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French cyclists complain about Rafael Nadal’s infiltrations at Roland Garros: “They would call us doped”

The last and brand-new tennis feat of Rafael Nadal (conquering for the fourteenth time the Cup of the Musketeers of Roland Garroslast Sunday, when he beat the Norwegian Casper Ruud in the final) had an “extra sports” component: he achieved it with his left foot infiltrated during his matches, with the aim of anesthetizing the area and not suffering from the pain due to the syndrome of Müller-Weiss that was detected in 2004 and that, since then, has been evolving until reaching an extreme situation.

“In Paris I was able to play in extreme conditions, with nerve injections to put my foot to sleep. My doctor [Ángel Ruiz-Cotorro] He has put anesthetic on my nerves and that takes away that bad feeling in my foot, but it also carries a risk and can cause other things out there”, said the Spaniard, the maximum individual champion of Grand Slam trophies (22; two more than Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic). Rafa’s confession did not go unnoticed. He elicited praise (a lot, since he won the title in the physically limited Bois de Boulogne) but, also, a certain outrage in a handful of cyclists who did not look favorably on this action, considering that this improvement in performance (these anesthetic treatments) would be considered doping in your sport.

The French cyclist Guillaume Martin, of the Cofidis team, compared Nadal’s infiltrations with what happens in his sport.MICHAEL STEELE – Velo

The French cyclist Guillaume Martin (28 years old, from the Cofidis team) gave a report in the newspaper The Team and asserted: “What Nadal did would have been impossible in cycling, and that seems normal to me (…) If you are sick or injured, you don’t run, you don’t compete, that makes sense to me, for several reasons. First of all, for the health of athletes. In the long term, I’m not sure Nadal’s ankle will do well. Also, medicines, and especially injections, not only have a curative effect; they certainly can have performance effects or be modified to improve performance, so it seems to me that they are borderline.”

Martin, who is also a writer and has a degree in Philosophy, and at the time had no qualms about saying that “I would not put my hands in the fire to say that the entire platoon (of cyclists) is clean”referred to the cultural difference and popular vision that cycling has with respect to other sports. “If a cyclist does the same thing, it is already prohibited, but even if that were not the case, everyone would pile up, branding them doped because there is a cultural backgroundmany clichés associated with cycling”, argued Martin, in The Team.

Rafael Nadal, last Sunday, kissing the Musketeers Cup at Roland Garros.
Rafael Nadal, last Sunday, kissing the Musketeers Cup at Roland Garros. Michel Euler – AP

Another French cyclist, Thibaut Pinot, 32 years old and from the Groupama-FDJ team, also got involved in the issue, although from social networks. It was uploaded to a tweet about the dialogue between Nadal and the former Austrian tennis player and Eurosport commentator, Barbara Schett, after the final in Paris. Schett asked the Mallorcan “How many injections did you receive during the tournament?”, to which Rafa replied, smiling: “It’s better that you don’t know”. Pinot took from that back and forth and tweeted: “Heroes of today…”.

The post did not go unnoticed, of course. “The sadness of this tweet”, answered the French tennis player Jonathan Eysseric, former 72nd in the ranking and current 705th. “Why? Because I have my convictions, a way of seeing sports and sports performance differently from yours can it be?” Pinot wrote. And he added, in other posts: “In no case is his career or talent questioned here. We see too many athletes using this type of practice in recent weeks. I almost lost 2 years of surely the most beautiful races to take care of my back, it was difficult but today I am proud of it (…) Methods that are prohibited in my sportunfortunately so denounced “.

Anesthetizing products are not prohibited in the World Anti-Doping Agency Code (WADA). Another way to deal with pain is the use of corticosteroids, which -on the contrary- are prohibited during the competition since January 1. “The use of anesthetics is a practice that has surely become more frequent since this year because it is all that can be done to limit pain locally,” Dr. Francois Lhuissier, president of the French Society, told the AFP agency. of Exercise and Sports Medicine (SFMES).

Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France champion, who acknowledged having engaged in systematic doping since he was young (they took away his titles).
Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France champion, who acknowledged having engaged in systematic doping since he was young (they took away his titles).Czerwinski Basin – AP

An athlete could use corticosteroids during a competition, possibly by injection, if they have a Therapeutic Use Authorization (TUE). “No TUE committee would give a TUE for Nadal’s sake”, estimated Lhuissier. “A TUE is for when there is a health problem that is going to affect you in daily life, not only in sports, such as asthma or hypertension. TUEs are not given to allow athletes to return to their sport, but rather to return to a normal level of health,” he explained.

It is not new: cycling is a sport that, especially, is in the crosshairs of WADA. The most resounding case, naturally, was that of the American Lance Armstrongseven-time Tour de France champion and cancer survivor, who acknowledged having engaged in systematic doping since he was very young (the titles were taken from him).

A few hours after winning Roland Garros, Nadal was in Barcelona undergoing treatment on his injured left foot.
A few hours after winning Roland Garros, Nadal was in Barcelona undergoing treatment on his injured left foot.

For now, a few hours after winning Roland Garros, Nadal traveled to Barcelona to undergo the first session of pulsed radio frequency treatment on the different nerves involved in the area of ​​the injury he is suffering from. “With this treatment the nerve is temporarily numb. Rafa is already at home, and will spend 3 or 4 days with normal maintenance physical activity. It will be later when, depending on the evolution of the treatment and as long as it is positive, I would return to training on the track. We do not rule out that a second treatment could be carried out depending on the evolution in the next week, ”explained the statement from the team of the current number 4 in the world.

“We are waiting to see the treatment, if it goes well. If not, well, other things would have to be done, we’ll see. I always try to be a positive guy and I have the confidence that everything will go well, ”she expressed this morning Toni NadalRafa’s uncle and trainer, in Radio Mitre.

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