he Days before Qatar World Cup, Papu Gomez tests positive for doping The news that he finally won the championship with Argentina caused shock in the football world. The attacker was in Seville at the time, Monza confirmed in a statement that the drug tested positive for the substance terbutaline, which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) list of banned substances..
Papp has been banned for two years, so anti-doping authorities could strip him of the Qatar World Cup and Europa League titles he won with Sevilla. A control that tested positive was carried out in the city of Seville in November 2022.
but, What exactly is terbutaline? What is it used for? Could the virus reach football players’ bodies via cough syrup, as he suggested?
What is terbutaline
Terbutaline andIt is a drug that belongs to the so-called beta2 agonist family, bronchodilators that open the airways.. This allows people taking these substances to have a greater blood supply and produce greater effort. Plus, it allows you to recover faster after strenuous exercise. Relevo discovered the case in July after cyclist Simon Yates in 2016 and athlete Majida Maayouf in 2020 both tested positive for the substance.
Doctors often prescribe terbutaline to prevent and treat wheezing. (whistling sound while breathing), Shortness of breath and difficulty breathing due to asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema. It is taken orally and available at pharmacies, but only with a doctor’s prescription. It has been sold in the EU since the 1960s.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibits all beta-2 agonists from being consumed by athletes and considers them designated substances.In addition to other drugs such as terbutaline, there are Arformoterol, fenoterol, formoterol, higenamine, indacaterol, levalbuterol, olodaterol, procaterol, reputerol, albuterol, salmeterol, tranol Quinol, Tuloterol, and Vilanterol. In the case of terbutaline, there is no minimum allowed for consumption, no matter how small, to be considered positive.
Albuterol (known as ventolin) is the substance that Chris Froome tested positive for at the 2017 Vuelta a España. The British cyclist was ultimately spared sanctions because he provided evidence that the methods used by the laboratory to quantify the substance were invalid.
What does it mean that it is a specific substance?
This is a very important detail of the case.IAMA classifies some banned substances as “specified” substances: In this case, the athlete may choose to reduce the ban because WADA believes that the substances can reach the body without premeditation.
So in these cases, Responsible disciplinary tribunals have some flexibility in deciding sanctions. This does not mean that specific substances are considered less serious doping than other prohibited substances, nor does it mean that they exempt athletes from the strict rules that hold athletes responsible for all substances that enter their bodies.
However, there may be a plausible explanation for the presence of these substances in athletes that has nothing to do with doping. This possibility does not exist with other substances such as steroids or human growth hormone, so they are not classified as “specific.”
Papp’s version of events is that he took the syrup from one of his children days before testing positive without prior consultation with the club’s physician. this is possible?Yes, because terbutaline is sold as a syrup and an inhaler. However, the penalty imposed on Papu was the maximum penalty for terbutaline – two years – indicating that there was no excuse in this case: Papu was neither authorized nor notified that he was taking terbutaline during the control period.
