Jannik Sinner’s failed drugs test: What is clostebol – the substance world No 1 tested positive for?
The news that Jannik Sinner has received a doping sanction has shocked the tennis and wider sporting world ever since it emerged this afternoon.
The world No 1 and reigning Australian Open champion won the Cincinnati Open title – his fifth title of the year – less than 24 hours before the news broke, and will start his US Open campaign within the next week.
Sinner has not been banned but has been stripped of his prize money and ranking points from Indian Wells, where one of the two positive tests for clostebol came.
We look at what the banned drug is – and why it is banned.
What is clostebol?
Clostebol is an anabolic steroid partially derived from testosterone and has been on WADA’s banned substance list for a number of years.
The WADA website states: “Clostebol is an anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) derivative from testosterone.
“In humans, among the legitimate therapeutic indications of anabolic steroids, clostebol acetate is approved for topical use in dermatological and ophthalmological preparations.
“The esterification on the 17 position also permits its oral use, protecting the compound from an extensive firstpass metabolism. Clostebol has also been used in cattle to improve the animal growth.”
Why is it banned?
Clostebol is banned because of its steroid and testosterone properties.
Testosterone builds muscle strength in the human body, often increasing muscle size and allowing for an enhanced performance.
It is banned as WADA and other anti-doping authorities consider it unethical for athletes to gain such muscle advantage unnaturally.
Oral Turinabol, which combines the chemical qualities of clostebol and metandienone, is widely believed to be the substance used by the East German doping programme of the 1970s and 1980s.
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Has anyone tested positive for it previously?
Sinner is not the first professional sportsperson to have tested positive for clostebol.
Back in 2012, baseball star Freddy Galvis – who played for the Philadelphia Phillies – was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for the substance while former Miami Marlins star Dee Gordon tested positive for clostebol back in 2016.
Beach volleyball player Viktoria Orsi Toth, Serie A footballer Jose Luis Palomino, and Norwegian skier Therese Johaug are other high-profile stars to have tested positive for the substance.
Why is it a big problem in Italy?
Approximately half of the positive tests for clostebol in recent years have stemmed from Italy, largely due to the use of Trofodermin.
Trofodermin is a skin cream that contains clostebol and is commonly used in Italy, which remains one of the few countries to sell products with the substance in it.
The ITIA revealed in their statement this afternoon that the positive tests came about “as a result of contamination from a support team member, who had been applying an over-the-counter spray (available in Italy) containing clostebol to their own skin to treat a small wound.
“That support team member applied the spray between 5 and 13 March, during which time they also provided daily massages and sports therapy to Sinner, resulting in unknowing transdermal contamination.”
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