Stop stars abusing thyroid drugs, say British runners
ALONGSIDE allegations of flagrant cheating by Mo Farah’s coach Alberto Salazar, the BBC’s Panorama documentary hinted at a prevailing culture within Nike’s Oregon Project of stretching ethical boundaries to breaking point.
It revealed how world 10,000metres bronze medallist Kara Goucher was prescribed a drug called levoxyl to treat an underactive thyroid, but then claimed Salazar (below) encouraged her to take the stronger drug cytomel — which was originally prescribed for another of his athletes, Galen Rupp — when she was struggling to lose weight following the birth of her son.
It is legal for athletes to take both of these drugs to treat a genuine medical condition, but many argue it is a ‘ form of cheating’ for healthy athletes to take thyroid medication.
Sportsmail has learned five current or former athletes at Salazar’s secretive training camp have been diagnosed with an underactive thyroid, a condition which affects two per cent of the ordinary population and tends to affect middle-aged women.
‘It is either a massive coincidence or something else going on,’ said a prominent British coach.
Liz McColgan, the former world 10,000m champion, believes the use of thyroxine, a hormone-replacement medication used to treat those with an underactive thyroid, is widespread among healthy athletes who are gaining an unfair advantage.
There are suggestions thyroid medication could help athletes lose weight and act as a stimulant.
Competitors, including former 1500m Commonwealth champion Lisa Dobriskey, claimed UK Athletics doctors would consider prescribing medication even when thyroid hormone levels fall within the ‘normal range’.
There are concerns about the risks of the long-term use of thyroxine, with a leading doctor telling Sportsmail athletes risk thinning of the bones and heart failure.
McColgan, now a coach to daughter Eilish, the British 3,000m steeplechase No 1, said: ‘Its use (thyroxine) is so widespread that something needs to be done and it needs properly investigating. There are people out there who are using it and gaining from it and that is a form of cheating.’
European 10,000m champion Jo Pavey said: ‘ EPO and growth hormone started the same way, they were used to help people who had a genuine problem, but they were exploited by people looking to gain an advantage. They were put on the banned list but thyroxine has been conveniently missed off that list.’
Thyroxine is not currently on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list of prohibited drugs but UK AntiDoping (UKAD) are lobbying for it to be banned immediately. WADA’s Prohibited List Expert Group met in Montreal, Canada in April and discussed adding thyroxine to the banned list as soon as August.
A WADA spokesperson said: ‘To date there has not been enough scientific information to suggest it should be added.’
Jos Hermens, who acted as race agent to double Olympic champion and former marathon world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie, insisted thyroxine should be banned after watching the 10,000m final at the London 2012 Olympic Games — where Rupp finished second behind Farah. ‘Science has triumphed over nature,’ he said. ‘I do not understand why it is not on the banned list.’
Dobriskey, 31, was concerned when a British Athletics doctor suggested she might be a candidate for treatment with thyroid medication because she was struggling to lose weight. ‘It wasn’t something I wished to pursue because I didn’t feel that I was ill and I was well within the normal range,’ she said. ‘I don’t agree in taking it as a supplement or performance enhancer, that would be cheating... and for the health side it can be incredibly dangerous.’
Another 800m runner Emma Jackson was born without a thyroid gland and needs to take hormone pills. She alleged in an interview with The Sunday Times that her health had been damaged after a UK Athletics official had recommended her unnecessarily high doses for two years in order to test the performance-enhancing abilities of the medication.
‘British Athletics always apply the highest standards to medical practice,’ said a spokeswoman. ‘ Thyroxine is only prescribed when treating hypothyroidism.’ McColgan summed it up: ‘There are a lot of people using this little loophole to gain a benefit. Further down the line it will be on the banned list and we might never know what damage it did.’