Chiliboy Ralepelle tested positive for the banned drug Zeranol in a recent drug test.
Chiliboy Ralepelle, a South African professional rugby player currently under contract with the Durban Sharks in the Super Rugby competition, has tested positive for a prohibited performance-enhancing drug identified as Zeranol.
Zeranol was discovered in a urine sample collected by the South Africa Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) in January 2019. Zeranol is not an anabolic steroid contrary to initial media reports.
“I tested positive for a substance called Zenarol,” Ralepelle admitted in an interview with Marawa Sport Worldwide talk radio show on March 12, 2019, “which is a growth hormone commonly found in meat in January this year and not a steroid like many have reported recently.”
Zeranol is an estrogenic drug once recommended by Dan Duchaine in the 1980s.
Zeranol is a synthetic non-steroidal estrogen. It is used as an anabolic agent and growth promoter in livestock. It is sold under the brand name Ralgro by Merck Animal Health.
Zeranol was first recommended as a possible alternative to anabolic steroids for bodybuilders and athletes by the late steroid guru Dan Duchaine in his 1989 book ‘Underground Steroid Handbook II”. Duchaine withdrew his recommendation for Zeranol the drug proved ineffective for promoting muscle growth in bodybuilding gym rats.
Ralepelle apparently did not receive the memo that Zeranol was useless as an anabolic. Ralepelle acknowledged that he was using Zeranol but pointed out that it was a legal growth promotant for livestock. He was apparently using it as part of his fitness regimen as a steroid alternative.
Ralapelle may have also missed the memo that Zeranol is on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited substance list. Zeranol has been one of the drugs tested for in the standard doping control tests administered by national anti-doping organizations.
There have been only six positives for Zeranol in several million doping control tests administered during the past 15 years according to WADA. Needless to say, Zeranol use is very rare.
Ralepelle previously tested positive for the anabolic steroid drostanolone (Masteron) arising from an out-of-competition sample collected while he played for the Toulouse rugby club on March 19, 2014.
Ralapelle was suspended for two years before making a comeback with the Durban Sharks in 2016.