Maria Sharapova said she tested positive
Former world number one, Maria Sharapova, has revealed she failed a drugs test at the Australian Open.
The Russian, 28, tested positive for meldonium, a substance she has been taking since 2006 for health issues.
Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion, is provisionally suspended from 12 March pending further action.
“I did fail the test and take full responsibility for it,” said Sharapova, who won the Wimbledon title as a 17-year-old in 2004.
What is meldonium?
It is meant for angina patients but athletes like it because it helps their endurance and ability to recover from big efforts.
It is on the banned list now because Wada started seeing it in lots of samples and found it does have performance-enhancing properties. It was then added to Wada’s ‘watchlist’ for over a year. The decision to ban it was communicated last autumn and it was added to the banned list on 1 January.
Made in Latvia, it is widely available – without prescription and at low cost – in many east European countries but it is not licensed in most western countries, including the United States.
It is widely thought that hundreds of athletes have been using it and there are a lot more cases in the pipeline.
Meldonium: The drug Sharapova used
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