I'm aware this is a topic that can get people very hot under the collar. Apologies, Dan, if this goes off the rails and I'm the person who took the handbrake off, but here goes...
Facts first: Maude Mathys is Swiss runner and ski-mountaineer. In 2015 she twice failed drugs test for clomiphene (link) in relation to skimo races (link). In the investigation Mathys's main defense was that she using the drug in order to support an effort to become pregnant, and she has subsequently had at least one child. Mathys received a reprimand, on the basis that she should have obtained a TUE if there was legitimate therapeutic use, and there are no proven performance enhancing effects for female athletes.
Fast forward to 2019, and Mathys has recently won one of Europe's premier mountain races, Sierre-Zinal (can't find any info about prize money from a cursory Google search but there will be some), then travelled to the States for the Pikes Peak Marathon where she won and set a new course record, picking up at least $5,250 in the process (prize money structure difficult to ascertain but available here). In much of the coverage of Mathys's recent achievements, her 2015 reprimand has been mentioned regularly and iRunFar enacted their policy on doping which meant her victory was reported in brief terms and she was not interviewed by them (unlike the other male and female podium finishers).
Opinion seems to be polarised on this - one camp says she's done nothing wrong and she has been publicly shamed, something she doesn't deserve. This camp seems to suggest she effectively gets a pass as she was trying to get pregnant and there's no performance enhancing benefit to using clomiphene for female athletes. The other camp says she deserves everything she's getting, that a reprimand is still a sanction as she failed a doping test and it merits being called out on every occasion she gets press coverage. Several high profile runners have been very active on social media and message boards in their condemnation.
I have my own opinions which I might share in a subsequent post to stop this getting too long, but what do people think here? Is having these discussions continuing a wronged woman's public shaming, or are fellow competitors and spectators justified in talking about it publicly? It would be particularly interesting to hear from any female athletes, as there has also been some accusations of sexism and misogyny related to this in people's criticism of Mathys.
Facts first: Maude Mathys is Swiss runner and ski-mountaineer. In 2015 she twice failed drugs test for clomiphene (link) in relation to skimo races (link). In the investigation Mathys's main defense was that she using the drug in order to support an effort to become pregnant, and she has subsequently had at least one child. Mathys received a reprimand, on the basis that she should have obtained a TUE if there was legitimate therapeutic use, and there are no proven performance enhancing effects for female athletes.
Fast forward to 2019, and Mathys has recently won one of Europe's premier mountain races, Sierre-Zinal (can't find any info about prize money from a cursory Google search but there will be some), then travelled to the States for the Pikes Peak Marathon where she won and set a new course record, picking up at least $5,250 in the process (prize money structure difficult to ascertain but available here). In much of the coverage of Mathys's recent achievements, her 2015 reprimand has been mentioned regularly and iRunFar enacted their policy on doping which meant her victory was reported in brief terms and she was not interviewed by them (unlike the other male and female podium finishers).
Opinion seems to be polarised on this - one camp says she's done nothing wrong and she has been publicly shamed, something she doesn't deserve. This camp seems to suggest she effectively gets a pass as she was trying to get pregnant and there's no performance enhancing benefit to using clomiphene for female athletes. The other camp says she deserves everything she's getting, that a reprimand is still a sanction as she failed a doping test and it merits being called out on every occasion she gets press coverage. Several high profile runners have been very active on social media and message boards in their condemnation.
I have my own opinions which I might share in a subsequent post to stop this getting too long, but what do people think here? Is having these discussions continuing a wronged woman's public shaming, or are fellow competitors and spectators justified in talking about it publicly? It would be particularly interesting to hear from any female athletes, as there has also been some accusations of sexism and misogyny related to this in people's criticism of Mathys.