Torri Edwards was one of the many track and field athletes on medication that was known as a steroid. She did not mean to take that steroid.She didn;t know that the sugar pills she was ingesting were laced with a stimulant that triggered a positive drug test. In April 2004, Edwards was bound for the Athens Olympics in the 100 and the 200 when she tested positive for nikethamide, a stimulant that carried a two-year ban. The drug had come from pills she had taken at a meet in Martinique to combat a minor illness. She should have gotten the full details of what she was taking.In November 2005, her two-year ban was shortened when the World Anti-Doping Agency downgraded nikethamide infractions to maximum one-year suspensions.She had made dozens of phone calls to antidoping authorities, pleading with them to lift her ban. She had spent hours on the Internet researching her case. Painfully, she watched the Olympics and the World Championships from the stands.
And she cried.
Her coach, John Smith, said Edwards would come to some workouts so emotionally shaken that she was not able to finish them. On some days, even Maurice Greene, the brash sprinter and former Olympic champion who trained with Edwards, could not get her to laugh.People would ask, ‘What was the workout?’ and I’d say: ‘Crying. Again,’ ” Smith said.It was also challenging for Edwards to find the motivation to practice with no competition in sight. To keep busy, she returned to the University of Southern California to finish her bachelor’s degree in sociology. While her friends and training partners left for overseas meets, she sat in her apartment in Los Angeles and sulked. After Torri' suspesion was up, she was back in action. She was no longer nervous or stressed before her races. She had learned how to deal with the stress during her steriod suspension. In 2003, she won the title in the 100 meter dash, picking up where she left off.
Torri winning the tite after her 15 month suspension!
She was undefeated that year. She was a calmer more mature woman by this time. The drug is now legal. Torri can not get back the time that she lost during her suspension. It isn't at all fair to me that, she was suspended for a drug that they made legal a couple of years later. She is back on track aand doing great.
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