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"No casual sex": Warning over drug ban risk
SEN • May 2nd, 2025 2:18 pm
Athletes around the world have been warned casual sex and one night stands significantly increase their chances of failing a doping test.
Various groups have gathered in London this week to discuss changes to anti-doping regulations in a bid to have clearer distinctions between deliberate cheating and accidental contamination.
Travis Tygart, the chief executive of USADA, has warned athletes must think carefully about sexual activity until such time that WADA make any alterations.
Work is being done to re-write rules around minimum levels of certain drugs, but it will take time.
Tygart said: “There’s a handful of substances that you could say at certain levels, and we’re talking very, very low levels, you put in an MRL (minimum reporting level).
“Wada is already doing it for clenbuterol, meat enhancers, and diuretics. Add a few more substances to that, Clostebol would be one of those, because we know it can transfer between people through intimacy. Ostarine is another.
“It’s so pathetic that we’re having this conversation but I think based on the cases we’ve seen, watch who you kiss. Watch out who you have an intimate relationship with.
“To tell that to elite athletes, I think it’s a pretty ridiculous world we’re expecting our athletes to live in, which is why we’re pushing to try to change these rules to make it more reasonable and fair.
“The onus is always on the athletes. We as anti-doping organisations need to take some of that responsibility back.”
The famous kiss case of tennis player Richard Gasquet was cited in the meeting.
Back in 2009, the Frenchman tested positive for cocaine but he was cleared based on his claim that he’d come into contact with the substance after kissing a woman in a nightclub.
Tygart added his frustrations over WADA’s slow move to change and the impact it was having on the real cheats.
“I worry how many of the intentional cheats are actually getting away because we’re spending so much time and resources on the cases that end up being someone kissing someone at a bar.
“Really, it’s incredible to think that you have to tell athletes to be careful who they may have intimate relationships with. And it’s why we have to change the system, so that’s not the world that elite level athletes are expected to live under.”
