The inventor of the performance enhancing drug Maria Sharapova took for ten years has blasted its ban as ‘stupid, nonsense’.
Five-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova, 28, faces suspension after she admitted testing positive for Meldonium during January’s Australian Open.
Nike today suspended its $70million sponsorship of the Russian star along with Swiss watch brand TAG Heuer and partner Porsche said it has no plans to work with her.
The world’s highest-earning sportswoman will be provisionally suspended from March 12.
Shamed: Five-time tennis champion Maria Sharapova yesterday dropped the bombshell that she had been taking a now-banned substance for ten years
Axed: The star revealed she had taken meldonium for the past decade. It was banned by the World Doping Agency on January 1 and she tested positive at this year’s Australian Open
Meldonium was prohibited on January 1 this year. Sharapova admitted she had been taking it legally since 2006 and hadn’t noticed it was now banned.
But the Latvian scientist who invented it Ivars Kalvins said two million people use the drug.
Dr Kalvins said: ‘Banning meldonium for use of athletes is stupid, it is nonsense.’
‘It is not doping, it is a medicine, which protects athletes in case of extreme tension, where cells of the heart and muscles begin dying.
Sports stars who do not take meldonium die in prime of their lives, he claimed – adding:
“And if they had taken meldonium, it would not have happened”
He went on: ‘We are happy people who are using it, about two million people a year, including those who are active in sports of various levels.
‘I am happy – with help of Meldonium they maintain their health.’
‘It is no use addressing them [the World Anti-Doping Agency] – they do not accept any appeals.
‘They do not give any proof, they only make decisions.
‘I believe, to an extent, this is aimed against the athletes from the East. They [WADA] do not have any single scientific proof Meldonium is doping.’
Lucrative: The world’s highest-earning sportswoman dropped the bombshell in a press conference on Monday. Nike has since suspended its $70million sponsorship deal during the investigation
Deal: Swiss watch firm TAG Heuer has also held its agreement with the Russian star and Porsche said it has no plans for new projects
Ranks: Meanwhile Sharapova’s family in Russia are closing ranks around the star and refusing to comment on the scandal. Pictured, the star with her grandmother (right) and her mother (centre)
Row: Scientist Ivars Kalvins (pictured), creator of the banned drug Meldonium called its ban ‘nonsense’ and said two million people take it, including professional athletes
The performance-enhancing drug taken by Sharapova since 2006 prescribed by her doctor for health problems she had, including regular flu and indications of diabetes, was developed for the Soviet military – and used during the invasion of Afghanistan to maintain soldiers’ focus under stress, Dr Kalvins said.
The drug was swallowed by military personnel to counter the effects of high altitude and oxygen deprivation.
It comes as Sharapova’s stunned Russian family have closed ranks today as they cope with the news.
The disgraced star’s aunt Tatiana Pomyatinskaya told MailOnline at home in the Winter Olympics city of Sochi: ‘We are aware of the situation and there will be no comments from our side.’
She then said ‘goodbye’ and ended the call.
Her father Yury – so long an ever-present figure by her side as she rose from Russian poverty to grand-slam titles – remained out of sight as the fallout continued.
Meanwhile the head of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev said in an emotional statement: ‘Maria Sharapova is a prominent personality of our time, and the dignity and endurance she is showing in accepting the challenge and responsibility for her actions, once again points at her champion’s nature.
‘The Russian Tennis Federation supports Masha and, we are confident that she will pass through this test with dignity.
‘We are always ready to do everything necessary on our part to help Masha.’
United: Sharapova’s father Yury, who the star is close to, has not been seen since his daughter’s shock drugs admission. Pictured, Sharapova with her parents
Close: Sharapova’s grandmother Galina (pictured) from Gomel in Belarus, said her granddaughter is ‘a very kind and vulnerable girl’
Rising star: Sharapova (pictured as a baby) has been based in the US since she was a child, and for years she lived with her father in America while her mother remained in Russia
Bond: Sharapova, pictured as a baby with her grandmother, Maria. She is known to be close to her family who have refused to comment on the scandal that is engulfing the star
Born in Russia, the star’s potential was spotted at an early age and she was sent to the US as a child, where for years she lived with her father in America while her mother remained in Russia.
But despite the absence, her Russian relatives remain intensely proud of her.
Her grandmother Galina, 75, from Gomel in Belarus, once said her granddaughter Sharapova was ‘a very kind and vulnerable girl’.
And she warned: ‘Every mistake deeply affects her.’
She spoke about a rushed trip by Sharapova to Belarus when ‘we only had an hour to speak’.
Candidly revealing the pain from her absence as a child in America, Galina explained: ‘Although distance didn’t let us become true friends, Masha trusts me. And spoils me.
‘Neither Masha, nor her father Yury ever refuse me anything. My granddaughter brings me bags full of presents. No one has such clothes or accessories. I also have her branded perfume – Maria Sharapova.
‘Thanks to my granddaughter, at 71, I am the most fashionable grandma of Belarus.’
Dropped: A number of sponsors have temporarily suspended their association with the star while she is suspended for taking performance enhancing drugs
Champion: The star, 28, has won five grand slam titles including the 2004 Wimbledon Championship in a glittering career
