PHOENIX (AP) — Diana Taurasi says she is a tougher person for her experience with the doping authorities in Turkey and doesn’t worry that the situation there will affect her reputation.
* Diana Taurasi called the period between learning about the positive drug test and being cleared “one of the most stressful times in my life.”
By Eric Gay, AP
Diana Taurasi called the period between learning about the positive drug test and being cleared “one of the most stressful times in my life.”
“The only thing I’m guilty of,” she said, “is putting a lot of hours in the gym, and I’ve been doing that since I was a little kid.”
The two-time Olympic gold medalist, 2009 WNBA most valuable player and former college basketball player of the year spoke Monday at the Phoenix Mercury media day.
Late last year, while playing professional basketball in Turkey, Taurasi was told by authorities there she had tested positive for the banned stimulant modafanil. In February, the Turkish basketball federation cleared her of wrongdoing after the lab that conducted the test retracted its report.
“It toughens you up,” she said of the experience, “and life’s about going through stuff that is really hard. You can let it really wreck you and you can be mad at it, which I was for a while. But I finally got over it, had a really good group of people around me here in Phoenix, my family, my close friends, my teammates, the fans here in Phoenix. You really sometimes have to depend on those people to get you through tough times and they did. They got me through it.”
Taurasi said she has no concerns about her reputation being sullied.
“Because I know I never took it,” she said.
via ‘Tougher’ Diana Taurasi back in WNBA after Turkish turmoil – USATODAY.com.