I feel so bad about the whole thing.After all is said and done she was the best that night....and even the officials agreed that the drug did not give her any competition advantange.I hope that the common sense would prevail and she gets the medal back

year round and at many events with lots of drug testing. She should have known and certainly her doctor should have known. And if the pseudephrine was at such a low level that she did not have any advantage then why don't they set a level that is okay to have, just incase an athelet has a cold?

Actually, pseudophedrine is a stimulant, so that's why she lost her medal. Stupid to be banned for that reason IMHO for such low levels in her blood.<p>

All this nonense with the drugs, professionals etc., is why I don't watch the olympics!!!

They can't test for the hardcore stuff like HGH so they go for the easy stuff. It's all political.

Here is why she should get her medal back:
1) The only reason she tested positive is because she took an adult dosage of a cough syrup that contained some obscure stimulant - she only weighs 80 lbs. She could just have easily drank a cup of coffee and been legal.

2) How can every athlete be expected to know every single chemical on the list of banned substances, and how can they be expected to know every ingredient of everything they consume? That would be ridiculous! "Damn it Jim, they're athletes, not Chemical Engineers!"

3) She, along with every other athlete, has to rely on her coach/trainer/doctor to prescribe the right things. She didn't screw up, her doctor did.<p>98.5 A4 1.8TQT Melange/Onyx

I mean the girl just took some cold medicine, so is ridiculous. She went through the correct approach by contacting the team doctor and it wasn't her fault. So the fact that the level is so low and she was the best performer, they should give it back to her. Worst is that getting caught for "doping" automatically put a bad image on a person as though they are a constant regular drug addict, which is so not true in this case. She is almost 17 only, and this experience is going to be with her throughout, and puts her otherwise great performance in the background, that's the sad part.<p>99.5 1.8T QTipS

Even I know that many cold medecines have pseudo ephedrine. The Team Doctor should have CERTAINLY known that it does. So if the doctor gives an athlete medication that he knows is banned in the rule book, then he's negligent. But that doesn't mean that she didn't break the rules.

I do think that it's a poor rule though, given pseudoephedrine's limited application in competitve events. It's probably banned because of its stimulant effect. But I think that the rule is probably in place to protect athletes, because of the controversial risks of heart danger with patients that have undiagnosed heart problems or high blood pressure under heavy physical stress.