Bumagin Steroid Allegations Untrue

Despite the recent steroid flap in Major League Baseball that drew so much media attention, performance-enhancing drug scandals have certainly not been limited to North America; nor have they been limited to just baseball.

Several sports in Russia have been in the news with steroid allegations involving young hockey stars Evgeny Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Dmitri Pestunov (Phoenix Coyotes), as well as soccer star Titov, who was disqualified by UEFA for an entire season.

EPHEDRA UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

The Max Kondratiev ephedrine incident during the Super League playoffs was another recent case and it was handled with impressive calm by both the Russian media and hockey observers. While it was thought of as tarnishing the playoffs to a certain extent, those involved were quick to note the small dosage of ephedrine in Kondratiev's blood and also the relatively inconsequential role he played in Lada's lineup. The young defenseman's disqualification from the playoffs was not a significant detriment to Lada's defensive corps since the team boasted at least seven other capable blueliners.

Soviet Sport's newspaper article was one of the many media outlets to cover the story, but they took it a step further. In addition to reporting on the Kondratiev angle, they also made an allegation against Alexander Bumagin (2005 NHL draft-eligible).

The newspaper sited unnamed sources that in addition to Kondratiev's, Bumagin's blood stream also contained traces of ephedrine. The allegation was swift, painful and direct.

The article failed to back up the allegation with any facts though, nor did it offer any consequences that the young forward could face if a prohibited substance was found in his blood stream.

It's also interesting to note that this allegation against Bumagin failed to have legs in the Soviet media and was really never followed up, lending even less credence to the original report.

Considering the hostile, anti-performance enhancing environment in today's sports world, any news regarding a young forward testing positive would have surely been an effective follow up to Kondratiev's case. As such, it would have likely received as much coverage as Malkin and Pestunov did just a year earlier.

PROHIBITED SUBSTANCE UNLIKELY

Considering the lack of media attention to this allegation, combined with Bumagin being carefully screened as part of the Russia U18 squad at the IIHF-sponsored World Junior Championships, all signs seem to indicate there is a low probability that this drug allegation is actually true. The IIHF substance enforcement group has never hesitated to disqualify players in the past and there were never any comments from it directed toward Bumagin.

RussianProspects.com correspondent Evgeny Belashchenko received a written statement from Alexandner Bumagin's agent Todd Diamond, who provided further information regarding the Soviet Sport newspaper allegation. The statement reads: "Alexander is in Czech Republic and will play in the Under-18's. I have no information regarding any blood tests".

U18 Team Russia head coach Mikhail Slipchenko denied Bumagin's positive drug test in an April 14th interview with Soviet Sport. "This is completely untrue," he stated. "All the players were tested at the beginning of the training camp. No prohibited substances were found in anybody's blood. Bumagin almost fell into a depression – he can't sleep at nights. Despite everything, he still flew with us to the Czech Republic."

All things considered, it appears that there is little or no evidence to the allegations of a prohibited substance being present in Bumagin's blood stream. Considering the media exposure of performance-enhancing related scandals, a player's career may be compromised by a single allegation. In this instance, the allegations appear to be unfounded.