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Articles on Drugs in sport

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Steve Smith has borne the brunt of the public and media vitriol over Australian cricket’s ball-tampering scandal. EPA/Muzi Ntombela

Can the cricketers banned for ball tampering ever regain their hero status? It’s happened before

If the Australian cricketers involved in a ball-tampering scandal manage to return to the game, and do so triumphantly, it is likely they will be forgiven – and some may even forget their role in it.
Journalists with the skills to dig into social media can discover connections between key players in complex, often global stories. Mathias Rosenthal via www.shutterstock.com

How social media is helping Australian journalists uncover stories hidden in plain sight

From a social media post that cracked open a decades-old abuse scandal in the UK and Australia, through to tracking asylum seekers, social media can be vital in breaking investigative news stories.
EPA/Ian Langsdon

Taking her medicine: Maria Sharapova grand slammed

After a routine drug test at the Australian Open tennis tournament, Maria Sharapova tested positive to a banned substance, meldonium. Upon being notified of the result she called a press conference, accepting…
Down but not out. EPA/Lukas Coch

It may not be game over for Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova faces a ban from tennis after testing positive for a banned substance. But there is reason to believe that both she and her sponsors will make a comeback.
Maria Sharapova’s fundamental skill is the same whether she takes the banned substance meldonium or an allowed natural enhancer such as beetroot extract. AAP/Filip Singer

Sharapova, drugs and the nature bias

We have an intuitive bias against “artificial” drugs in favour of “natural” drugs, but that distinction is not only false, it is dangerous.
By laying charges against the Essendon Football Club, WorkSafe Victoria has accepted that its mandate extends to professional sports. AAP/Tracey Nearmy

In charging Essendon, WorkSafe puts all sport on notice

The implications of the bringing of OHS charges extend far beyond Essendon. For WorkSafe Victoria and professional sporting competitions, it is the equivalent of crossing the rubicon.
Footage was recently aired of Jake Carlisle, now at St Kilda, ingesting a white powder while on an end-of-year holiday. AAP/Joe Castro

A brave new world? The AFL’s updated illicit drug policy

This week the AFL announced revisions to its illicit drug policy. With strident critics calling for “zero tolerance” and even criminal sanctions for transgressions, it is an opportunity to reflect on why…
NRL players Aaron Gray and Dylan Walker suffered a life-threatening reaction to a combination of controlled drugs. AAP/David Moir

Prescription drugs in sport: kill the pain, not the player

The use of prescription-only painkillers by athletes is hardly new, but debate about their (ab)use in Australia has recently been brought into focus by the emergency hospitalisation of South Sydney NRL…

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