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Mexican meat saga continues but what does it mean for Alberto Contador?

Half players tested at U17 World Cup positive for clenbuterol, WADA accepts tainted meat the likely culprit

More details have emerged about the investigation by FIFA and the Mexican Government to the clenbuterol levels of the players taking part in this year's U17 World Cup staged in Mexico. As we reported last week that report led WADA to drop its appeal against the acquittals of five Mexican footballers and the Danish cyclist Philip Nielsen for doping infringements involving clenbuterol and Mexican meat.

The reason for WADA's change of heart is now becoming clear, more than half the players competing in this summer’s FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Mexico who were subject to doping controls  tested positive for clenbuterol, world football’s governing body has revealed. WADA has accepted that such a large number of positive points to a contaminated food source rather than an attempt to dope. Coming one month before Alberto Contador’s appeal hearing, the news is bound to lead to renewed calls for a minimum threshold to be introduced for the banned substance.

More than half the players competing in this summer’s FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Mexico who were subject to doping controls have tested positive for clenbuterol, world football’s governing body has revealed. Coming one month before Alberto Contador’s appeal hearing, the news is bound to lead to renewed calls for a minimum threshold to be introduced for the banned substance.
The World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) recently said it had no plans to introduce such a threshold when publishing its 2012 Prohibited list.

Mexico and China are seen as the two countries where athletes are most at risk of consuming the anabolic agent innocently as a result of eating contaminated meat.

Ahead of the Under-17 World Cup, countries such as Germany advised their players to avoid red meat, while in cycling, many riders chose not to eat red meat during the recent Tour of Beijing.

It’s not clear how this latest news will affect the Contador case, however. The steak he claims to have eaten during the 2010 Tour de France, which he went on to win, is said to have been brought across the border from Spain into France.
While their have been seizures of clenbuterol by the Spanish authorities investigating illegal practices in farming, where it is used to build muscle mass in livestock, the problem is nowhere near as prevalent as it is in China or Mexico.

Moreover, it could be that the World Anti-doping Agency, which together with the UCI is appealing Contador’s acquittal by the Spanish national federation, may seek to introduce other evidence of doping at the appeal.

That may possibly relate to traces of plasticizers allegedly found in the Saxo BankSunGard rider’s urine, which may provide evidence of an illegal blood transfusion, although no formal test has yet been approved.
The amount of clenbuterol found in the then Astana rider’s sample was 50 picograms of clenbuterol per milliliter – less than that found in the case of the majority of the young footballers in Mexico.

Jiri Dvorak, FIFA's chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak, told AP that 19 of the 24 countries participating in the tournament were affected, but declined to reveal which ones.

“FIFA was very alarmed and it was highly surprising to see something like this - I had not seen anything like it in my 20 years in this post. My first question was, 'could any harm have been done to the players?' and I was assured by the different medical specialists the answer is no,'' he said.
One of the teams that did not have a single player returning a positive test were the hosts, Mexico, who went on to win the tournament.

In the wake of a number of senior players testing positive for the substance ahead of the Concacaf Gold Cup earlier in the summer, attributed to tainted meat, it was firmly off the menu for the junior players, who were given a diet of fish and vegetables instead.

No action is to be taken by FIFA or WADA against the youth footballers, and WADA recently also dropped proceedings against the five senior Mexico players.

Last week, it also revealed that it had decided not to pursue a case against a Danish rider, Philip Nielsen, who had retuned a positive test for clenbuterol following the 2010 Tour of Mexico.

It’s clear now that when it comes to clenbuterol, Mexico is being treated as a special case. Whether that largesse extends to the country’s former imperial governing power, Spain, remains to be seen.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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PeteH | 12 years ago
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I look at all this and all I really end up thinking is that it highlights is how disorganised the doping authorities are.

For my money, the dope tests should be aligned on the same lines as something like the drink driving limits, i.e. a defined non-zero limit, below which is ok and above which is not ok.

To have a test where the threshold is zero, as in clenbuterol, is total crap. For example Contador. He can't (and will never be able to) prove the drug came from contaminated meat, similarly the authorities can't (and will never be able to) prove that it got in his blood by cheating. And so you have stalemate, which is why this is still an issue 18 months after the event.

The other thing about a test against "zero" is when we get more able to measure minute proportions. Years ago they may only have been able to detect grammes of a substance, then technology advances and maybe you detect milligrammes, then it advances a bit more and you detect picogrammes etc. The point is, at what point does it become ridiculous? At what point are you forced to say "not only could this level have been introduced into the body accidentally, but at this level it'd do the sportsman (since we all know we're not just talking about cycling here) no good whatsoever." Can you really suspend someone on those grounds? (Especially in this day and age when suspension could mean losing millions in income. Again, Contador is an prime example.)

I think the problem that the authorities need to crack is that for any banned substance (and possibly combinations of substances) they need to work out the maximum permissible thresholds, above which they can say beyond reasonable doubt that the substance can't have been ingested accidentally. Not easy I know but they need to do this for credibility's sake.

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La Brisa Fresca | 12 years ago
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 16

So its OK for footballers but not cyclists ??????????????
Why does the cycling fraternity love to condemn their once heroes ?
Whether guilty or not, Contador should be cleared as he has produced enough doubt and if there had been a sensible threshold, as with other substances, there would never have been a positive.
Cycling made its own problems with the stupid haemocrit levels effectivley encouraging riders to dope (as long as they stayed below the limit)and now it feels compeled not to use common sense like other sports.

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Decster | 12 years ago
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Means nothing for Contador. He ate Spanish meat! He has to prove the meat was contaminated, which he cannot do as he allegedly consumed it all. The story of finding a Basque farmer and his brother who had in the past used Clen on their cattle near where the meat was allegedly purchased holds no weight whatsoever.

There is no prevalence of Spanish athletes testing positive for Clen like what has happened in Mexico and China so how can Contador expect to get off with a contamination case when he is the only Spanish, never mind European, with a so called 'contamination positive'.

Cant see it and i expect a minimum 1 year ban if not 2.

Let's not kid ourselves that pro cycling has been cleaned up. Sadly.

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alun replied to Decster | 12 years ago
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Why does Contador have to prove anything? WADA and UCI have to prove that he didn't get the Clen from meat as accepted by RFEC . While they are about it they could explain why the labs testing other TdF cyclists couldn't match Colognes detection levels, thus creating a "threshold" for some but not others.

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La Brisa Fresca replied to alun | 12 years ago
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Quite right mate.

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cat1commuter | 12 years ago
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Ooops:

Quote:

While their have been seizures of clenbuterol

"there" not "their".

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antonio | 12 years ago
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any odds being quoted on bertie's case outcome?

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