The science of Floyd Landis’s failed drug test

In his blog Pure Pedantry Jake Young posts a lengthy, but worthwhile, look at the science of Floyd Landis’s failed drug test in the post “Floyd Landis and Testosterone Testing: All the Background You Want and Need“:

“I thought I would do some research and clarify some of the medicine behind this because the science of how we detect anabolic steroid use is often a litte obscure.”

In an post yesterday, Floyd Landis is Busted, the latest news is referenced:

“Anyway, it turns out my man Floyd is busted — he failed the isotope test:

Tests performed on Floyd Landis’s initial urine sample showed that some of the testosterone in Landis’s body came from an external source and was not naturally produced by his own system.”"

If only Floyd had read the Newspaper Morgan County Citizen. They posted a list of things male athletes can do to safely and quickly reduce the level of testosterone in their bodies:

• “Buy Carol King’s “Tapestry” album. Listen to it all the way through. Sing along to “Natural Woman.” You know you want to.
• Football practice overloads your testosterone. To keep it in check, every once in a while, look over at the guy next to you on the line and, with all sincerity, say, “Do these hip pads make my butt look big?”
• Wear pink. You probably are already. That latest fashion craze in men lowers testosterone by 20 percent. Levels go down by 5 percent just by hanging one in the closet.
• Put some product in your hair. This works in a couple of ways because along with spending entirely too much time with your hair in the morning, each time you obsessively check it in a mirror later in the day (like it’s going anywhere) your testosterone level stabilizes.
• Rent “The Notebook.” Watch it with several women. Take the cue and when they cry, you cry.”

Weightlifting: European Youth Championships 2006

The European Youth Championships 2006 was held in Landskrona, Sweden, July 23-30. Eleiko Worldwide Weightlifting News in cooperation with the International Weightlifting Agency Berlin, has provided daily reports and pictures:

European Youth Championships 2006 – Report 1

“The “Landskrona Idrottshall” is now summoning to the 16th European Youth Championships for young men and to the 13th for the young ladies. Since the age limit was changed in 2003 in Dortmund from 16 to 17, this is the fourth tournament of the “new era”.”

European Youth Championships 2006 – Report 2

“The performances that were crowned with European Youth records were outstanding: Matveeva clean & jerked 71 kg, Buci snatched 113 kg and achieved 254 kg overall − in clean & jerk he was just one kilo below his European Youth record from the Junior World Championships in Hangzhou. De la Puente snatched 76 kg.”

European Youth Championships 2006 – Report 3

“Pure commition in the 62 kg competition. “One of the Cypriots will win…”. All warning lights were on amongst the busy organisers. No flag and no national anthem − they weren’t in the Cypriot lifters’ luggage. They were in a quandary. The flag of Cyprus was procured from somewhere and the anthem downloaded from the internet…”

European Youth Championships 2006 – Report 4

“These are the first European Youth Championships in weightlifting for which its very own pop hit was composed. It is called “Heavyweight Champion” and was composed and written by Kenta Edvardsen from Skara. He was inspired by Magnus Kjellgren who handles the very good competition website here in Landskrona.”

European Youth Championships 2006 – Report 5

“The key word ELEIKO electrifies in weightlifting circles. No wonder because the Swedish world-renowned products are in demand in more than 150 countries. Apart from this, the company for barbells and accessories was created out of a small factory that manufactured electrical items.”

European Youth Championships 2006 – Report 6

“People in Landskrona were interested in finding out the “secret” of the German upswing over the last years. A reason for such a success is certainly the excellent team of coaches where the successful lifter from Munich Manfred Nerlinger and his colleague from Görlitz Thomas Faselt are also integration figures for the others. This also has an effect on the team’s good spirits.”

European Youth Championships 2006 – Report 7

“The “heavy day” to close the European Youth Championships was quite something. In the penultimate competition for young men up to 94 kg, 14 lifters crowded onto the platform for the presentation.”