What is clenbuterol and why are so many athletes testing positive? CrossFit veteran latest to be investigated for PED
- Drug was originally developed to treat asthma in horses but is now used to increase muscle mass and reduce body fat
- Banned by Wada, there are growing concerns more of the drug is making its way into meat in places like China and Mexico
CrossFit veteran Elly Kabboord is the latest athlete to test positive for the banned substance clenbuterol, a steroid-like chemical that was initially developed to treat asthma in horses in the 1960s.
Kabboord, who is the captain of Rich Froning’s Mayhem Independence team, tested positive from a sample taken at the Reykjavik CrossFit Championship, held in early May in Iceland. Kabboord’s team came second and she stated on Froning’s podcast that she had not knowingly taken any performance-enhancing drugs.
This is the fifth positive drug test for CrossFit athletes this season. The investigation pertaining to Kabboord is still ongoing and there is no word on whether she will be forced to miss the 2019 CrossFit Games, which will take place in early August.
Clenbuterol has come into the news in recent years as multiple athletes have tested positive for the banned substance, which the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) classifies as an “anabolic agent”.
In 2011, Wada released a statement clarifying that “there is no threshold under which this substance is not prohibited”. However, they also admitted “it is possible that under certain circumstances the presence of a low level of clenbuterol in an athlete sample can be the result of food contamination”.