Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova failed a drug test during the Australian Open 2016 tournament. Sharapova tested positive on a banned substance.
Maria received a letter from the ITF advising her that her tests returned positive. The substance to which she has tested positive, the drug called meldonium, has been recently banned by the Anti-Doping Agency. Sharapova said that she has been taking the medicine prescribed by her family doctor since 2006 for magnesium deficiency.
Sharapova made the announcement during the press conference in Los Angeles on Monday 7 March.
“I have failed the test and I take full responsibility for it,” said the Russian tennis star. She was using the medicine under a different name and didn’t know it was the same substance, she said.
“For 10 years this medicine was not on the banned list,” she pointed out. “I have been legally taking the medicine for the past 10 years. But on January 1 the rules have changed and meldonium became a prohibited substance, which I didn’t know.
“I was getting sick a lot, I was getting a flu every couple of months,” Sharapova said about why the drug was initially prescribed. She also mentioned a family history of diabetes.
Dressed in black, Sharapova looked not like her usual composed self. She looked pale and distressed. The journalists that were called to the press conference for the “major announcement” didn’t expect it to be this type of news. Rumors were that Sharapova might announce her plans to retire.
However, the Russian tennis star said clearly that she didn’t wish to end her career. But this may be not up to her.
Photo: screenshot
Video: Maria Sharapova’s Press Conference in Los Angeles 7 March 2016
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OMG, rumour has that she was warned that meldonium will bann by the Anti-Doping Agency. So maybe she hoped to soften the punishment because she made the announcement by herself. But Sharapova is not young girl, so this situation is a very dangerous for her career. I wonder what will happen next.
Sharapova has received at least 5 warnings (letters) from the anti-doping agency with the lists of substances that would be banned in 2016. They do it every year, more drugs are banned. So, while she was not personally told that
“meldonium will be banned”, the lists were made available to her like to all other athletes.
Horror where the world is heading?!? Absurd, she confesses that she used doping! She probably paid for it, more than earned))) let now forget for glory and sits in disgrace before all the Nations. I’m shocked it was my idol
Even though, Maria has never been my favorite tennis player (I have been playing tennis for the majority of my life), these are the sad news to hear 🙁 I do not even know if I believe what she is saying or not. Maybe she really needed the medicine according to the health condition, or maybe she lied, and it was just a doping for her. Anyway, we will never know the truth.