’90 Day Fiancé’ Star Patrick Mendes Was First American in an Olympic Sport to be Banned for hGH
90 Day Fiancé Season 9 introduced us to several new cast members, including Patrick Mendes. The show features Patrick and Thaís as one of the new couples trying their hand at international romance. Audiences first met the couple in the May 9 episode. However, if you follow the sport of weightlifting, Patrick might look familiar. Here’s what we know.
’90 Day Fiancé’ star Patrick Mendes once earned the title of super heavyweight USA National Champion
In 90 Day Fiancé, Patrick told cameras he previously participated in the sport of weight lifting on a professional level. Patrick began competing in sports at the age of nine years old. However, he discovered a passion for weight lifting when he reached high school. He said it goes back to when he found “that being stronger than everyone else” was something he was “really good at.”
From there, the 90 Day Fiancé star decided to pursue weight lifting at a professional level. Patrick told 90 Day Fiancé producers, “I made the U.S. national team, competed at the Pan Am Games and World Championships, and eventually started training for the Olympics. I wasn’t really focusing on anything else other than my weight lifting career.”
According to Wikipedia, Patrick was the super-heavyweight USA national champion in 2011 and 2012. However, soon after that, 90 Day Fiancé star Patrick experienced a massive setback of his own doing.
Patrick Mendes got busted twice for testing positive for illegal substances
As Patrick prepared for the Olympics in 2012, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced they suspended him for two years after discovering his use of Human Growth Hormone (hGH).
The official statement from the USADA reads, ” Mendes, 21, tested positive for hGH as the result of two separate samples collected on February 7, 2012, and February 27, 2012 as part of USADA’s Out of Competition Testing Program. The samples were tested at the WADA-accredited Sports Medicine Research & Testing Laboratory (SMRTL), located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Human Growth Hormone is prohibited under the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing and the International Weightlifting Federation (“IWF”) Anti-Doping Policies, both of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code.”
90 Day Fiancé star Patrick seemed to do well regarding a comeback. However, he tested positive for another legal substance in the 2015 Pan Am Games. According to A.P. News, eight athletes, including Patrick, tested positive.
’90 Day Fiancé’ Episode 4 featured Patrick Mendes talking about his suspension from competitions
Patrick didn’t hold back when relaying his backstory to the 90 Day Fiancé producers. “Before the 2012 Olympic Games, I tested positive for hGH, which is human growth hormone. It’s a performance-enhancing drug that is banned by all sports. A couple of years later, I tested positive for dimethyl testosterone, another banned substance. Since it was my second offense, it basically ended my career.”
Patrick also explained he knew taking the drugs was a big mistake. Now, he’s forced to live with the consequences for the rest of his life. However, while his legal troubles in the sport of weight lifting caused a “divide” between Patrick and his ex-wife, it did allow him to meet Thaís. Luckily, fans get to watch how their relationship plays out on this season of 90 Day Fiancé.
New episodes of 90 Day Fiancé featuring Patrick, as well as other new cast members, air Sunday nights on TLC.
