Le Scandal Uncovered Part 3
August 10th 2006 08:26
Bonjour tout le monde!
Now to part 3. So far, we’ve managed to look at quite a bit of the evidence for and against the case of Floyd Landis, but today, I’d really like to focus on the effects of testosterone in the body and how this would in fact enhance an athlete’s performance (which it must do for it to be illegal).
Apparently there has been a lot of debate about this. (It seems that there’s always a lot of debate about cycling…) For those of you who don’t know, testosterone is the principal male hormone which helps development during puberty. It also helps muscle growth and development (an anabolic effect).
The chemical make up of testosterone (this picture is in the public domain and can be found at wikipedia.org)
That last sentence is probably the most relevant for our issue at hand. When used as a performance enhancer, testosterone doesn’t give a quick burst of energy, like most drugs: it is at its most effective when used over a long period of time. This fact throws new light onto the Landis case. If in fact, his ratio is as high as it has been revealed, he has been cheating for a very long time and has probably been “asking” it or diluting it to avoid detection. The positive result, in this case, would have been caused by a mistake in that day’s dosage. Excess testosterone can also be caused by a dose of the Human Growth Hormone. (or HGH)
Other physicians have claimed that testosterone can have a great short term effect. So it even seems that doctors aren’t really convinced about testosterone’s effect either!!!
Everything I’ve said up above is just pure speculation when studying the facts listed in the past two posts. I don’t think anyone is really going to find out exactly what happened.
On August 1, it was reported in the media that a CIR (Carbon Isotope Ratio) test was performed on Landis’ A sample, which revealed that synthetic testosterone was found in the sample. This means that Landis’ claim that the excess hormone was produced naturally has been blown out of the water: some of the testosterone has come from an external source.
So I suppose now we just wait and see. I will post any news I hear about Landis on this blog. Keep looking over the next few months because I have a feeling this isn’t going to go away quickly.
I’ll return to the tour of New Caledonia tomorrow
À demain
Melinda
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