Martina Dominici and her truth about doping: 'I would never get high and I never saw an anabolic'

Hernan Sartori

09/07/2021 3:00

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 09/07/2021 3:00 AM

"Miss Dominici's controls have tested positive for

Stanozolol

and

Oxandrolone

metabolites and their metabolites (anabolic androgenic steroids)."

Baked with potatoes.

Doping from here to China.

If Martina Dominici had already missed the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with the three-year sanction imposed on her last week, she says

goodbye to Paris 2024

... and goodbye to artistic gymnastics?

Now, what high performance athlete would think of getting doped with substances that enhance athletic performance but ruin health, just short of the biggest dream of his life?

Martina repeats a thousand and one times in this interview, the first she has provided on the subject, that

not only did she not doped, but she never saw an anabolic

and never took a sports supplement.

That he would never do anything to hurt himself.

That you need to know the truth to understand.

That his life changed from one day to the next.

That he had to accept the decision to have his suspension reduced by one year.

That she will no longer be a high performance gymnast.

He gave dozens of interviews in the months leading up to Tokyo 2020. From renowned media to journalism students.

Each one was able to realize immediately upon meeting her and listening to her that she has poise, tranquility, and temperance.

A protective shell that immunizes it, at least for the outside, from external stimuli.

Your answers are short.

It's their nature.

Well, today she is experiencing the worst moment of her career -and surely of her life- and it is time to ask her, listen to her, cross-examine her and listen to her.

Martina Dominici, last March, in the CeNARD gym that she is prohibited from entering.Photo EFE

-How did you find out about the two positives you gave in a control at the Pan American in Rio de Janeiro (June 5) and in another out of competition in Argentina (on June 16)?

-I was saying goodbye to my friends, because the next day we were going to the pre-tour to Tokyo.

My coach (

Agustina Mignone

) called me and told me.

We didn't understand anything.

You can get something weird for some drug of a medicine, but ...

anabolic?

I didn't know what they were talking about.

I said,

"How is that going to turn out?"

 .

It was very sad, a very ugly moment.

It was all horrible.

I was suspended, unable to go to CeNARD.

I couldn't train myself.

It was a pretty difficult few months.

And now, the penalty.

-What legal position did they take to know if they appealed or requested the cross-proof?

-We had to respond in 10 or 15 days if he accepted the result or if he asked for test B. Speaking with lawyers and coaches, many told me: “You should accept the A, because that way they will give you a one-year suspension, nothing more. If they open B and it tests positive, they give you four ”. But after talking to lawyers and several people, they also told me that test A was the same as test B and that the sanction depended on how I justified myself. We asked for test B, hoping that it could be negative and that there was an error. But deep down I knew that I could test positive again because it was the same pee on the same day and it is very difficult for them to be wrong. It was positive. I had the option of going to a conference to speak and justify myself or accept.

I'm sure I didn't take anything, but I have no idea what may have happened and I don't have any proof.

And since they weren't going to tell me: "Well, that's fine," I said that I had nothing to justify and that I had no choice but to accept it.

And they reduced it by one year, so it's three years.

-When you come across this panorama, surely you reviewed if you had changed something in your routine.

Having steroids and anabolics in your body is very strong.

What happened?

-That's the worst, because I have no idea.

I never took a sports supplement.

Only

Ibuprofen

,

Diclofenac

or

Paracetamol

.

That has no anabolics.

My parents are biochemists and I always ask them before I take a medicine.

In 2020 in a pandemic I did not leave home and the second half of the year I was training, but I did not take any supplements.

And this year either.

-You are asking yourself thousands of questions, but they are all being asked.

How then do two controls give you positive?

-The worst part is that I have no idea what happened.

I can't find a justification, because I always take what the CeNARD doctors give me or before I take something I ask.

I am always very cautious with these things.

I do not know anyone who takes anabolics or who has been contaminated.

I don't know anyone who injects.

I'm sure they didn't give me anything weird.

We are still seeing what it may have been.

I hope at some point to know the truth of what happened.

I didn't do anything out of the ordinary.

-Do you reaffirm more that you did not take anything, that you did not dope and that you do not know how this appeared?

-Of course.

It is what I put in the

mail

: that I did not know how it had appeared.

But I had to accept it because it had no justification.

I can't say, "Yes, I took this" or "Yes, I had a supplement that was tainted."

They were not going to lift my sanction.

The world was falling for me, but I didn't have much to say because I had no idea.

I hope one day I can really find out what happened.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Martu Dominici (@martu_dominici)

-Did you ever meet people who ever wondered if it was better to take another path than training?

Did they ever offer you something?

-I don't know anyone who has that.

I don't even know how it is.

I never saw an anabolic, a pill.

In the CeNARD, inside the gym, surely nobody drinks.

Everyone is controlled and no one tested positive.

-Within everything you thought, did it cross your head that since the first control was at the Pan American in Rio de Janeiro they could have made you "a bed"?

-I didn't take anything there, except

Diclofenac

and

Ibuprofen

, because I had pain in my foot.

It was given to me by the CeNARD doctor.

At first we did think that it could have been something in Brazil.

I went back to Buenos Aires and a week later they did another control and that one also tested positive because they were very close and I had it on my pee.

Someone could have put something in a glass, in a bottle, but not to my knowledge.

I never took anything weird nor did anyone give me something saying, "This is going to make you better."

-If you didn't drink or they didn't give you anything, did you think if they put a powder in a liquid?

-You can think of the idea that someone put it in my glass.

Someone who wanted to harm me or who was envious of me and did not want me to go to the Games.

But it does not enter my head that there is someone who has so much evil among those I know or is close to me to do that to me.

I don't get on badly with anyone.

I find it very difficult to think that.

-But you need to find a reason, because if it's not martyrdom ...

-Obvious, but I can not blame someone who I'm not sure it was.

I hope that if someone knows something, they will speak up at some point and the truth will be known.

I don't know.

To my knowledge, I did not consciously take anything that has anabolics in it.

-Do you put your hands in the fire for the people close to you?

-No one around me would do that.

It does not enter my head that someone can do that to disqualify someone.

I was always with my coach.

Always with my friends.

I asked everyone and no one told me they saw something weird.

Nobody else tested positive.

If so, they just put it on me.

-But it was in your body ...

-I never took anything to improve my performance.

I don't like taking anything extra because it won't do me any good.

I felt good about myself and preferred to train without supplement.

The blood tests were good for me.

My mom knows about it and she used to tell me that anabolics are dangerous.

They don't do you good.

They improve your performance, but then they have a lot of consequences and they do not do your body good, so you are playing with your health.

The pain of no longer being

Martina Dominici, last March, at CeNARD Photo EFE

-Your life turned around overnight and your dream of the Olympics was ruined.

How did you mature that hit?

-From the beginning it was a very hard blow.

Many told me: "You have to wait for it to be solved with test B".

But I knew that I was missing the Games, that I was suspended and that I could not train.

It was a very big downturn.

Luckily my gym partners, my parents and my coaches were with me and helped me.

But the truth was that it was very difficult, because it is something that I did all my life, in which I worked and what I dedicated myself.

And for it to end like this, so to speak, is very hard.

-How did you experience the Games: did you watch them on television or did you prefer not to know anything?

-My dad just organized a trip to Mendoza and we went away for a few days.

I like to watch the Games.

I liked to see Argentina, so I saw something in the moments when we were not walking.

-What was going through your head at that moment?

-The worst part was watching the inauguration.

I would have liked to live each moment, but I also like to see it on TV and be able to encourage.

-How do you process that you know that there is not even Paris 2024 for you?

-It's pretty tough.

They told me that for the type of drug there were three years of sanction.

From the day they told me it was very sad, very down, there was nothing to cheer me up.

Now I'm processing it a bit more, but I'm not as good as before.

-Your name is now associated with doping.

How do you deal with this negative thing?

-The people who know me, those in gymnastics and those who love me know that I am not into taking those things.

I would never get high or do anything to hurt myself.

These people know that I always gave my best.

Those who do not know much about sports or do not know me can speak, but it is not in my hands whether they speak or not.

I keep my conscience sure that I did nothing, but I would like to know what happened.

-Are you afraid of being labeled?

-Mmmm ... At first it was read that it was "the doping".

But when I posted my post on Instagram, there were no negative comments and everyone sent me a message of encouragement, that I had given everything for gymnastics, that Argentina was grateful for everything I had done.

Nobody said anything weird to me, so that part was fine.

-Just in a harsh environment like that of the networks.

Didn't you feel mistreated in that sense?

-No, luckily not.

-You are a reference for girls who see you as an idol or role model.

Are you afraid of what they think of you?

Because parents must explain what happens ...

-The truth is that girls and parents wrote to me giving me support and strength.

What did hit me was that they approached me and asked me: “When are you coming back?

I admire you".

They asked me to sign the holster and beat me because they will not be able to see me compete or train again, unfortunately.

And I'm not going to be able to live other moments like this either.

-Your credibility was put in check with this case.

Would it bother you that every time they remember you they do it for the doping and not for your achievements?

It's a pain you have to deal with.

-I don't see it that way.

People who know me, who watched me grow up, or who watched my entire gymnastics career know everything I accomplished, everything I did.

And I think people are going to remember me for what I did.

Unfortunately with an ending that was not what was expected, which was not the best, but they will remember gymnastics and training.

It is possible that people who did not know me or only heard my name remember me because of the doping.

It will be in each one.

The future, an unknown

Martina Dominici, at the 2019 World Cup in Stuttgart AFP photo

Martina Dominici studies Marketing and Advertising, but gymnastics is her life.

That was?

Will it continue to be linked to that sport?

“It took me a lot to think about doing other things or what I want to do.

I study and see what I will do in the future.

Gymnastics was my ground wire.

I went to my gym to move a little more calmly, but it is very small and does not have to do everything.

And I was training outdoors with my friends to support myself and to play sports ”, she says.

-How do you live that after being 13 years in gymnastics your present is this?

-It's very hard after leaving so much for gymnastics not being able to go to CeNARD, not being able to train there in my place.

I trained from a very young age and gave it my all.

That it ends like this is very shocking to me.

Very down.

-Do you rethink what your sporting future will be or is this a limit point for you because thinking about coming back in three years is too much?

-I have to think about it.

For now I am going to continue training to maintain myself physically.

If it makes me want to go back, I'll see what options there are and be able to go outside.

It is a long time, because it is three years.

And if I want to go to the Games, it would be like seven years and we have to see if at that age I have so much desire to continue doing high-performance gymnastics.

From union to coldness

Martina Dominici, with Agustina Mignone, the coach who trained her Instagram photo @martu_dominici

The athlete-coach relationship is unique, symbiotic, controversial, professional and emotional at the same time.

And in gymnastics, where precociousness is historical, even more so.

Agustina Mignone has been Martina Dominici's coach for 13 years.

He met her at 6 at the Northern Gymnastic Circle.

When it became known about the doping, he wrote on his Instagram account about his "bewilderment" on the subject.

The gymnast tells how the once close relationship led to "distrust" and coldness.

-How did you talk about it with Agustina, because she wrote that she had the same anguish?

-With

Agus it

was quite difficult.

I don't judge her, but she blamed me or was very suspicious of me.

He mistrusted my parents, but he has known me for a long time and he knows I would not do any of that.

That I don't take anything extra.

I understand it because it was a difficult time and obviously if it was inside me, it was my fault.

But I had no idea, really.

It stayed there.

It's all good the same.

-Did you stop training with her?

-I'm not training with her.

-Was the relationship completely severed?

-We know each other a lot and this will not change.

I put the 13 years before these two bad months.

That part was a bit hard, because he is a person I have known for a long time and it affected me that he did not trust me.

-It is that if someone so close, who trained you as a child, does not trust you, they must have hit you hard ...

-Yes, that was another hard blow within the situation.

HS

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