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Hello, Elle!
Yes, I am looking forward to seeing my granddaughter!
I liked Maria, too.
I am cynical about her "explanations".
I am certain she will have medical folk in her retinue, who are well rewarded for keeping her right.
It should have been acted upon.
Is she a cheat?
She used a drug on the banned list, so, yes, in my book.
I just wish they would put the asthma medicine on the banned list too.
That would catch out hundreds of non-asthmatic athletes.
It is depressing to see another one letting the sport down.

I am wondering why anyone who needs that drug is playing tennis?
The trouble with banning asthma medication is that it would deny those who genuinely have the problem from taking part. My elder son was a swimmer and sank one day, having an asthma attack. He didn't have them on medication. He also didn't continue competitive swimming for long- giving up teenage years to plough through chlorinated water, seeing and hearing nothing else and damaging taste buds wasn't for him. Imagine, a mile as a warm up and before school as well! I was pleased he gave up, much more interesting and useful things to do, like a martial art and A levels.
rusty- I believe a cleugh is a valley, and Lancey presumably owned it. The village is called Greenhaugh today. My gt grandmother made a sampler in 1853 with her house there depicted; and when I went to look I knew which house it was before I had asked at the pub! It was the kind of village where the houses had no numbers or names and there was only one street.

I don't know much about tennis/athletics etc, but I fail to understand how someone with some sort of a heart condition can possibly play tennis at such high level !

Hello, Rosalind,
I certainly take your point regarding asthmatics taking their medicine, and of course they should be allowed to compete.
My beef is, there are hundreds of athletes who "claim" to have asthma so they can get medicines to improve their breathing and thus improve their athletics efforts.
Blind eyes have been turned for many years.
Anne Bradford has "cleugh" and "clough" as valleys.
New to me!
And a nice story about your "sleuthing"!

Sorry Rosalind, Did not see your post - Agree with you that if you have a heart condition, high-level tennis should be out of the question !

No need to apologise, pigale, glad you agree with me!
I wonder how difficult it would be to tell the genuine asthmatics from the cheats? My son never really pushed himself to the limit again, but there are some famous asthmatic swimmers, aren't there? It's a thorny point, if the medication gives them the edge.

I've done lots of that sort of sleuthing, rusty, it's fascinating. In Greenhaugh, twenty years ago the pub still had a shelf round the wall and almost no seats. The pub owner took me to see the oldest inhabitant of the village , who could still remember some of my family. They told me where to find the church (not obvious), which is so remote they have not yet filled in one complete baptism register! It is one of the churches built in 1817 to provide employment for redundant army chaplains after Napoleon had been defeated. One of my family's names is engraved round the font.

Good morning, Rusty!
Another lovely day! We are being extremely fortunate - altho' I have to admit to its being a tad chilly!
I see Maria has hit the headlines in some papers this morning - although the Times has her on the back page!
The Metro - the free London paper - is referring to her as Maria "SharaDOPA" on its front page!
It 's a difficult call, I think - although she is clearly at fault, the drug has only been banned since January and is also being called by a different name.
I had heard of mildronate, but meldonium was new to me.
I am not convinced - especially by the timing - that she meant to offend.
Although I do appreciate that you feel strongly that she has been cheating!
And what to do about asthma drugs........?
Short of banning the intake of all drugs by all sport participants , what can be done?
Mostly, with the present regime, it's a case of "closing the stable door after the horse has bolted ".........

Good afternoon, Elle!
Fine day here, too.
I think there are many drugs with more than one name.
Maria is as guilty as sin.
She and she alone, is responsible for what she takes.
Not reading info sent to her by WADA is beyond comprehension. Just how thick is she?
Several of her sponsors have already dumped her.
That's how obvious it is.
I hope they catch the "panic room" dame as well.
I think it is reasonable to say there is cheating going on in many sports.
I used to watch football, but got sickened by the constant play acting, snarling at refs, and bad sportsmanship of the players.
I rarely watch now.
Right, I am off for a dander.
The Northern Lights have been in evidence the last couple of nights.

It's odd, isn't it- a rugby player just carries on, football players act as if they're badly hurt when they aren't.
My quarrel with them (other than tedium!!) is the amount they spit. That should be a card offence. What kind of lesson is it to youngsters?
Wow rusty, Northern Lights. Magic!

In rugby, a player showing dissent at a penalty instantly has his side marched back another 10 yards. One of the problems that football has is that this would be a much less significant sanction.

(Have you noticed that rugby players always address the referee as "Sir" on the pitch, even when the ref addresses them on first-name terms?)


(btw elle I apologised for apparently criticising you on the RT thread - it was unintentional!)