Kristina Goryunova and masking agents

Today I will be telling you about Kristina Goryunova a Gymnastics athlete who was going to compete for Russia in the Olympics in 2012. She got caught using medication that she was not allowed to use and is being suspended for a year. The Russian Olympic Federation are not allowing her to compete in the 2012 Olympics which are being held in London! Reporters say that the samples of blood they took from her at the 2009 national championships had parts of forbidden substances like "furosideme analoges". When she heard about the results she said that she was taking a food additive trying to lose weight also said she didn't know it contained anything bad. She is known for her powerful floor exercise and good overall presentation, below is a video of her floor exercise. There are many types of drugs that athletes around the world take that enhance performance, not just steroids.

Furosideme is a "masking agent". It is a diuretic that is a pill that makes you pee and hides drugs that are in your body. There are many common medicines like cold medicines that athletes are prohibited from taking like cough medicine. High level athletes often have doctors review anything that they put in their bodies to make sure they don't have anything in them that they are not allowed to take.








YouTube - Kristina Goryunova - Floor Exercise - 2009 Tyson American Cu

Mark McGwire should make it to the Hall of Fame

Mark McGwire is a famous baseball player who took steroids! After years of people thinking that he was taking drugs, Mark McGwire finally came clean, admitting he used steroids when he broke baseball's home run record in 1998, but he also said he didn't "need performance-enhancing drugs to hit the long ball. I was given a gift to hit home runs". Mark McGwire also said, "there's no pill or injection that's going to give any player the coordination to hit a baseball". He didn't tell any people what type of drugs he took. Below you can see a video of Mark McGwire admitting to using steroids.

I think that if no one found out he took steroids he would have definitely made it into the Hall of Fame . Here are two pictures of Mark McGwire before and after he took steroids. I think people were suspicious because if you look at the first picture he is really skinny and in the second picture he is giant. Mark McGwire broke a record when he hit 70 home runs in 1998 during a race with Sammy Sosa who finished with 66 home runs. I think now after a few years they should put Mark McGwire in the Hall of Fame even though he made the wrong choice of taking steroids because at the same time other people may have been taking steroids but just didn't get caught and they may have made it into the Hall of Fame and it seems unfair to him.