Var går gränsen? ...eller finns den?

Den frågan ställer den tyska författaren och världsrekordhållaren i löpning Ines Geipel i sin nyligen utkomna bok "No Limit. Wieviel Doping verträgt die Gesellschaft?" ("Utan gränser. Hur mycket dopning tål samhället?")

Staatsplan 14.25 startades 1974 i DDR och innebar tvångsdopning av minst tiotusen tävlingsidrottare. Det var ett genomtänkt förfarande med rekrytering av unga talanger, stenhård träning och systematiskt steroidbruk ända ner i tioårsåldern. Det handlade om marknadsföring av varan "östtysk atlet" eller systemkonkurrens i grotesk tappning. Först långt senare stod konsekvenserna klara: biverkningar i form av njur­defekter, diskbråck, infertilitet, utvecklande av basröst och skäggväxt, ätstörningar, depressioner etcetera.

I "No Limit" beskriver Geipel i grunden sitt eget livstrauma: dopning i samhällets tjänst. Ingen går oberörd ifrån denna bok och vi rekomenderar alla att läsa denna.

Debatt eller Monolog

Blev oerhört besviken på DN debatt häromveckan då vi efter läst Tännsjö/Tamburrini's inlägg där dessa två filosoferade fram följande påstående: "Kriget mot dopningen är redan förlorat - bättre att dopningen sker öppet och med medicinsk expertis". Nu förstår vi alla att ingen av dessa två herrar är det minsta intresserad av vare sig sport eller de oerhörda konsekvenser ett sådant uttalande kan innebära och jag vill, då detta ej lyckades nå fram i DN ger er möjlighet att läsa min egen och Tommy Mobergs respons till Tännsjö/Tamburrinis utspel.

Ren Idrott/Mia

Svar DN Debatt 0808

Tuffare testprogram stillar publik misstänksamhet?

Som han sprang, han Bolt, och med tre krossade världsrekord och underbar form, har alla atleter som journalister frågat sig samma fråga:

Är denna superman riktig?! - eller ett resultat av ett State-of -the art chemistry? För även om han testades negativ, vilka trick användes? Tankarna och frågorna är både cyniska och bör ställas med försiktighet men vi vet att det är just detta som skapats: En misstro till prestationer och en ökad ifrågasättning om våra toppidrottares resultat. Det är givet att vi ser en ökad misstanke mot doping och användande av otillåtna preparat. Förtroendet hos publik har sviktat...enormt! men frågan är nu om ett tuffare testprogram är det verktyg som behövs för att vinna publiken tillbaka?!

Bye-bye Beijing

Politiska klimat, Miljöklimat, Mat, OS Suceér & Doping. Vad händer härnäst i China?

Vi håller kolla på dopingdebatten eller vad sägs om den passande rubriken:

3,681 bottles of pee on the wall:

The Games in Beijing have yielded just six doping violations in over 4,620 tests.(3,681 urine tests and 939 blood) -- yielding just six positive tests, far short of estimates.The numbers haven't been quite what doping experts predicted, but no one is doubting that increased testing has had an impact at the Beijing Olympics. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Ren Idrott note: Ca 3,600 tests togs under OS i Athen för fyra år sedan, det resulterade i 26 positiva dopingsvar.

Jag är säker på att en stor orsak till varför det inte har gått så bra är SOKs attityd!

Jag är så glad för att antidoping arbetet hela tiden närmar sig fuskarna! Att Blonska nu åker fast är ett otroligt skönt kvitto på detta. Men det känns fortfarande som att det finns delar inom fusket som inte antidoping arbetet har lyckats slå ner än. Ett bra exempel är den aktuella frågan kring gendoping, där man kanske inte riktigt än har full koll på läget. Jag är otroligt stolt över vad vi inom ren idrott och svenska friidrottslandslaget jobbar för, nämligen att få bort fusket från idrottsarenorna. Redan från tidig ålder så får vi inom friidrotten lära oss att doping är fel och det tror jag skapar en hälsosam attityd till vår idrott. Detta tillsammans med att vi ofta blir testade och måste berätta var vi befinner oss varje dag, året om! Detta gör att det blir svårare att fuska för de som ens tänker tanken. Sverige är skulle jag vilja påstå det ledande landet inom antidoping arbetet. Inte bara genom vad som sker med utvecklingen av tester, utan även i samarbetet mellan aktiva och antidoping arbtet. Men det finns länder där samarbetet mellan antidoping arbetet och idrotten inte fungerar så bra och därför skall vi vara stolta över att vi i Sverige ligger så långt fram i utvecklingen som vi gör. OS är otroligt kul att kolla på, men jag lider med det svenska laget som inte går så bra. Jag är säker på att en stor orsak till varför det inte har gått så bra är SOKs attityd! De känns mer som poliser än som ett stöd i fråga om vad de kräver av truppen. Jämfört med de OS då jag har varit med (2000-2004) så känns attityden mycket hårdare och tuffare till detta OS. Staten pytsar in en massa pengar i SOKs satsning och den bördan har blivit mer och mer jobbig att bära för SOK. Det känns som om de krav som har ställts på de aktiva innan och under OS från SOKs sida har skapat en onödig börda på de aktiva. Detta i sin tur skapar en dålig, allvarsam stämning som jag är säker på märks i truppen. SOK har glömt bort vad idrott handlar om, deras fokus ligger på medaljer och höga placeringar, som genererar i status och sponsorer istället för prestationen i sig. Vi inom friidrotten har jobbat med lagkänslan under många år och jag vet att stämningen inom truppen smittar av sig på resultatet. SOK har fått storhetsvansinne. Vi kan inte jämföra oss med Kina eller USA och därför krävs det lite mer fingertoppskänsla i uttagningar och i SOKs aproach gentemot idrotts Sverige. SOK visar ingen respekt eller ansvar gentemot idrotts Sverige. De stjälper hellre än hjälper idrotter och idrottare. Ett OS kan vara skillnaden mellan att en sport får tillräckligt med sponsorer eller kan nyrekrytera aktiva och ledare. Nej byt ut dessa maktgalna gubbar, med storhetsvansinnne och en stelbent filosofi som sitter i SOKs styrelse och byt ut dem mot kompetent folk som kan arbeta med människor på ett pedagogiskt och psykologiskt konstruktivt sätt och som har lite nya ideér. Det behövs ett paradigmskifte inom SOK, för en rejäl tankeställare lär de få efter Peking...

Robert Kronberg

Blonska fast för Doping - IGEN!

Carolina Klüfts konkurrent Ludmila Blonska är åter dopad. Silvermedaljören i damernas sjukamp anklagas för att ha använt anabola steroider och reaktionerna från svenskhåll börjar komma in.

- Det är skönt att fuskarna åker fast. Nu ska jag koncentrera mig på min egen tävling, säger Klüft, som skulle mött Blonska i längdhoppsfinalen på fredag, i ett uttalande via Sveriges olympiska kommitté (SOK).

Greetings from the "dopingchefen"

First I need to apologize for writing in English... the official reason is that my French keyboard is missing some key letters and it would all just look weird...the real reason being that my written Swedish is a bit rusty at the moment :-)

Now, when I've given you enough excuses I guess we can get into the topic.... I don't know if any of you read the City last Thursday but I have to say that I was bit surprised (maybe a tiny bit shocked as well) when I saw the headline:

Dopingchefen: "Stang av fuskarna pa livstid"

Hmmmm.... they really made it sound like I was this big boss sitting at my mahogany desk, smoking a cuban cigare, and telling my employees to catch all cheaters. The reality is quite different. Here I am, little Jasmina, sitting in tiny my Monaco office, and together with my few colleagues, trying to preserve what is left of the true nature of sports and prevent it from becoming a venue of "drug racing"." This work is not easy and no, you don't get a bonus for every positive test. My daily life is balancing between catching athletes who are cheating, showing my respect to athletes who are clean and dealing with the heavy political and media pressure from outside. I'm used to being the "bad guy" but I still want to think that the work we do here is meaningful and that there are athletes and coaches who think we are the "good guys." There are days when I feel extremely frustrated for not having the tools and resources (or the intelligence) to just wipe this problem off the world map. And I do feel for athletes having to report their doings to us on a daily basis and us having to go home to the athletes on a Sunday morning. To me this job is about trying to give the venue and respect to all our athletes training and competing clean. I think this is where RENIDROTT plays a big role.

What comes to the title.... I know that it sounds harsh to say that "fuskarna borde stangas av pa livstid" and I'm sure there are people who think that I should not have a public opinion... but personally....I stand for every word!

You can find the article here:
http://stockholm.city.se/sport/2008/08/14/_Stang_av_fuskarna_pa_livstid_/

Feed back and comments are welcome!
Take care
Jasmina

IOC announces back to the future dope-testing regime

-Frustration trots medvetenhet om vikten av dopingkontroll. Detta bör förbättras och vi bör ställa krav på, inte bara hög integritet utan på utbildning och förståelse hos dopingkontrollanter och chaperones. Se bara på den senaste ryska dopingskandalen där metoden var att "lämna" en annan persons urin. Hur kunde detta ske? Var fanns övervakningen? Det är inte direkt det enklaste sättet att fuska.- Men,
Vem trodde att våra resurser, de ekonomiska och de inom forskning och hantering av dopande idrottare nu tar nästa steg för att retroaktivt "fånga upp" de som under sin karriär och under detta OS beslutat att fuska sig till framgångar. Man funderar just om ett förebyggande utbildningsarbete hos den personal som hanterar dopingkontrollerna kunde bidra??

On The Beijing Beat: IOC announces back to the future dope-testing regime

Tuesday, 19 August 2008

Doping samples from these Games will be kept for eight years instead of the current six months so they can be retested as technology develops to catch cheats retrospectively. According to Chen Zhiyu, the head of the Beijing anti-doping division, some 4,500 samples of blood and urine will be frozen, and under new IOC guidelines, will be available to the IOC as advanced testing techniques are developed.

The British cycling squad are vociferously in favour of blood testing to keep their sport clean, although Chris Hoy's badly bruised arm is testimony to all the blood tests he has had to provide, not to mention the botched ones.

If the Scot had one complaint about the testing it is how long it takes to extract the blood. Says Hoy: "On the night of the keirin [Saturday], when I had the time trial for the sprint the next morning, it took two hours to go through the whole procedure. It was the most ridiculous drawn-out process. People were sitting round waiting. They just didn't have enough people. It was very disorganised and very unprofessional. I didn't get a meal until after 11.30 that night and I was racing first thing the next morning. Obviously the doping control is there for a reason, and I'm glad it's there, but it could be done a bit better."

OS tankar från Erica Johansson

Nu är vi mitt i OS och vi kan väl redan nu konstatera att det inte riktigt har gått som alla hade hoppats på. Nu återstår guldmedaljhoppen till friidrottarna och kanske kan Stefan Holm försvara sitt Guld. Jag tyckte att det såg bra ut i gårdagens kval, det var bara Linus som floppade. Men det är inte så konstigt att styrkan sviker i stora mästerskap. Det är mycket press som man har på sig, inte bara från sig själv utan från alla runtomkring också. Bevakningen från svensk media är enorm och så fort man tävlat klart ska man gå igenom getingboet med journalister. Det är aldrig några problem när man lyckats men då man själv inte har svaren till varför man misslyckats då är det ingen rolig utväg ut från stadion.Nu håller vi alla tummar vi har för de svenskar som är kvar i OS och hoppas på att dom kan gå ut i den mixade zonen och möta journalisterna med ett leende. I sitt största mästerskap, i sin bästa form, stolta och rena.

Getting America on the right track

By John Meyer
The Denver Post

Article Last Updated: 08/17/2008 01:42:31 AM MDT


BEIJING — For years it has been the problem few in track and field wanted to acknowledge, let alone debate: Can the sport regain the American sports fans' trust after doping scandals of the past 20 years? Is it safe to root for American track stars the way Americans cheer for Michael Phelps?

Will Americans care about track and field again?

Lewis: Dope cheats should not coach

NINE-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis has called on athletics governing bodies to stop any athletes who have failed doping tests from coaching.

American Lewis also said athletes should not be allowed to coach without proper training and certification.

“This is a huge problem in our sport that needs the immediate attention,” Lewis said on Thursday.

Both the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and national federations including USA Track & Field (USATF) should take action, Lewis said.

“There are athletes who have tested positive for drugs, retired and are coaching right now,” said Lewis, who won the Olympic 100m title twice and the long jump four times.

“If you test positive and retire, you should be banned from coaching for life.”

There also should be stricter control over who is allowed to coach, Lewis said, noting that while there are certification programmes by both the IAAF and national federations, they are not as effective as they should be.

“Coaching is not just about giving workouts,” he said. “The reason coaches are good coaches is because they went to school.

“There is no other sport in the world that would allow someone to compete one year and coach a professional athlete the next year,” he said. “Football, basketball, baseball, soccer, none of them would.”

“This sport just says, ‘Oh, they are a great coach.’ Oh, no they are not.”

“I'm not qualified to be a coach and I know more than many (athletes) because I listened to coach Tellez (his former coach Tom Tellez),” Lewis said.

“But if I wanted to coach, I would go back to college. I went to massage therapy school and finished so I understand the body systems. But if I wanted to coach I would need to go back to college and get more background.

“We don't need athletes being coached by people who are inexperienced. Otherwise we are going to have athletes hurt because their coach doesn't understand the physiology of the body.” – Reuters

Cup-bearing dope police are on their mark ... set ... and off!

'You can win without drugs; you need talent, good coaching, support': track coach gramantik

DAVE STUBBS

At the Beijing Games

Friday, August 15, 2008

BEIJING - The drug police are training as hard as the world's track and field athletes in their bid to clean up a sport that is stubbornly, some say irrevocably, stained.

Which explains why the dope testers played the cat to Canada's Olympic-team mouse when the squad arrived in Singapore early this month for a training camp.

"We barely got off the plane and they were right over us," head coach Les Gramantik said yesterday, on the eve of the opening of the Beijing Games' track and field competition.

"As soon as we (arrived), they were relentless. They target people. They say random testing, and random starts with (Tyler) Christopher, (Gary) Reed and (Priscilla) Lopes-Schliep. I'd like to pick my lottery numbers that randomly."

Christopher and Reed are Canada's top 400- and 800-metre runners, respectively, and Lopes-Schliep is the country's best 100-metre hurdler. And add shot-putter Dylan Armstrong to the "random" list, too.

In theory, Gramantik and his athletes have no problem with the sport's desire to hunt down and nail the drug cheats who have dragged athletics through the muck for years. What they don't enjoy is the in-your-face style employed by many testers who represent different agencies.

"They're coming from different angles and cultures and their style of conducting tests is not always pleasant in the final phase," Gramantik said. "They're aggressive, they stay in the room, they challenge you."

What will be done on site here, he believes, is more for show, a token effort. Anyone caught doping at the Olympics, he jokes, either needs better medical advice or more money to buy better, less-detectable drugs.

"And if you need five cups of coffee to get excited going into the stadium," Gramantik said of stimulant use, "the Olympics aren't for you. If you can't get excited on your own, no Starbucks will do it for you."

What's really needed is a more level playing field for out-of-competition testing, especially in countries that require visas for the testers.

A long delay in gaining access often suggests that alarm bells about imminent testing are being sounded on the inside.

In Beijing, the drug cops can come calling in the middle of the night or at high noon. The team has an hour to produce the requested athlete, so the whereabouts of competitors must be known at all times lest they risk a missed test and punishment for it.

Gramantik says that Christopher, Reed and Armstrong have all been tested perhaps a half-dozen times this year. Last summer, heptathlete Jessica Zelinka was tested four times in one week before the Pan Am Games in Rio.

Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell has complained that he's been weakened here by four tests over a couple of weeks.

"You can take a leak, it's not like they're drawing a half-litre of blood and you'll have to drink carrot juice from here on," Gramantik said, not entirely buying Powell's theory.

The doping and win-at-all-costs culture remain strong in parts of the world, no matter the improved testing methods and more reliable detection. Last month, seven female Russian athletes were suspended by track's governing body, accused of tampering with urine samples. Among those caught in the dragnet that snared five runners and two throwers was Yelena Soboleva, a world-record holder and world champion who was a favourite in Beijing's 800 and 1,500 metres.

"I wish I could say I was surprised, but I wasn't," Gramantik said.

"In Osaka (at last summer world championships), I noticed slight changes in certain physical appearances in certain ladies. Some of their performances (have been) extremely amazing. I wish I could be naive enough to say they just train harder and eat more eggs than the rest of us. But there are certain signs - shape and facial changes, temper, rolling hamstrings. You shouldn't be getting pimples at 28.

"Sometimes I think about what (track) would be like if nobody (was doping), but that takes about 10 seconds and I move forward to what I can do. You can win without drugs. You need talent, good coaching and good support and you are capable of being at the top of the world."

Dave Stubbs of The Gazette is in Beijing as part of the Canwest News Service Olympic Team

dstubbs@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008

"The best way to support a sport that has a doping problem is not to throw it out, but rather to help it."

Olympic lifters and cyclists mount doping offensive

Agence France-Presse

BEIJING - Weightlifting and cycling, struggling for Olympic credibility after fighting wearying doping battles, saw a North Korean shooter fingered as a cheat on Friday and took the opportunity to declare their sports clean.

As Kim Jong-Su, a silver and bronze medalist, was being kicked out of the Games after testing positive for beta-blockers, the Games' two most besieged sports hurried to mount their defense.

International Weightlifting Federation chief Tamas Ajan insisted that not one Beijing lifter has tested positive and rebuked those who had raised an eyebrow at China's Liu Chunhong's world-breaking effort in the women's 69kg contest.

"We don't have positive cases yet. We are very proud of this," the IWF boss said on the day China wrapped up their seventh gold in eight divisions.

Ajan said the federation was proud of the way it was cleaning up its sport with Bulgaria withdrawing its entire lifting team ahead of the Games after its members were caught in out-of competition testing.

But that didn't stop questions over Liu's efforts who was a huge 31kg clear of her nearest rival.

"The 31kg does not say anything," Ajan insisted. "The sport has some great talent," he added, citing Liu's "preparation" as the key.

Both Ajan and International Cycling Union (UCI) president Pat McQuaid took exception to comments by World Anti Doping Agency president John Fahey that cycling and weightlifting risked their Olympic futures if they continued to be plagued by doping.

"I'm very optimistic that weightlifting and cycling also will remain in the Olympic program," Ajan said.

McQuaid was equally stunned by Fahey's comments and his stance was backed by International Olympic Committee medical commission chief Arne Ljungqvist.

"The UCI has been one of the leading international federations in the fight against doping, which is not the case of some bigger federations," McQuaid told AFP last week.

"I don't believe you should punish a sport because it is finding cheats."

Ljungqvist added on Friday: "The best way to support a sport that has a doping problem is not to throw it out, but rather to help it.

"We hope we will be able to help the sport of cycling. We hope that Olympic cycling will be a cleaner sport than cycling in general is today."

Chinese swimmers also came under scrutiny after unknowns Liu Zige and Jiao Liuyang took gold and silver in the women's 200m butterfly.

Liu on Thursday smashed the world record by 1.22 seconds to lead teammate Jiao in a one-two finish ahead of Jessicah Schipper of Australia, giving China their first swimming gold of the Games.

Few had heard of Liu, 19, and Jiao, 17, but coach Pan Jiazhang insisted there was nothing untoward about their emergence.

"Look at how many times our swimmers have been tested, I assure you that this is a clean team," Pan was quoted as saying in the state-run China Daily.

"Why do they accuse us every time we are doing well? Why don't they look at those times when we are not good?"

Even US swimming superstar Michael Phelps found himself mounting a defense of his six Olympic golds, all of which have been achieved in world record times.

"Anyone can say whatever they want, I know, for me, I am clean," Phelps said.

Allyson Felix om förebilder och Project Believe

Sprintern Allyson Felix är bara en av många som tar initiativet för att, inte bara vinna tillbaka publiken förtroende till prestationer utan även för att visa att man kan. Man kan bli och vara världsbäst utan doping! Felix är nu själv en strålande föreild för en Clean Sport. You go girl! We believe in you.

Runners seek distance from scandal
By RACHEL BLOUNT , Star Tribune

http://www.startribune.com/sports/olympics/26937569.html?elr=KArksUUUU

Ett Rent OS?

Välkommen till Ren Idrott i Bloggvärlden. Ett forum för dig som vill prata antidoping och doping med sveriges elitidrottare. Många av våra ambassadörer finns just nu på plats i Peking som bevis på att man kan lyckas utan otillåtna preparat.

Många medajer har vunnits och rekord satta. Hur är det egentligen med det Rena Spelet? Är det möjligt att detta OS är det renaste någonsin? Vad gör nationella och internationella förbund för att ge sina atleter den kunskap som krävs för att ta rätt beslut? Hur mycket "tillskott" finns just nu i Kina?

Ren Idrott är en förebild. Våra ambassdörer är bevis på detta.