Ron,
It all depends on the profile of the athlete, and whether it will make a
headline. If you read their propaganda well enough, you'll see that it is
purposfully left ambiguous. That's OK if all they are doing is going after
real cheaters, but that's not the case.
According to their rules, the "training effect" is actually illegal, but
there's no way (i hope) for them to enforce that. Their definitions are so
vague that energy drinks and bars should get you suspended, but they
don't......yet. How many adverts for energy products have your read that don't
say "improves performance"?
Personally, i don't see any difference between using an altitude tent and using
anything that is not specifically on the banned list, BUT, should your HCT go
above 50%, you better watch out. What happens to a guy that has a HCT of 47,
then goes and lives at altitude for a month......all of a sudden he has
"irregular blood values", because its not normal for him.....?
To answer your question....i don't know, and USADA won't tell you. It all
depends on their set of morals and ethics on the day in question.
Why doesn't drinking a can of Mt. Dew get you busted? It gives you an
advantage over the guy that doesn't drink it (at least for 10-20 minutes). Why
does a high HCT get you busted even if they don't find anything "illegal"?
The fact is, anything that you do to improve performance is considered
cheating. Unfortunately, they make no distinction between "improving
performance" and "maximizing performance". If you drive for 15 hours to get to
a race and your competitor flys there, who is more likely to have the best
performance? Did he improve or maximize his performance? If you are training
above your physical capabilities for a long period of time, you'll start to
feel run-down and sluggish at some point. A blood test will show a lower HCT
as well as lowered Iron levels. Is getting an injection of Iron and some B
vitamins to bring you out of the slump "illegal" or not? USADA says it is.
Is getting an IV after a really hot, tough stage in the Tour "legal" or
"illegal"? According to USADA it is "illegal", but everyone knows that the top
teams do it (including the yellow jersey after a well known time trial) so that
the riders don't get dehydrated. What about the teams that can't afford to do
that, are they being cheated?
We can go to extremes on this and still not have any clear picture. A guy has
access to the best medical advice and the latest research. He finds out that
drinking an imported beer, taking 81mg of aspirin, taking 3 children's Sudafed,
and eating 2lbs of spinach just before a race will make him go faster. Next
year, GNC makes a tablet (a really big one) that contains all of these
ingredients. The FDA then classifys it as dangerous because you can die from
having really bad *****, so USADA says that this substance is now "illegal".
Was this guy cheating or not?
Its a really big gray area, but they do have the power to bust you, whether or
not you are taking anything "illegal". It all just depends on how unreasonable
they intend to become.
Food for thought.....
-chump