constructive… everybody blamed me, and I blamed myself. I used to be making an attempt to do my greatest and I nonetheless let everybody down.” — eNM
