Yet another major doping scandal rocks the world of sports!

And yet another world-leading sports champion has been suspended for doping, and had all titles, medals and points from the previous year wiped from the record books.

Of course, what else could you expect from the high-stakes, high-pressure, high-drama world of … um … Bridge?

As announced Thursday by the World Bridge Federation, Geir Helgemo was suspended for one year after he tested positive for synthetic testosterone and Clomiphene, a fertility drug that accelerates testosterone production in men, after September’s World Bridge Series in Orlando. The WBF said Helgemo — a Norwegian-born player who now competes for Monaco — admitted to doping and accepted his suspension, which ends Nov. 20.

One might obviously ask two questions (at least) about this news.  The first would be … they do doping tests on bridge players?

Apparently so. The World Bridge Federation is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (though they don’t play bridge at the Olympics … yet). As such, part of the WBF’s means of labeling themselves a “sport” and therefore getting all sorts of other interesting sponsorship and prestige and etc. opportunities, its competitors have to abide by World Anti-Doping Agency rules.

The second question would be: um, how did these drugs actually help Helgemo’s “performance”?

That part is a lot murkier.

Kari-Anne Opsal, president of the Norwegian Bridge Federation, said the drugs were “not performance enhancing”. In a statement on the federation’s website, she said: “Geir Helgemo … has previously played for the Norwegian national team and is our biggest star. Many within the bridge community know Geir and respect him.

That said, there’s been no small amount of doping news around the cut-throat world of professional bridge over the last few years.

The sedentary world of top-level bridge has somehow been on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s radar for years. WADA’s 2016 summary of that year’s drug-test results found that 22 percent of the doping tests done on bridge players came back positive, up from 3.6 percent in 2014. Most of the 2016 positives were for “diuretics and other masking agents,” though one was for “anabolic agents.”

“Bridge is played in tournaments two or three weeks long,” Jaap Stomphorst, a physician and doping expert who works with the WBF, told the Independent in 2015. “People tend to get tired, so a stimulant can keep you awake during play.”

So, yeah … no, I got nothing.

Here’s hoping Mr. Helgemo gets clean before he gets back into competition again. The bridge world really doesn’t need another scandal like this to draw such bad amused press.

Do you want to know more? WaPo, The Guardian, Anti-Doping World