Away from the doping allegations currently accompanying the Tour de France, the Austrian Anti-Doping Agency has suspended Slovenian cyclist Blaž Furdi (who is not competing at this year’s Tour) for two years after testing positive for amphetamine.
Mr. Furdi, 24, was tested after winning Grand Prix Sportland Niederösterreich, a race valid for the Austrian cup title, on 6 May. He is a member of the Austrian-based Tyrol Cycling Team.
After the Austrian Anti-Doping Agency’s Law Commission issued its ruling on 10 July, Mr. Furdi said to the media that the test was positive because he had taken “speed” at a party earlier in May. Some news reports on Sportal, a news website, and on Radio Slovenija quote him as saying that he acknowledges drinking alcohol at the party but that the drug was slipped to him without his knowledge.
Speed is a slang name for alpha-methylphenethylamine, a psychostimulant drug that increases wakefulness and focus as well as decreases fatigue and appetite. The substance is used recreationally and as a performance enhancer, and it can be ingested by diluting it in water or alcoholic beverages.
I do not intend to chastise Mr. Furdi for using illegal substances: he was caught violating anti-doping rules and has been sanctioned for doing so. What I do find worth commenting is his explanation of how amphetamine entered his body.
There are two possibilities: Blaž Furdi is either lying to hide the fact that he indeed intended to use performance-enhancing substances, or he is telling the truth.
If he is lying and he thus knew the result of the test conducted on 6 May might turn out to be positive, he had about two months to prepare a plausible excuse. Going to a rave party and being inadvertently slipped speed is on the very bottom of this list. Invoking ignorance and lack of responsibility as a defensive strategy hardly raises sympathy among either the media or the public.
In turn, if the explanation is true and a professional cyclist was slipped amphetamine in his alcohol by a friend, then he is both ignorant and terrible at selecting friends. The person obviously had to be someone he knew as I cannot see dealers attending parties and slipping drugs to people without telling them just for the kick of it; if this was part of their “marketing strategy,” how would a potential client that enjoyed the feeling know whom to contact for seconds?
One actually wonders what is worse: that the best excuse Mr. Furdi could come up with was being inadvertently drugged at a rave party—or that he had actually been inadvertently drugged at a rave party days before racing a championship race. Regardless of what is true, sports teams and federations should perhaps devote more attention to educating the athletes—and assist them even in adverse times.
About Simon Ličen
Simon Ličen is a researcher, lecturer and author in sport, media and communication.
Cyclist Banned for “Speeding”
Away from the doping allegations currently accompanying the Tour de France, the Austrian Anti-Doping Agency has suspended Slovenian cyclist Blaž Furdi (who is not competing at this year’s Tour) for two years after testing positive for amphetamine.
Mr. Furdi, 24, was tested after winning Grand Prix Sportland Niederösterreich, a race valid for the Austrian cup title, on 6 May. He is a member of the Austrian-based Tyrol Cycling Team.
After the Austrian Anti-Doping Agency’s Law Commission issued its ruling on 10 July, Mr. Furdi said to the media that the test was positive because he had taken “speed” at a party earlier in May. Some news reports on Sportal, a news website, and on Radio Slovenija quote him as saying that he acknowledges drinking alcohol at the party but that the drug was slipped to him without his knowledge.
Speed is a slang name for alpha-methylphenethylamine, a psychostimulant drug that increases wakefulness and focus as well as decreases fatigue and appetite. The substance is used recreationally and as a performance enhancer, and it can be ingested by diluting it in water or alcoholic beverages.
I do not intend to chastise Mr. Furdi for using illegal substances: he was caught violating anti-doping rules and has been sanctioned for doing so. What I do find worth commenting is his explanation of how amphetamine entered his body.
There are two possibilities: Blaž Furdi is either lying to hide the fact that he indeed intended to use performance-enhancing substances, or he is telling the truth.
If he is lying and he thus knew the result of the test conducted on 6 May might turn out to be positive, he had about two months to prepare a plausible excuse. Going to a rave party and being inadvertently slipped speed is on the very bottom of this list. Invoking ignorance and lack of responsibility as a defensive strategy hardly raises sympathy among either the media or the public.
In turn, if the explanation is true and a professional cyclist was slipped amphetamine in his alcohol by a friend, then he is both ignorant and terrible at selecting friends. The person obviously had to be someone he knew as I cannot see dealers attending parties and slipping drugs to people without telling them just for the kick of it; if this was part of their “marketing strategy,” how would a potential client that enjoyed the feeling know whom to contact for seconds?
One actually wonders what is worse: that the best excuse Mr. Furdi could come up with was being inadvertently drugged at a rave party—or that he had actually been inadvertently drugged at a rave party days before racing a championship race. Regardless of what is true, sports teams and federations should perhaps devote more attention to educating the athletes—and assist them even in adverse times.
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About Simon Ličen
Simon Ličen is a researcher, lecturer and author in sport, media and communication.