Clarifications around the Gurpegi case

Doctor Sabino Padilla, the person in charge of the Athletic Club Medical Services would like to clarify, in declarations to this Web, several of the points released by the Comisión Nacional Andidopaje on 2 February.

Padilla indicates that ‘before the confusion that some supposedly informative notes and some media are trying to create around the so-called Gurpegi case and to the lack of coordination between the lists of prohibited substances published by the Superior Sports Council with respect to the World Anti-doping Code, we think that it is necessary to clarify, as many times as necessary, various aspects’.

Concretely, the Doctor wishes to stress the following points:

a) It is evident, and nobody questions it, that nandrolone is an exogenous substance.
b) That in the urine analysis performed on player Carlos Gurpegi nandrolone was not detected, but a metabolite as is 19-norandrosterone.
c) That 19-norandrosterone and 19-noretiocolanolone are metabolites of endogenous origin, as reflected on the World Anti-doping Code of 2005, published 23 September 2004 (S1. Anabolic Agents.1.Endogenous)
d) That on the list published by this same organism (WADA 2004) for the year 2004, neither 19-norandrosterone, nor 19-noretiocolanolone appears on it.
e) That on the same code published by the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) for 2005, levels for any of the endogenous substances are not reflected, including 19-norandrosterone.
f) That this code of 2005 offers the athlete the possibility of demonstrating that the origin of the metabolite is attributable to physiological or pathological conditions.
g) That in all cases, and at any concentration, the corresponding laboratory will inform as ‘nonnegative case’ if, by a trustworthy analytical method, demonstrates that the metabolite at issue is of exogenous origin.
h) Finally, to point out that the mentioned code of the WADA of 2005 has been reflected as such in most European states, as is the case of France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland etc… with the exception of the Consejo Superior de Deportes, which modifies this rule.