Even WADA criticised for not having the skill to clean up sports

HOW does a country like Jamaica keep abreast of anti-doping best practices?

Countries such as Brazil and Russia, home of the recently held IAAF World Championships, are under scrutiny for non-compliance with testing standards.Russian discus thrower Darya Vitalyevna Pishchalnikova was sanctioned in 2008 for doping irregularities. Just before the Olympic Games in London she had her sample tested at the World Anti-Doping Agency- (WADA-) accredited Russian lab where they failed to detect any drugs.Pishchalnikova competed in London and won a silver medal. The sample was retested in Germany a few weeks after the Olympics and found to have the anabolic steroid oxandrolone. She is now banned for 12 years.In the last year, 44 Russian athletes tested positive for a variety of drugs. Russian athletes are crying foul because they say the lab in Moscow is messing up their samples. In 2012, WADA made an inspection visit to the lab.On the other side of the globe in Brazil, there are also serious problems with the testing of samples. On August 8, 2013, operations at the WADA-accredited lab in Rio de Janeiro was suspended for non-compliance with the International Standards for Laboratories .Turkey, which is bidding for the 2020 Olympics franchise, recently suspended more than 30 athletes for doping violations, prompting International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) deputy president and former pole vault great Sergei Bubka to say that doping is a serious threat for the entire world of sport in the 21st century.Turkey conducted 100 out-of-competition tests on 400 athletes in 2012, yet Mr Bubka and the president of the IAAF Lamine Diack are backing Turkey to host the 2020 Olympics.Jamaica compares favourably by doing 68 out-of-competition tests on 50 athletes in 2012. Whereabout rules are farce in most countries. Whereabout rules are established in only 34 of the 205 countries which are members of the International Olympic Committee.The Norwegian Protection Agency has overruled the use of whereabout in team sports. Therefore, players do not need to be available for doping control during their spare time, only during training and competition.Potent performance-enhancing drugs can be bought legally on the Internet in Britain. Early this year, an undercover agent in London discovered that he was able to buy online a research chemical that confers the benefits of training but which was discontinued because of the devastating side effects associated with multiple organ cancers.Intelligence is that this fat-burning drug has reappeared in Europe and is being abused by athletes. Recently, a Russian athlete was sanctioned for using this G15 drug.Kenya has not gone unblemished. It has been reported that doctors are supplying athletes with performance-enhancing drugs for a part of their prize money.An international study titled ‘The Lack of Effectiveness of Testing Programmes’ that looks at every level of the anti-doping regime was commissioned by WADA. The report was damning. Sporting bodies worldwide were criticised. WADA itself came under criticism for not having the skill or tools to clean up sports.The International Olympic Committee and WADA should provide funding for countries that are unable, because of resources, to fully comply with testing, research and education that will keep them abreast of new developments in anti-doping practices.An underlying principle of any fair legal system is that those subject to the laws must be aware of the law. It is simply impossible to expect that athletes are able to control every step of the food and pharmaceutical processing chain.— Dr Rachael irving is a senior research fellow at the Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, UWI, Mona and a WADA researcher.DIACK… is backing Turkey to host the 2020 Olympics although that country has conducted 100 out-of-competition tests on 400 athletes in 2012BUBKA… says doping is a serious threat for the entire world of sport in the 21st centuryPISHCHALNIKOVA… was banned for 12 years in 2008 for doping irregularities

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Even WADA criticised for not having the skill to clean up sports

I"m clean, says Bolt... says doping scandals have ‘set us back’

LONDON, England (AP) — Insisting that he is running clean, Usain Bolt said yesterday that the recent spate of doping scandals in athletics will damage the sport.

They won’t affect his preparations for the upcoming World Championships, however.The world’s fastest man stopped short of condemning Jamaican teammates Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson or American rival Tyson Gay, whose failed doping tests have left the sport in turmoil ahead of the Worlds in Moscow next month.“Definitely it’s going to set us back a little bit,” Bolt said in London, ahead of a Diamond League meet, his first competition in the city since his three gold medals at last year’s Olympics. “But as a person I can’t focus on this.“I still have World Championships, everyone is stepping up their game, so I have to really focus on that. … I am just trying to work hard, run fast and hopefully help people to forget what has happened, and just move on.”Bolt will run the 100 metres today and the 4×100 relay tomorrow at the Olympic Stadium in a meet marking the anniversary of the start of the 2012 London Olympics. In his first public comments since news of the high-profile doping cases broke, Bolt promised that he won’t be the next sprint star to be embroiled in a scandal.“I was made to inspire people and to run, and I was given the gift and that’s what I do,” the six-time Olympic champion said. “I am confident in myself and my team, the people I work with. And I know I am clean.“So I’m just going to continue running, using my talent and just trying to improve the sport.”If the recent cases have cast doubt about Bolt’s own integrity, the 100- and 200-metre world record-holder asked sceptics to just check his record.“If you were following me since 2002 you would know that I have been doing phenomenal things since I was 15,” the 26-year-old Bolt said. “I was the youngest person to win the world juniors at 15. I ran the world junior (200) record 19.93 at (17) … I have broken every record there is to break, in every event I have ever done.“For me, I have proven myself since I was 15 … I have shown everything throughout the years, since I was always going to be great.”It was announced earlier this month that Powell and Simpson tested positive for the stimulant oxilofrone at Jamaica’s national championships in June. Discus thrower Allison Randall and two other athletes also returned positive tests for banned substances at the same meet.“I’m just sitting and waiting to see the results and what’s what,” Bolt said. “There’s a lot that hasn’t been said and done yet.”Bolt said he has spoken only briefly via text message with Powell since the positive test was announced.“I didn’t want to bombard him with questions,” Bolt said. “I told him, ‘sorry to hear what was going on’. And he said ‘Yes, it’s kind of rough, it’s hard’.“And I just told him to stay strong and stay focused, and hopefully everything will work out.”Powell was the last man to hold the 100-metre world record before Bolt broke it in 2008. He also helped the Jamaicans to the 4×100-metre relay gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.In almost 20 minutes with reporters in London yesterday, Bolt avoided any direct criticism of his fellow athletes.“In life things happen, people make mistakes, mishaps happen,” Bolt said in response to a question about doping sanctions.Bolt does not doubt his inner circle and was astounded by the suggestion he could inadvertently be given a banned supplement and test positive.“What? I am clean,” Bolt shot back while insisting he only takes vitamins and not supplements. “You have to be careful as an athlete what you do and what you ingest, the food you eat and stuff like that.“But I am not worried because … I have a great team around me.”Questions about the apparent leniency of two-year doping bans were sidestepped by Bolt.“I can’t determine how harsh the rules should be,” he said.Sprinter Kim Collins, who is also competing in the two-day London meet, accepts that every athlete is now under scrutiny, saying the wave of recent doping cases “leave a bad taste for all of us”.“Everyone is judged and I will be judged running fast at my age,” said the 37-year-old Collins, a former 100-metre world champion from St Kitts and Nevis.Jamaica’s Usain Bolt listens during a press conference in London yesterday. (PHOTO: AP)

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I"m clean, says Bolt... says doping scandals have ‘set us back’