Friday, January 14th, 2011 at 4:59 pm  |  71 responses

More Athletes Test Positive for Modafinil in Turkey

Same substance, same lab, at the same time…coincidence?

By Ben York / @bjyork

According to multiple reports out of Turkey, there may be up to four more professional athletes (and counting) that have tested positive for the same substance as Diana Taurasi (Modafinil)…around the same time…from the same lab…in the same country.

diana_taurasi1Among the accused are Taurasi, a professional soccer player and a swimmer (names could not be confirmed), and Monique Coker (a former WNBA player). Furthermore, it is expected this number of positive samples could rise in the coming days and weeks.

For those who just want the facts, here is a brief summary:

- Diana Taurasi reportedly tests positive for Modafinil

- Accusations come to fruition without following proper protocol (i.e. testing the ‘B’ sample) as outlined and mandated by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)

- Report questioning the validity of the lab (previously suspended by WADA)

- Taurasi’s ‘B’ sample tested in Turkey

- Taurasi’s ‘B’ sample reportedly tests positive

- Doctor in Turkey declared it was positive without official confirmation

- Teammate Penny Taylor, in an unprecedented move, requests her samples to be tested in another country (Germany)

- Taurasi tells Geno Auriemma she didn’t take anything

- Thousands of fans from Turkey join to protest the results citing other athlete’s who have tested positive as well as questioning the doctor’s motives

- More professional athletes (in multiple sports) are accused of taking Modafinil at the same time as Taurasi from the same lab in Turkey

- Neither Taurasi or her lawyer, to date, have received complete lab documentation

***

With all the facts we currently have, there are four possible conclusions:

1. This is all a freak coincidence but they are guilty and we should hate them.

Maybe all of the athletes, who are fully aware of the frequency and severity of drug testing, suddenly decided to take Modafinil at the same time without regard to any consequence. Maybe they all got together and had a Modafinil party! Of all of the potential performance enhancing drugs that are available, multiple athletes in various different sports and disciplines decided this would set them apart from their competition. Maybe they even got matching Modafinil tattoos together and made friendship bracelets and/or necklaces with ‘M’ as the logo. Heck, maybe they started a Modafinil club?

2. Taurasi’s guilty, but everyone else is innocent.

Judging by the response of the general public, this seems to be everyone’s collective thought. In spite of all the facts and denials from each athlete who has tested positive, people’s minds are seemingly already made up, especially in regards to Diana Taurasi.

Guilty by accusation.

The aforementioned facts are just that – facts. Still, many will say Taurasi is guilty no matter what – even if she is proven innocent.

3. Lab contamination is a possibility.

Can we begin to look at this as a legitimate possibility now? It’s funny; I’ve seen many individuals and articles actually defend the lab like it was a close family member. Really? Do you have a relative that works in the lab in Turkey? We’re in America and a player of ours is accused of doping overseas from a questionable lab in Turkey…and we defend the lab?

Multiple athletes tested positive for the same substance, at the same time, in the same country, at the same lab. Other athletes went so far as to request their samples be tested in another country as they didn’t trust the facility. The lab has been previously suspended. Need I continue? Ignoring these facts is irresponsible.

Look, I’m not saying this is 100 percent what happened but we, at the very least, need to open our minds to the possibility.

4. We simply don’t know.

Without question, all of these accusations sound fishy. Something’s missing. Something isn’t right. We don’t have all the information, but what we do have sounds awfully suspicious. Before we pass judgment, let’s wait a while. Let’s see how this all shakes out.

In wake of these recent reports, don’t we need to give these athletes the benefit of the doubt? And, perhaps more importantly, isn’t a closer examination of the lab now mandatory?

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  • http://www.need4sheed.com Tarzan Cooper

    Wheres all those people who were hating on taurasi?. This whole thing gets even more fishy..something aint right at that lab.

  • Son of Shawn

    That´s a weird situation, the only smart thing we (fans) can do is to shut up and wait

  • http://slamonline.com Ben York

    @Tarzan – To quote Alanis, “a little too ironic, don’t ya think?” /self fail

  • http://slamonline.com Ben York

    @Son of Shawn – Exactly.

  • http://www.need4sheed.com Tarzan Cooper

    Who automatically believes tthis type of stuff from a lab that was suspended by the wada??. And what happened to lance armstrong? Talk about swept under the rug

  • tavoris

    the truth always comes to light. Let’s see how many kats who hated on Taurasi comment in here.

  • Cammy

    Here come Ben York once agin trying to find anything, something to clear Dee’s name. Maybe they took it because most people get away with it. But they got caught. We all know you have a deep love for Dee. You are trying so hard to clear her name. Ben all her samples have been positive. What more proof do you need. It will be good for her to be forced to take some time out. Don’t worry wnba fans. The wnba will find a way to make sure Dee plays and that all of her messes are swept under the rug. What spell does Dee have over you York?

  • Cammy

    Ben your writing has become more and more disappointing.
    #1 we should all hate them. Why would you even write something like that and make it seem like we automatically hate. Many people have an issue with Dee because of all her attics. She is a dirty, dangerous player. Her image is not good for the league. I don’t know anything else about the others that tested positive so I don’t dislike or like them. All your writing is so bias. Just state the facts and let others make up their minds.

  • sadsnake

    Great job, Ben. The ‘modafinil club’ thing was priceless. Funny but those people who accuse you of being biased are far more biased themselves. Their own hatred for Diana Taurasi is all that matters. And it looks ridiculous considering that they’ve never known her personally and she did them no harm. Let’s hope for the best. The whole story is too fishy to be left like that.

  • t

    I kinda thought that something was fishy as well. I read that one wnba player was suspended from her team because she refused to pratice. Her reasoning was that she had not been paid in 19 days. Now all theses other athletes are testing positive for the same subtance. Sounds like the league is trying to cover up financial problems. Instead of admitting to this they rather resort to making their players whom they have to pay a large salary look bad. Its just my opinion based on how some people I know who have played overseas had been treated. I don’t know if the athletes took anything but I agree with ben on waiting until the verdict is in before I say a person is guilty.

  • Alex

    Hey Cammy,
    So adamant about the facts, yet you seem to have no problem throwing generalizations around left and right. “Many people have an issue with Dee because of all her attics. She is a dirty, dangerous player. Her image is not good for the league.” – Really? that’s why she got the MVP award in 09′ and has the 2nd highest selling jersey in the league? Yeah, that kind of image could just kill the league.

    Ben is not trying to clear her name, (she’s got a lawyer working on that) rather, give readers more info that the mainstream media has yet to report. It’s obvious his only interest is justice and your only interest is making generalizations about a player you are obviously biased against.

  • http://slamonline.com The Black Rick Kamla

    situation fishier than a sushi kitchen. Hopefully she’s pumped and getting ready for next WNBA season to prove the haters and the doubters and all the critics wrong.

  • lavender

    I agree with you Cammy to a point. Ben’s writting has gottne worse. He is very bias in the way he writes. I do think that the W can pick a better player to promote.

  • nobody

    You said ‘Furthermore, it is expected this number of positive samples could rise in the coming days and weeks’

    Now can you tell me how you know this, I thought drug tests are confidential

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ben York

    @nobody – it is taken right from the articles and reports in Turkey that I linked to.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ben York

    @lavender/cammy – I’m pretty sure my writing has gotten worse only because you’re not Taurasi fans.

  • http://www.spordelileri.com Furkan Zengin

    By the way Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) agreed penny taylor’s sample will open in Cologne , Germany. Also TBF says, clubs can choose one of those three labarotories for testing samples. (Cologne, Lisboa, Ankara) if any club choose Cologne or Lisboa, they must pay the charge of test.

    Other suspected object, Ankara catched 5 person with doping. 3 of them are soccer player, 2 of them women basketball player. Swimmers are not confirmed and possibly it’s just a rumour. butt important things one soccer player used modafinil but Ankara never say anything about other 2 players. we just know 2 soccer player in the same team has a positive test result.

    TBF disciplinary committee doesn’t announced any decision about DEE’s ban. when we’re looking to all process,it’s becoming more complex day to day.

  • http://www.spordelileri.com Furkan Zengin

    Also correct written of our club is not Fenerbache, it must be FENERBAHCE :)

  • Gökahn

    hey I’m Fenerbahce fans, to support Taurasi has millions of Fenerbahce fans sent millions of Mails To WADA!

    we know she is clean!

  • Tom

    Thank you for this article. Taurasi is absolutely innocent and it’s a shame that her (questionable) sample results leaked and made national headlines when in fact it’s very likely that there was a contamination of some sort coming from the lab. Unfortunately, I believe the damage to Taurasi’s reputation has been done. Hopefully this gets cleared up and Taurasi can get back to playing. She is in the prime of her career and this is really a very unfortunate situation for her and Fenerbahce and women’s basketball in general.

  • Parker

    York,
    What in the world did DT do to you man? Can you tell us. Looks like she’s put a spell on you. I sure hope we can get somebody else to follow the W for us on slam. You did not even write this much when the season was going on. Everytime Iblook up there is a DT article.

  • Parker

    York,
    What in the world did DT do to you man? Can you tell us. Looks like she’s put a spell on you. I sure hope we can get somebody else to follow the W for us on slam. You did not even write this much when the season was going on. Everytime I look up there is a DT article.

  • sadsnake

    @Parker, who are your favourite players? And would you like them to get in the same situation as DT, being accused just for you to enjoy more articles?

  • Parker

    @Sadnake,
    No, I mean if you are going to cover the W then cover the W. York does not cover the W well. We alsmost never see a good write up from him about the W. I was just saying why not write more about what’s going on during the season. All of a sudden York is like obsessed with proving DT is a victim.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ben York

    @Parker – You should check out the WNBA Top 20 series this off-season, Swin Cash’s blog, Alana Beard’s blog, Candice Wiggin’s blog, and even espnW for more WNBA coverage.

  • Kev

    Ben is a sad excuse for a journalist. Why are you trying so hard to make Diana a victim? Good journalist do not show there bias so openly. Get it together Ben or drop the pen and give it up.

  • wbbfan

    The most likely scenerios are 1)there’s a tainted supplement that athletes in Turkey are taking or 2) Modafinil has become the “drug of choice” by athletes who are battling fatigue or wanting a performance advantage while competing in Turkey.

    Either way, unless WADA finds the lab’s testing procedures to be faulty, the positive results and bans will be upheld. If found to be the result of a widely-used tainted supplement, the bans may be reduced. But WADA’s stance has always been the athlete is responsible for what goes into his/her body. When in doubt, don’t take it.

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    @Ben York:
    I am sure that you are not in any need of my advice. But, I feel the need to tell you this. Your work as a journalist, in my opinion, is admirable.
    Your writing to me, is an example of a good writer wearing his heart on his sleeve. An honest writer.
    Also, in a culture and society where many people seem to bask in someone’s trial, error, and hardship, you are an example of someone who is “going against the grain”, so to speak. Hoping for the better situation for someone. In my opinion, that is great.
    Not to hold you up, but my advice to you, for whatever it is worth, is to just keep rolling, man. You, and all of the writers at SLAM, are true professionals at what you all do, in my humble opinion.
    Salute.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ben York

    @The Philosopher – Appreciate the kind words, fam.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ben York

    @Kev – Thanks. From now on, I’ll be just like every other sports writer on the planet.

  • Kev

    I’m just saying I don’t understand how anybody can make DT a victim. What next are you going to defend her dirty play also? Just give the facts without trying to sway your readers. She is not a victim!Two positive test. Marion Jones said she did not take ant PED either. The truth is this may be the best thing to happen to her. When she gets her ban she can take that time and examine who she is and how she played the game.

  • sadsnake

    What’s the matter with you guys? Are you blind? Any good reporter would smell a rat! Some of my friends who are not DT fans (far from being ones) were sceptical at first but now they see lots of suspicious details and say the whole story with modafinil is nonsense. A good journalist is not the one who repeats rumors without thinking. It’s the one trying to see what’s wrong with the official story.
    You are eager to learn that DT is a cheater/ junkie/ criminal/ killer/ enemy of the human race. And suddenly he says no. Of course you are dissappointed! Your reaction is a sort of praise for his material.

  • Mangorose

    Look if another player like Cash,Catchings, Bird or Young was accused of doing such a thing as Dee has been many people would find it hard to believe. Dee has proven herself to be a dirty player. This does not seem like much of a stretch that she would take a PED. I am sorry but her A &B sample is dirty. What more needs to be said.

  • sadsnake

    @Mangorose, how can you be so sure? Are you working in that Turkish lab? It’s THE LAB that has proven itself to be dirty. As for Dee, she has proven herself to be a 4-time champion and the most difficult opponent overseas. Think of that a little bit. Look at her Euroleague stat this season: only 2 fouls per game! 87 players have more. Dirty? And, by the way, Catching said she considers Dee to be innocent.

  • Mangorose

    It took me a long time to call Dee a dirty player. But after years of her doing questionable things on the court when I saw her shove her forearm into Davenport’s nose I stopped being blind. Dee is a dirty player and I can believe that she took PED. Any player willing to take out people on the court in such a dangerous manner may very well be the type of person to take a PED. Just seems like something she may have done. And no WNBA player is going to be dumb enough to speak out if they think she took it. In fact I am sure they have been advised to not say much about it. Two dirty samples what else needs to be said.

  • Elroy

    If this was Cappie Pondexter you all would be calling for her head. Let us be real if it were a black women you all would not be so fast to defend her. I already know how this thing works. York would not even picked up a pen to say anything.

  • Amber

    Honestly Diana used to mess around with drugs back in her UCONN days. Anybody that was somewhat close to her knew this. When I read the story about this I was floored that she is just now getting found out. I ran track at UCONN and this was one of the drugs that many of the college athletes took. Diana and many of her teammates know the deal with this stuff. It is very easy not to get caught in college. But I just knew the WNBA would catch her. Ben, feel free to email. I can back up and prove everything I have said.

  • sadsnake

    I like the way you forget what actually happened just before that incident with Davenport… namely DeWanna Bonner had a concussion and was lying on the floor with no signs of life. Perhaps it left you cold. So it was not DT who started that (but I can imagine how she felt).
    Anyway the Turkish story has nothing to do with that one. Some people will never believe Taurasi could take PED and bury her career. Others will never stop insulting her. If anything else can be said it is ‘Let’s agree to differ’. I strongly hope she will prove her innocence and our speculation will become the issue of the past.

  • Elroy

    #1 Bonner was hit by accident. You can tell it was not on purpose because the person who hit her went over to make sure she was ok. #2 stop bring so dramatic that hit on Bonner was not all that bad. She was not lifeless in fact she was moving and just had her eyes closed. She even played a few days later. Now when Atlanta’s Sancho Lyttle got hit and KNOCKED OUT COLD and laid on the court with NO movement at all for over a minute or so that’s when you can say lifeless. That had to be the scariest thing I have ever seen on a basketball court . She did not recover or play for over 15 day. So let’s stop with the dramatics already.
    #3 Davenport had NOTHING to do with that play. So why go after an innocent bystander?

  • Elroy

    When Sancho Lyttle was knocked out COLD her teammates dis not go after anybody. Think about how scared and upset they had to be to see their teammate knocked out and not moving at all for a long time. Her teammates did not go after anybody. They got their emotions in check and played the game.
    @Mangorose I understand where you are coming from. Diana has proved to be a very dirty player.

  • Connie

    Wow!!! Heck yeah a bunch of UCONN track teams used to be on that stuff hard.Are you mad at somebody. Don’t start naming names Amber. That want be right. Just leave the pass in the pass. I know many of the people you speck about but I would never put any names out and I hope you will not also.

  • DatQue1911

    Why don’t we just wait this thing out. Many athletes say they never did it when they really have. Who knows. This has damaged her already not so great image. It’s sad. It really is. I am not going to call DT a dirty player, but she has down some things on the court I question.

  • Jells

    @Sadanake that does not justify what Diana did. When Sancho Lyttle was completely knocked unconscious and immobile on the court for what seemed forever her teammates were visibly upset. None of them felt the need to go after a player on the opposite team. Did they? No. The answers is no. D. Bonner was not even knocked out. I watched that game and replayed that part a few times to see what happened. She just had her eyes closed. Anyway, I understand Diana being upset but that was no reason to go after Davenport. I hope Dee is cleared. But if she did take PED’s she should be punished and banned from international play as well as WNBA play for a while. So for her sake I hope she is telling the truth.

  • http://slamonline.com Ben York

    @Elroy – Please. Couldn’t be further from the truth.

  • Jells

    @Elroy, I agree with everything you have said after basically calling Ben York a racist. I agree with what you said about the whole Bonner thing 100 percent. But calling one a racist is not cool at all. Like I said you were right about S. Lyttle being seriously hurt and her teammates did check there emotions. I myself have never seen a player knocked like like Sancho was. Her team was upset but held it together and did not try to go after anybody like Diana did.So I agree with you about all of that. But, don’t play the race card here. I am black and I am say don’t even go there. York has not said anything that would make me think he is a racist at all.

  • Randa

    Ben is so not a Racist. I do think if this was Cappie many would be screaming off with her head also but Ben would not be one of them. Race does matter, but I don’t think it matters to Ben.

  • wbbfan

    It’s true the Turkish lab was sanctioned in the recent past. However, they are NOW fully accredited by WADA, so that means their results stand. The only way they could be overturned is IF the German lab finds Taurasi’s B sample to be negative. Even then, there would likely be an investigation first of both labs to find out why the same sample tested differently before WADA took any action regarding either lab.

    As it stands, Taurasi and a few other athletes have tested positive for the same PED. Interestingly, they are all athletes from sports that require endurance conditioning for sustained activity (basketball, soccer, swimming). Modafinil has been found to boost endurance levels of athletes past their usual thresholds.

    There may be a tainted supplement on the market that they all took. It may be that Modafinil is a drug many athletes in Turkey are choosing to take to boost performance.

    It doesn’t matter to WADA how it got in Taurasi’s system-it only matters that it’s there. Unless there’s conclusive evidence to overturn the initial results, she will likely be banned. There’s little chance she won’t.

    For those who think Taurasi would never do something like this-a study was done of elite athletes, asking them if they had a choice between taking a drug (steroid) to make themselves better but run the risk of dying sooner or don’t take it, not be as good but live longer. An overwhelming percentage said they’d take the drug. Athletes sometimes take risks if they think they can 1)get away with it and 2)think the short-term benefits (performance, money, etc.) outweight the risks.

    As for the official saying he was confident the B sample would be positive before the testing-both the A and B samples are collected from the same sample given by the athlete, but divided up. It’s EXTREMELY rare, if ever, the B sample tests differently from the A. So the official wasn’t jumping the gun in saying what he did.

    As for the test results being leaked before official confirmation-this isn’t the first time it’s happened, and likely won’t be the last. That doesn’t mean the test on the samples itself is questionable, only the reliability of security protocols. But that’s true in many labs, because these premature test result leaks have come from labs all over the world.

    It doesn’t matter if Taurasi (or any other athlete) tells coaches, public, fans, etc. millions of times they didn’t take anything. It doesn’t matter if fans protest. It doesn’t matter if other athletes don’t trust a lab. What matters to WADA is that Taurasi and others have now tested positive for a PED. All the rest is irrelevant to them.

  • T

    Taurasi is innocent. This article only sounds “biased” because all the other articles out there are assuming Taurasi’s absolute guilt in this case. I find it very unlikely for the world’s best women’s basketball player who has been tested dozens of times over the years to suddenly test positive for modafinil and then have her teammates refuse a test. She would never jeopardize her basketball career and it’s unfortunate that this has happened.

  • London

    Just because Dee is a dirty player does not prove that she is guilty of taking PED. What makes her seem guilty is the fact that her A and B test sample came up positive.

  • London

    @wbbfan well said.

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