Hope Solo tests positive for Gatorade
Posted on July 12, 2012 4:51 pm
Since 2007, Hope Solo has been testing the theory that there is no such thing as bad publicity. She is the second most famous athlete this week to run afoul of the USADA over doping allegations. Why the US Dairy Association cares about doping is beyond me, but that’s the America we live in now.
For those of you who get your news about the US women’s national team from ussoccer.com – well, tough crap, I guess. The Fed released a statement about Hope and dope, but lotsa luck finding it on the official website.
As an aside – it must be tough to run an official website about an entity frequently in the news. But there are ways to handle the outside world besides just drawing the blinds, Fed. Frexample, if you were looking for news about Megan Rapinoe’s orientation announcement, ussoccer.com is the last place in the world you would look. Don’t believe me?
What? No, that’s not what I meant!
We live in cynical times, where even people are clearly innocent as Roger Clemens and Ryan Braun are maliciously reviled in the kangaroo court of public opinion. (For those of you who don’t follow Major League Rounders – that’s a joke. Those guys had more juice than Sunkist, more needles than RCA, more ‘roids than Al Bundy.) ”Yes, but technicality” should keep people out of prison, because that’s a cornerstone of civilization. That doesn’t and shouldn’t invalidate people from drawing conclusions. People shouldn’t jump to conclusions, but they also shouldn’t used “convicted criminal” as the only rationale for criticism.
In this case, though, Solo’s explanation is so plausible that you have to wonder why the result was even publicized in the first place. This wasn’t even then-Red Bulls Jon Conway and Jeff Parke taking something over-the-counter and getting a goofy result – this was for something genuinely medical. So why did we hear about this? Solo isn’t running for office. We don’t need to know her medical history.
It isn’t like the USADA is in the habit of cutting people slack based on celebrity. Why, I remember this one time when they went after the most famous bicyclist who ever lived. Come to think of it, the USADA was in court with Lance Armstrong the same freaking day that Solo’s test was announced.
Another amusing aside – the case against Armstrong relies heavily on his former teammates breaking a code of silence. Using perhaps unwarranted inference, we can assume that if Solo had been engaging in an ongoing conspiracy to smuggle unicorn testicles, her teammates probably wouldn’t have covered for her. She strained her triceps pretty badly when she threw Briana Scurry under the bus back in 2007, an that injury was aggravated when Abby Wambach and Kristine Lilly threw her under the very same vehicle.
For some reason, Solo now has to put up with silliness like this. I have no idea whether sheknows.com is reputable at all, but it comes up on the Google search of “Hope Solo drug test,” along with legitimate media reporting the story in two terse paragraphs and Bleacher Report idiocy. But why is “Hope Solo drug test” showing up on Google in the first place?
If Solo never tests positive for anything ever again, this warning doesn’t matter. And if a vial of her pee comes back with more red flags than a Urawa Diamonds match – then this warning doesn’t matter.
Maybe I’m just being grouchy – I should be fine for the rest of the week. As long as an annoying team doesn’t join the second division, or unless someone suggests that Bob Bradley should be the next Timbers coach.
solo got caught cheating, oh well move on, its the gringo way.
My opinion on the WADA is that you’d be just about as well off trusting FIFA to protect the integrity of sporting competition as them.
I think we’re on the cusp of an exciting future for longer, safer, healthier careers for high-level athletes and folks like WADA and the IOC are in the way.
Mark me down as pro PED, and I’d love to see the discussion shift to making these substances safer, more reliable and more effective so that athletes can best handle the ridiculous demands they put on their bodies.
I know he isn’t American, but I’m waiting for someone to challenge Rafael Nadal about PEDs. Because, as we know, no athlete is good enough to win 7 straight annual major sporting events in France ;^)
Truth is, Hope peed in a cup & that pee had in it something that shouldn’t be in there if she wants to go to the Olympics. I have no doubt it was a result of prescribed PMS meds, and I have no problem with the USADA’s public warning. It’s like diving in hockey: when they announce the penalty, they say exactly what it was for (“unsportsmanlike conduct – diving”). It’s supposed to act as a deterrent. For the USADA, it also serves to remind athletes to be 100% sure they know what they put in their bodies – that banned substances can be found anywhere, even prescription medication.
Anyway, I feel the punishment fit the crime, to use both terms very loosely.
And I actually feel a little bit sorry for Hope that her PMS is international news.
But… it’s her responsibility to know what’s in the supplements, vitamins, and yes, prescription medications that she takes. You can bet she won’t make this mistake again. That’s the point.
On a tangent: supposedly, if Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France titles were stripped from him, they would have to go down to the 15th or 20th place finisher to find someone “clean” to give the medal to!
“Truth is, Hope peed in a cup & that pee had in it something that shouldn’t be in there if she wants to go to the Olympics.”
Actually she had something completely innocuous in there whose only problem is that it interferes with their testing program.
It’s a silly way to proceed. Completely legitimate substances all have to be banned because of a neo-victorian desire to “purify” athletics. Hope Solo did nothing wrong. Can’t say the same for the folks doing the testing.
I heard Dan Loney was involved in sex scandal with Hope Solo, Alex Morgan and Sigi Schmid. It’s on the internet so it must be true.
The banning of this substance is not really because it is a performance enhancement. The thought that it is performance enhancement (it dehydrates you) is a completely ridiculous fiction. It is on the list because it can be used to flush banned drugs out of your sytem. So it is a reason to be suspicious of abuse. With the innocent explanation indicating no grounds for suspicion of abuse, there actually is no grounds for a warning either. If they risked doing something more than Solo was willing to put up with, they are buying legal problems and more dangerous inviting political attention to them in an election year. Of course they want this all forgotten as soon as possible.
“But… it’s her responsibility to know what’s in the supplements, vitamins, and yes, prescription medications that she takes. You can bet she won’t make this mistake again. That’s the point.”
Two problems. 1) You are confusing responsibility with fault.
2) You are assuming that manufacturers actually put in their products what is on the label. Many times they don’t. Vitamins and Supplements are especially notorious for false labeling.
Damn.
I was just getting used to the sound of the “Choke” Solo nickname I think I invented.
I’m with Voros. I hate WADA and don’t trust them at all.
I thought there was a rule that when a writer uses Hope Solo in the title of an article it was mandatory for the article to contain a gratituous photo of her in a skimpy outfit to entice the readership?
Fail, Dan…here’s the pic for your readers…;)
http://www.newsgab.com/attachments/celebrity-pictures/493934d1340799968-hope-solo-fitness-magazine-hope-solo-fitness2.jpg
Let’s sum up:
1. A few years ago, WADA had a big egg on its face after the Zach Lund case: http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/02/09/11626/skeleton-racer-hopes-for-redemption-in-vancouver/
2. So WADA got real. Accidentally taking a diuretic as part of some other medication these days is far more likely to get you a public warning.
3. And that’s what happened with Solo.
And that’s it.
But I guess that’s too boring.
But why is the warning public? No one benefits from this, least of all the athlete. You still get idiotic drooling blither from, to pick an example entirely at random, people like our first commenter.
As far as the greater issue of steroids in society – I’m torn. I don’t want high school kids screwing up their reproductive systems (or worse) for a 0.0001% chance at the pros. I care a little less about full-fledged pros acting as human guinea pigs. And now that we’re in the era where PEDs also help heal from injury…yeah, I can’t see the justice in banning things like that. I realize people are paid much more than I am to make those distinctions, and there might never be a PED with no harmful side effects…but if someone does invent the Super-Soldier Serum, then why keep it from the general public, let alone pro athletes? Who are we to say “No, you must recuperate in greater pain and for a longer time, because that’s the way Honus Wagner did it”?
“No one benefits from this,”
Well WADA get their name in the paper. I mean you can probably only threaten to ban caffeine once a year to get that media kick you’re looking for, so you need to fill in the gaps with other stuff.
Dan – That’s when you get a “Therapeutic Use Exemption.”
voros — WADA has improved significantly since Dick Pound left. Fewer rushes to judgment every time an American is involved. Less publicity-seeking. More actual work to keep people from ruining their bodies in pursuit of that extra tenth of a second.
Maybe this is Hope’s clumsy way of blaming her intermittently stupid behavior on an underlying medical condition?
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