The tennis world was shocked on Monday afternoon when Maria Sharapova announced that she had failed a drug test at the Australian Open. The drug in question is called Meldonium and is not very well known and was only recently banned.
What is Meldonium?
Simply put, Meldonium is a drug used in Russia and Eastern Europe that is used to treat many different heart conditions. It is used by athletes because it allows for more blood flow, which means they can train longer and harder, as well as recover quicker after workouts. It had been on the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) watch list for the last year. It is also called mildronate.
Is it legal?
That depends, in the United States, it is not legal, as it has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It is legal and readily available in Latvia, which is where it was discovered. Most Eastern European countries also allow it's use. It was only banned by WADA at the beginning of the year, so it was a fairly new banned substance. Sharapova said that she had been taking it for years and simply didn't read the memo saying it was now banned.
Mast Irham/European Pressphoto Agency
Have other athletes tested positive for it?
Yes. In fact, just hours before Sharapova announced her positive test, fellow Russian Ekaternia Bobrova also admitted to using the drug. Earlier this month, another Russian, cyclist Eduard Vorganov was suspended after testing positive for the drug. Other athletes who have been caught using it include Ukranian athletes Artem Tyshchenko and Olga Abramova, as well as two Ethiopian runners.
What happens now?
No penalties have been announced yet for Sharapova, although they shouldn't be too far off. Sharapova admitted that she didn't know what kind of penalty she would receive. At her press conference, she said, "I don't want to end my career this way. I really hope I will be given another chance to play this game."
In a statement released shortly after the announcement, WADA said "We can confirm that meldonium was added to the 2016 prohibited list, which took effect on 1 January 2016, having previously been on WADA's monitoring program for the duration of 2015. Meldonium was added because of evidence of its use by athletes with the intention of performance enhancing."