Fair enough. But...... It should never have been an issue. At the very least one of her massive team should have picked up on it.
You're right, it's nothing like Jake's situation. Sharapova did a banned substance through ignorance; Jake did it knowing full well it was banned. Jake was far more in the wrong.
A Bournemouth player suffered a similar tragedy to Livermore. A few days later he turned out for them and gave a man of the match performance against Man Utd. Probably went home afterwards to his wife to be with her and comfort her, not go out clubbing and taking Coke. I know which I think acted in the better way.
I sympathise with Jake for hiss terrible loss but taking cocaine isn't the automatic response to grief as, like you said, Harry Arter proved.
As this drug is used for treating ischaemia what the hell was she doing taking it at all. Also only mainly available in eastern Europe. Plus she was taking it for 10 years. What for? Her PR team thought they'd played a blinder by getting her to admit it to deflect the heat but the playing dumb has apparently now backfired on her.
She took it because she / her team thought it gave her an advantage. But it wasnt cheating, because it wasnt illegal. Its not up to athletes to decide what they should or shouldnt take regarding legal substances.
If she took it because she'd looked into it, researched it and decided it gave her an edge even though it was legal then fair enough. But if she took it based on the words of her team then more fool her as it's her body she is putting it into. You honestly don't think she would question why she should be taking a drug used for treating ischaemic diseases for over 10 years? She must take the ultimate responsibilty for taking it. She's a grown up and is in charge of a multi million dollar empire. I don't buy the 'take it Maria you have no choice' route personally. Seems that not many others do either now. Like I said earlier, she's been caught out despite hers and her PR teams plans.
Martin Samuel summed it up well in his column in the Daily Mail - If Maria Sharapova needs meldonium, rather than merely uses it, why did she or her representatives not make this fact known when the substance was placed on WADA’s banned list on January 1? Tennis, like most sports, will issue athletes with Therapeutic Use Exemption certificates. Indeed, the International Tennis Federation has a specific page detailing the use of TUEs. It reads: ‘If you have a medical condition that requires use of a medication or other product containing a substance or method that is on the 2016 Prohibited List, a TUE is required. A TUE permits you to use the prohibited medication or method without committing an Anti-Doping Rule Violation, providing that all such use is in accordance with the conditions of the TUE.’ please log in to view this image +8 Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam winner, admitted she had used melodium for 10 years The statement goes on to list all forms of competition in which a TUE is permissible — Grand Slam events, WTA tournaments, the Federation Cup, even the Olympics. There is no tournament that Sharapova contested in which a meldonium TUE could not have been used, if medically necessary. So, if Sharapova was on meldonium for 10 years for health issues, including a family history of diabetes, she could at least have made a case before the ITF, claiming this drug was essential to her well-being. That she did not will raise the suspicion that meldonium is a drug with performance-enhancing potential, that clever doctors and athletes knew about, and WADA did not have under control. It showed up 182 times in 8,300 random doping samples, meaning the authorities will now receive a rash of TUE requests from athletes whose health has been placed in great danger by the January 1 ruling; or maybe they won’t.
I remember seeing Daley Thompson being interviewed years ago. He said you get a cold or flu you take Paracetamol. Thats it. You dont take any thing else. He went on to say about supplements, why would a super fit athlete who eats all the right foods need to take supplements apart from Cod Liver Oil for joints. She's guilty as, she wont be the only one.
depression is a mental disorder. you don't know what the hell you'd have done if you'd been suffering from it. don't take mental problems lightly; a substantial proportion of us will suffer with them before our time is done. don't be one of those idiots that equates the badly named depression with "being a bit fed up". don't be such an arrogant fool to take the moral high ground when weighing up the actions of people suffering such problems. don't be one of those stupid cretins who believes the most advanced mechanism in the universe can't go wrong.
