Alexander Povetkin Is the Latest Russian Athlete to Test Positive for Meldonium

Meldonium may have only become a prohibited substance in January, but it's quickly become a big player in the World Anti-Doping Agency's attempts to rid sport of performance-enhancing drugs with plenty of big names in the sporting world getting caught out.

Perhaps the reason behind this is due to meldonium's recent banning and athletes have been slow to taper down its usage despite being given the three-month warning issued by WADA before the ban's introduction on January 1st. However, WADA itself have stated meldonium can stay in an athlete's system for up to six months after usage. But, even then, WADA is not completely certain on the timeline of when traces of meldonium disappear from an athlete's system. Whatever the reason, failed tests for the banned substance continue to surface in the sports media and there seems to be no signs of slowing.

Chiefly made by Grindeks, a Latvian pharmaceutical company, Meldonium is a drug that helps improve bloodflow and is used to treat ischemia, coronary artery disease and a string of other blood-related ailments due to its ability to increase the size of blood vessels. WADA initially put the drug on its watch list in 2015, having suspicions of athletes using it as a performance enhancer before making the decision to ban the drug outright.

Russia is fast becoming a country made synonymous with meldonium. Russian tennis superstar Maria Sharapova was the first prominent sports figure to fall foul of the test. But, since then, there have been more Russian sports stars who have been found to have taken it.

This shouldn't be a surprise, though. Until being made aware of the incoming ban, Russian athletes and sports teams had been openly using meldonium regularly—being supplied with the drug along with their regular vitamin regimen. In fact, according to the New York Times, meldonium is widely available in Russian pharmacies without prescription and can also be ordered online. In the same article, Sergei Sheremetiev, a physician with Russia's ski-jumping team, said: "I've been working for 20 years; we could have never imagined that it would be included as a doping substance."

Russian athletics have been in drug-fuelled disarray since 2015 prior to this recent substance ban. After a string of failed tests, WADA released a report accusing the country of "state-sponsored doping," which has since seen Russia's athletics federation barred from international competition—including this summer's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, though there is potential for the ban to be lifted before then. The damning report from WADA stated RUSADA, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, would actively tip off its athletes before "random" out-of-competition drug tests while another charge said the Moscow lab destroyed more than 1,400 drug samples before WADA investigators visited.

Since meldonium's prohibition in January, there have been well over 100 failed drug tests for the substance and many of those athletes involved are Russian or hail from a former soviet state.

The country's combat sports have also been affected by WADA's relatively-new stance on the drug. Ahead of UFC on FOX 19 in April, Russian lightweight Islam Makhachev failed a drug test for meldonium less than 24 hours before his fight against American Drew Dober.

Esteemed MMA journalist Ariel Helwani reported that Makhachev had been taking meldonium after undergoing a heart procedure in early 2015 but hadn't since the ban was imposed. This reasoning will certainly fall in line with the drug's intention of being treatment for heart and resulting blood issues—if true, of course.

Clicking Helwani's tweet will prove that many of MMA's fans are disbelieving of the reason provided by Makhachev's manager Ali Abdelaziz as he had fought after the heart procedure with no flagged drug tests. But, if the time of meldonium's ability to stay in athlete's system is yet to be determined, it is a reasonable excuse. Also, why would he test positive for a substance that was only banned from the first day of 2016 when his two UFC outings took place in 2015?

This weekend saw another conspicuous combat sports figure fall foul of a positive test—Russian heavyweight boxing star Alexander "Sasha" Povetkin.

Povetkin, who is the WBC Silver heavyweight champion and the former WBA (Regular) heavyweight titleholder, was set to face American heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder for his WBC world title this weekend until the Russian's failed test came to light on Saturday.

Sasha boasts an impressive record of 30 wins from 31 fights, with that sole loss coming to Wladimir Klitschko in 2013. But, he holds an amateur record which is comfortably as remarkable at the very least, having won multiple European and World amateur boxing championships, as well as Olympic gold as an under-sized super-heavyweight in the 2004 Olympic games in Athens, Greece. Coming off a win against tough Polish scrapper Mariusz Wach, earning his spot as the WBC mandatory challenger, Povetkin's showdown against Wilder was his chance to win the world heavyweight championship that has eluded him so far in his career and betrays his stellar amateur record.

At present, the fight between Povetkin and Wilder has been "postponed" by the WBC and not cancelled just yet. But, if the fight were to be cancelled altogether, it will cost Wilder the biggest fight purse of his career—worth a rumoured 4.5 million—and Povetkin close to 2 million.

Andrei Ryabnsky, Povetkin's promoter, is taking a similar line to that of Abdelaziz for Makhachev's failed test. He is not denying that Povetkin took meldonium when it was legal. But, the long-lasting trace of the drug is what has scuppered their plans of hosting Wilder vs. Povetkin in Moscow's Megasport Arena this weekend. Lou DiBella, Wilder's promoter, appears to have some mistrust with the Russians involved with this fight. Ryabinsky had vehemently insisted that drug testing should be delayed and it was—testing should have commenced from March but was delayed until mid-April due to payment issues between the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency and the WBC.

WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman issued an official statement upon the news of Povetkin's failed drug test, which reads: "The World Boxing Council is diligently addressing the positive test result from the [WBC's] clean boxing program for mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin. The WBC's priority is and will always be safety, fair play and justice. In order to continue to strive for the absolute safety of the boxers and for a just and fair outcome for all parties involved, the WBC is conducting an in-depth investigation of this matter. The WBC will make a public announcement in the very near future concerning the results of its investigation and any appropriate steps that it will take."

With the future of Povetkin's title challenge hanging in the balance, you'd be forgiven for lumping the Russian in the same bracket as his fellow countrymen and women who have failed their respected drug tests for meldonium—athletes disgraced for testing positive in a world of constant media high-horsing. But, with the benefit of hindsight, is it possible that WADA should have performed the necessary due diligence around meldonium and learn about how long it does indeed last in the human system before implementing such a ban?

While you can make the argument it is a performance enhancer, if the drug was used prior to the January ban as suggested in the claims made for Makhachev and now Povetkin, neither man has truly broken the rules. The equivalent would be seeing the likes of Dan Henderson and Frank Mir testing positive for their TRT use despite not having used it for months before it was prohibited.

Povetkin may end up losing his chance at winning a world title. But, the meldonium story and the potential flaws in banning the substance without proper planning is far more interesting than any boxing match.