- Joined
- Aug 6, 2016
- Messages
- 12,850
- Reaction score
- 4,097
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-32983932
cliffs:
- BBC Journalist, who happens to be a cyclist, injects himself with EPO(bought online from a chinese website) for 14 weeks
- Sends 14 samples to an anonymous, accredited World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) scientist with access to the blood passport software
- Passes all tests
I was now into week 11, the "washout" phase. I was still training but I had stopped taking EPO.
This is the point that real cheats should be most worried because the body wants to reset its blood values to normal, which, if it happens too quickly, can cause a spike in the OFF score, or a dip in the reticulocyte count.
That can trigger a red flag in the biological passport.
I had my blood samples taken as normal, always trying to stay as close to Wada's rules about the samples being analysed within 36 hours.
I sent away 14 samples taken over 14 weeks to my confidential anti-doping source, and these numbers were run through the passport software.
Even though I was half-expecting it, I was still shocked when the result came through. I had passed.
Despite taking EPO for seven weeks, seeing steady rises in my haemoglobin and haematocrit counts, and gaining a significant performance benefit, I was clean.
I am not able to publish the results because I need to protect my source, and I also do not want to reveal anything that could help others cheat, so I went back to Professor Lundby who helped interpret them for me.
He said he could see "traces" of what I had done but "not of a sufficient magnitude to elicit an adverse analytical finding" in the passport.
"There is no evidence that you have injected yourself with EPO," said Lundby.
"If you were an athlete, you would have gotten away with it."
You are only getting caught if you screw up like TJ. Fact is, EPO runs rampant in MMA and it is not that difficult to get and pass drug tests
cliffs:
- BBC Journalist, who happens to be a cyclist, injects himself with EPO(bought online from a chinese website) for 14 weeks
- Sends 14 samples to an anonymous, accredited World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) scientist with access to the blood passport software
- Passes all tests
I was now into week 11, the "washout" phase. I was still training but I had stopped taking EPO.
This is the point that real cheats should be most worried because the body wants to reset its blood values to normal, which, if it happens too quickly, can cause a spike in the OFF score, or a dip in the reticulocyte count.
That can trigger a red flag in the biological passport.
I had my blood samples taken as normal, always trying to stay as close to Wada's rules about the samples being analysed within 36 hours.
I sent away 14 samples taken over 14 weeks to my confidential anti-doping source, and these numbers were run through the passport software.
Even though I was half-expecting it, I was still shocked when the result came through. I had passed.
Despite taking EPO for seven weeks, seeing steady rises in my haemoglobin and haematocrit counts, and gaining a significant performance benefit, I was clean.
I am not able to publish the results because I need to protect my source, and I also do not want to reveal anything that could help others cheat, so I went back to Professor Lundby who helped interpret them for me.
He said he could see "traces" of what I had done but "not of a sufficient magnitude to elicit an adverse analytical finding" in the passport.
"There is no evidence that you have injected yourself with EPO," said Lundby.
"If you were an athlete, you would have gotten away with it."
You are only getting caught if you screw up like TJ. Fact is, EPO runs rampant in MMA and it is not that difficult to get and pass drug tests
