So, on March 7, Maria Sharapova, the seventh most famous tennis player in the world and the highest-earning female athlete in the world, confessed that she’d been doping for a decade, though according to her, she’d been doing it unknowingly.
And in just one day, she lost the endorsement she had with sportswear giant, Nike, since she was 11 years old. Also, Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer and German carmaker Porsche have postponed planned activities with her until the situation becomes clearer. Sharapova possibly facing a two to four year suspension, which will, without a doubt, destroy her career.
She said that the drug had been given to her my her family doctor and had been taken the drug since 2006 for health issues and didn’t know that it had been banned in January of 2015. Her excuse sounds reasonable enough, until you really pay attention and follow what happened.
1. She’d been taking the drug Melodium, which is normally prescribed to angina patients, for 10 years.
Angina patients take this drug because of their heart condition, which caused them to receive insufficient oxygen. But athletes like and take it because it helps their endurance and ability to recover from intensive exercise. That in itself should have been a red light for her.
2. Sharapova said she had been getting the flu (a type of cold) every couple months, had abnormal electrocardiogram readings and had symptoms of diabetes, which runs in her family.
So, if she did, how does a drug for patients with a heart disease relate to her health problem?
3. The World Anti-Doping Agency had sent her an email, on 22 December 2015, informing her of changes to the banned list.
But according to her, she had failed to “click” on the link that would have detailed the prohibited items. That is funny, because if you’re one of the world’s best athlete’s, isn’t it important to check it out the list?
Wow, it seems that most athletes are doping in one form or the other.
According to BBC, it is believed that hundreds of athletes have been using this drug and a lot more cases will become public in the near future.
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