Nobody said that Povetkin didn't know what he was taking. The same way athletes using asthma medications know what they are using them for. The point is is that was LEGAL FROM WADA STANDPOINT.sucracristo wrote:WADA law is not government law, so we are playing word games with the term "legal".boxing_rocks wrote:You can't be punished for taking a LEGAL drug which some think may be performance enhancing. Protein drinks, vitamins and healthy food are also performance enhancing
russia's FDA is almost non-existant. if something isn't criminal to buy, then it is probably
available over the counter in pill or powder or whatever form. there are no protein drinks,
supplements, or foods with meldonium as an ingredient, and comparing meldonium with
suppplements or things normally found in the food supply is twisted. you're telling me
if last fall i took out a soup spoon and handed it to you full of a powder (like the stuff you're
comparing it to) and told you to eat it, and when you asked i told you it was medonium,
you would have eagerly ate it? even right now i seriously doubt you know what meldonium
could do to your heart rhythm and blood pressure and serious ellergic reactions. povetkin
did NOT get this crap in protein powder. he got it from a doctor, either directly or indirectly,
and so did all those other russians. they don't just start eating random chemicals from under
the kitchen sink hoping it will make them better athletes. the russians sports federations had
doctors prescribing this stuff and monitoring the athletes. that is how povetkin got it.
sharapova was even more ridiculous when she claimed "a family doctor" (in latvia, where it
is made) prescribed it, even though she has been living full time in the usa since she
was like 7 years old and meldonium is not an FDA approved drug. coincidentally,
after testing positive for it, povetkin claims the last time he took it was EXACTLY when
WADA notified the federations and coaches to stop using it, almost to the day. why didn't
he mention it before testing positive? ryabinsky was trying to avoid testing at wada labs
months ago after winnning the purse bid, claiming that he would find his own european
lab to do the testing. they all already knew this could be an issue back then and tried
to lie and cheat around it, but it didn't work.
And I am not sure why so many posters are so naive or playing naive. Meldonium is probably not the only thing Povetkin is taking. The only reason he got caught is that it was legal, so nobody knew how to clear the body of it correctly. Most of top athletes take stuff, but they know how to get rid of it. You think Wilder is clean ? He is dumb, but not that dumb to give others such advantage.
