A new era is upon us...
Well, it happened. BMX riders were drug tested at the UCI Urban Worlds in China. We’ve known this was coming for a while, but it almost didn’t seem real until it actually happened.
Technically, any rider with a UCI license - which is everyone competing in UCI or FISE / UCI events - can be drug tested at any time. At the Urban Worlds, the top three placing men and women were tested. Traditionally, podium riders and one-or-two random riders are tested, but none of this is set in stone. To the best of my knowledge, only the podium riders were tested in Chengdu.
If you haven’t been following this, just to be clear - this is primarily looking for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. A rider can have marijuana in their system, but their metabolite level must be under a certain threshold during competition (basically, don’t use marijuana within 48 hours of competing).
It’s the riders’ responsibility to police what goes in their body. The vast list of banned substances is available to the public and it's in every licensed rider's best interest to at least know where to find it.
While I sincerely feel like all of the riders competing in these events are clean (minus a few that may slip up on marijuana or a prescribed medication that contains a banned substance), we can never be certain. I won’t name names, but I personally know one rider who used illegal steroids to bounce back form an injury a number of years ago.
We asked Logan Martin - the winner on the men’s side - how the drug test went down. Here’s how he described it -
"This was the first drug test I’ve ever done. It wasn’t so much awkward, although it was definitely an experience. Someone followed me around for a bit before the podium ceremony happened - I guess to make sure I didn’t do anything shady. After the ceremony, they took me to a little room where they went over everything pretty thoroughly. After that, they had me sign some paperwork and go into the bathroom with a doctor.
At first I didn’t need to pee, but I tried anyway and was unsuccessful. I waited 40 minutes until I needed to go. Haha!"
As Logan mentioned, the doctor literally has to watch you urinate. I assume this is to ensure the athlete actually produces the sample and doesn’t deliver a foreign substance. The big question here is…….. who the hell wants that job!?
According to Colton Walker - who finished in third - the urine sample is divided in two.
"I poured half of the cup into a glass container and the other half into another glass container, put them in a foam box, signed some paperwork, and then left."
The separate samples only come into play if a rider fails a test. If a test shows up positive, they will test the second sample to make sure there wasn’t an error.
Riders aren’t paid their win money until drug test results are delivered. Also, riders are only informed if they fail a test. No news is good news.
This is definitely the beginning of a new era in BMX. Understandably, it’s not for everyone - and I understand many riders wanting to stay as far away from these types of events as possible. But, for those with Olympic aspirations, hang on for the ride!
Ryan Nyquist - who has been competing for over twenty years - summed it up pretty well -
Logan Martin, Alex Coleborn, Colton Walker, Hannah Roberts, Lara Lessmann, and Angie Marino were all tested in China. Though results are currently unknown, I’d bet everything I own - which is basically a Toyota Prius, a few cameras, and the computer I'm typing this on - that these six are clean. Time will tell!
surrealsickness
11/24/2017 5:11 AM
readybmxer
11/23/2017 12:28 PM
Bulletpup
11/23/2017 12:42 AM
burn2044
11/22/2017 7:56 AM
No comment on the need/lack of need for this in BMX. However, I will say that my wife was a college athlete (runner) and the testing procedure sounds EXACTLY the same as what she experienced at her larger events.
A somewhat ironic impact of this is that you could have just had the worst run/contest of your life and still need to get tested and pee in front of a stranger...a bit of insult to injury.
kylecarlson
11/22/2017 4:00 PM
It likely is the exact same testing. It's under the WADA code, which is standard for many sports.
If you have your worst run, you likely won't get tested. History seems to show they primarily test podium and one-or-two randoms. It's possible you could have a bad run and be picked as a random, but the odds are pretty low.
julien
11/22/2017 1:41 AM
kylecarlson
11/22/2017 4:52 AM
eskimojay
11/21/2017 6:07 PM
kylecarlson
11/22/2017 4:56 AM
julien
11/22/2017 6:19 AM
kylecarlson
11/22/2017 4:02 PM
julien
11/22/2017 5:28 PM
T-Dawgg
11/21/2017 4:48 PM