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Pat Mendes & Josh Gilbert Sanctioned for Doping

April 17, 2012 By 16 Comments

2 of John Broz’ Lifters, Patrick Mendes and Josh Gilbert, were tested positive for forbidden substances.

Here is his official statement:

The first was from an out of competition (OOC) blood test performed February 7th. Pat Mendes tested positive for elevated levels of Human Growth Hormone (HGH).

The second was an in competition (IC) test performed at the 2012 US Senior Nationals. Josh Gilbert tested positive for Furosemide (diuretic) [used to mask steroid use].

Pat Mendes gets 2 year sanction.

Filed Under: doping, Patrick Mendes
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  • Daniel Jørgensen

    I have a hard time not being slighty satisfied about this :)

    • GregorATG

      I found this comment really insightful:

      “Put yourself in this kid’s shoes for a second: you’ve given up your life to do this sport, you don’t do anything else with your time, you’ve probably turned down a college football scholarship (maybe not SEC, but he definitely could have gotten a ride at a mid-major school), you’re training was great a year ago, but now you can’t hit those numbers anymore because of nagging injuries. Meanwhile, the entire weightlifting community is ragging you because you can’t manage the numbers you were doing while healthy, while just a year ago they were willing to name their first born after you.
      Now, are your really willing to say that this kid did something so morally reprehensible as to condemn him like this?”

      • Daniel Jørgensen

        I feel sorry for the kid, but I’ve never really been much of a Broz fan. Who put the kid in this situation?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Starov/574688950 Dan Starov

    During the press conference, a reporter asked
    Ronnie Weller, “How do you respond to Mark Henry’s
    allegations that as a lifetime clean lifter he is unable to
    compete with the top men in the sport since all of the top
    men use anabolic steroids?” To which Weller said, after
    a pause, “All of the people who are really inside the sport
    know the truth about this. Beyond that I would not like
    to comment.” In other words, he seemed to be saying that
    Mark was correct.

    • GregorATG

      Good point Dan.

      It’s like everybody knows what’s up, but nobody wants to admit it. During the Q&A Glenn Pendlay also said something to the same extend.

      At [37:30] & [48:30] http://www.allthingsgym.com/2012/04/glenn-pendlay-qa/

    • Dig

      anabolics make you stronger, they  don´t give you better technique. sounds like a bad excuse from mark henry. he was able to squat and deadlift 400+ but couldn´t compete with them? what does he think they squat? 800kg? his technique was totally bad that´s the reason he couldn´t compete with the best! what an idiot if he really said that… also what makes you think he was clean??? the numbers he posted in powerlifting make this seem very unlikely! i also really doubt that ronny weller said something like that since he is known for accusing others for doping himself so he would have reacted different to such a comment.to be honest i do not think what you described in the above post has ever happened! 

  • Jonny

    What happens when you receive a ban? Is it just that you cannot compete, but you can continue to train? Hopefully he will continue with weightlifting and be very strong and healthy when the ban gets lifted. 

    • GregorATG

      Yes, you can continue to train.

      I wonder if athletes are being tested during the ban…

      • asesumikolas

        As far as my understanding goes Pat is still subjective to random testing. I only imagine as what would be the point of allowing the particular athlete to get two “free years” to run some cycles and train. Then when the two years are up the athlete could be more controlled in how they cycle, only problem is I am nearly sure you are still tested.

        Now my question would be… is there any more bias when performing random tests on a lifter after they have been caught?

        • GregorATG

          No idea how that is going to be handled. Would assume random stays random, without bias.

  • Colt_kalle

    What sad news. I really hope he does continue to train hard and make a comeback in two years.

    • GregorATG

      We will see what comes out of this…

      If you read through the pendlay forum threat you can find things like:
      “I doubt it was a plan to get popped, but all the same, it wont change anything. Pat was very open in certain circles about his plan to drop out of the USAW after PanAms, and take all the drugs he could find for 2 years, then come back in 2014. So this ban will do nothing to change his plans.”

  • benskott114

    We’re seeking the limits of human performance, right?  So why are we then putting limits on human performance?  Other than legality, what is the difference between HGH and eating clean?  It’s just a certain set of chemicals you are putting in your body.  Why do we arbitrarily set limits like this?

  • Sebaschtian

    Sad news.
    How can one have any idols in this or any sport if anything great they achieve, is because of some f*cking drugs they use?
    I know in other sports its a bigger problem.

    Its just disappointing.
    Stay clean, stay real!

    p.s.: and bring back the old layout, scrolling through posts is just horrible ;)

    • GregorATG

      The old layout is coming back when a male US weightlifter gets a gold medal in the Olympics.

      • Sebaschtian

         Damn!
        But I laughed ;)