Svenskar ska stoppa dopningen!

Efter dopningsskandalerna i sommarens OS ska reglerna ses över.
Ordförande för kommissionen är Arne Ljungqvist. Ett stort steg togs på onsdagskvällen då det offentliggjordes att Capsaicin klassas som dopning.
- Hästsporten har inte riktigt hängt med i svängarna, säger Ljungqvist.
Till sin hjälp i kommissionen kommer han bland annat att ha Sven Holmberg, vice ordföranden i FEI, Internationella ridsportförbundet.
Ljungqvist har en minst sagt diger meritlista. För närvarande är han vice ordförande i Wada, World Anti Doping Agency, och ordförande i IOK:s medicinska kommitté.
Det här blir dock första gången som han jobbar med dopningsfrågor som rör djur.
- När det gäller ryttarna är det inga som helst problem. De går att jämföra med vilken idrottsgrupp som helst. Problemet kommer när vi diskuterar hästarna. En idrottare kan ta ett eget ansvar när det till exempel gäller smärtlindring. Han eller hon kan välja om de ska använda sig av det. Det beslutet kan inte en häst ta, säger Arne Ljungqvist.Han medger att han funderade både en och två gånger när frågan kom om han var intresserad av att leda kommissionen.
- Jag ville kontrollera att mina andra uppdragsgivare inte tyckte att det fanns någon konflikt i att jag tog mig an det här uppdraget, men de var snarare väldigt positiva. Att ridsporten fortfarande är ett steg efter i dopningsjakten förvånar inte Ljungqvist.
- De ska inte känna sig utpekade. Flera andra förbund har inte heller riktigt hängt med.
OS i Aten 2004 blev ett svart mästerskap för hoppsporten.
Resultatlistorna fick göras om sedan det visat sig att både den individuella guldmedaljören Cian O'Connor och tysken Ludger Beerbaum, som ingick i guldlaget i laghoppningen, hade ridit på dopade hästar.
Att ridsporten blev tagen på sängen blev tydligt efter skandalen. Men, efter en skakig start, insåg FEI att något måste göras.Sven Holmberg fick i uppdrag att skapa ett nytt dopningsreglemente.I reglementet, som var klart 2005, skiljer man mellan dopning och otillåten medicinering.Dopning är när hästen får prestationshöjande medel. Då ska avstängningen vara två år. Otillåten medicinering, där huvudsaken är att lindra hästens smärta, ger en avstängning på tre-fyra månader. Det sistnämnda är speciellt för ridsporten och har tillkommit för att värna djurskyddet. Trots FEI:s försök att komma till rätta med sportens problem slutade OS i Hongkong 2008 med en ny jätteskandal.Sex hästar fastnade i dopningskontroller. Fem av dem på grund av medlet Capsaicin. Det utvinns ur chilifrukter och kan både användas för smärtlindring och för retningar i huden för att öka reaktionsförmågan, så kallad kemisk barrering.Skandalen visade att dopningsreglementet måste ses över.
Medlet fanns nämligen upptaget både på listan för otillåten medicinering och dopningslistan.Sven Holmberg har nyss kommit hem till Säffle efter FEI:s konferens i Buenos Aires. Där togs det formella beslutet att tillsätta den nya dopningskommissionen. Arbetet ska inledas redan i december. Men redan på onsdagskvällen kom det oväntade beskedet att innan kommissionens arbete inleds har man genomfört en förändring.Capsaicin räknas, med omedelbar verkan, som dopningsmedel.
- Det fanns ingen anledning att dra ut på frågan. När det gällde det här ville vi agera snabbt, förklarar Sven Holmberg.Kommissionen kommer dock inte att sakna arbetsuppgifter.
- Vi ska göra en ordentlig översyn, säger Sven Holmberg.
Är ni oroliga för att er OS-status ska vara i fara efter de här skandalerna?
- Nej, förutsatt att vi gör något åt problemet. Det är naturligtvis glädjande att Arne Ljungqvist tackat ja till att leda arbetet. Det ger oss möjligheten att knyta ihop vårt antidopningsprogram med Wadas.

Publicerad 2008-11-27 14:59// DN Sport Malin Fransson och Sarah Thunholm

Montgomery tog OS-guld dopad

Publicerad 2008-11-24 18:37 //DN Sport
Amerikanske sprintern Tim Montgomery som stängdes av för dopning trots att han aldrig testades positiv erkänner nu att han hade dopat sig med testosteron och andra hormonpreparat inför OS i Sydney 2000.
- Jag har en guldmedalj som jag sitter på som jag inte tog tack vare min egen förmåga, säger Montgomery, som var med i det vinnande laget på korta stafetten i Sydney.Det amerikanska guldlaget kan nu bli av med sina medaljer.
- Jag vill inte ta ifrån någon annan deras prestation, det handlar bara om min egen. Och jag ber om ursäkt till de andra medlemmarna i stafettlaget om det blir så.
Erkännandet finns med i en intervju med Montgomery som ska sändas på tisdagen i den amerikanska tv-kanalen HBO.
Montgomery åkte aldrig fast i ett dopningstest. Det var hans inblandning i den så kallade Balco-skandalen som gjorde att han blev avstängd. Just nu avtjänar han ett nioårigt fängelsestraff för checkförfalskning och heroinlangning.
Till skillnad mot sin förra sambo, sprinterdrottningen Marion Jones, har Montgomery tidigare vägrat erkänna dopningen.
- Varför gjorde jag det? Det är en fråga som jag tänker på varje dag, när jag vaknar och varje kväll när jag somnar.

//Från TT

Viagra is the next big thing in sports doping. Uh-oh.

History will mark these as troubled days, and not just because of a free falling global economy, rising world temperatures, and Madonna thinking a Christmas tree could be worn as a dress. No, the real sign of doom comes from athletes gobbling Viagra because they believe it gives them a competitive edge.
The World Anti-Doping Agency is financing a study at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania to see if the miracle pilldilates all of an athlete's blood vesselsand unfairly increases his capacity to carry oxygen. There's sound science behind this. In 2006, researchers at Stanford published a study showing that, at a simulated altitude of 12,700 feet, Viagra improved the performance [snicker] of 10K cyclists by nearly 40 percent. In May of this year, at the Giro d'Italia, Italy's biggest bike race, a cyclist by the name of Andrew Moletta was suspended after authorities found syringes hidden in toothpaste tubes and 82 Viagra pills. Victor Conte, of BALCO fame, once boasted of having all his athletes on the stuff. (Given steroids' side effects, Viagra in this case may have been used for the purposes Bob Dole intended.) Statements like Conte's are why the University of Miami is currently investigating whether Viagra boosts performance at lower altitudes.
A few thoughts here.
Number one: How badly must you want to win to suffer the lingering effects of one Viagra too many? Have none of these athletes seen Chris Rock's I Think I Love My Wife? The scene where even The Economist can't tamp down expectations? He had to go to the hospital for that, and doctors did something there that cannot be repeated in polite company. This scares off no one?
Number two: Because the answer to that last question is no, and because WADA seems to be focusing its Viagra investigation on the spandex sports—cycling, cross country skiing, etc—how exactly do these athletes, you know, hide the evidence of doping?
Number three: and let's just get real gritty here: If they are somehow hiding it, how painful is that? Surely that crosses out any gain from increased oxygen flow.

THE MORNING ACCORDING TO US
Viagra is the next big thing in sports doping. Uh-oh.
by Paul Kix

Vad Avgör Straffet?

Straffsatser inom doping är ett debatterat ämne och notiser som nedan gör förståelsen för detta fusk och dess påföljd om än, mer obegripligt. Att man inte spelar rent spel av att dopa sig, det har vi alla konstaterat. Att en direkt konsekves till sitt handlande bör handla om avstägning det kräver vi. Men, hur kan vi motivera att en förhandling av, låt oss säga, att man namnger medhjälpare och producenter, skall ge en förmildrande dom eller värre än, en klapp på axeln för att man är "så ärlig"!? Detta är för mig obegripligt. Den person som dopar sig, stoppar i, trycker i eller injicerar sitt otillåtna preparat är ytterst ansvarig! Den personen har gjort ett val och måste stå för konsekvensterna av sitt handlande. Kanske bör vi återigen se över de finstilta i kontrakt gällande agerande om man åker dit för doping. Att man inte bara blir, som inom cykelsporten, återbetalningsskyldig och avstängd. Man skall likväl förväntas att ange de personer involverade omkring en. Något att tänka på!

Kohl will reveal doping source, manager says
Reuters, Sunday November 23 2008
PARIS, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Austrian Bernhard Kohl, who tested positive for the new generation of erythropoietin, CERA, during the Tour de France, will reveal to Austrian doping officials how he got the drug, his manager said. "Bernhard is willing to cooperate and he will tell about how he got the substance and how and where he used it," his manager Stefan Matschiner told Cyclingnews (www.cyclingnews.com).Kohl, the Tour's best climber this year and third overall, is due to appear before the Austrian Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on Monday.He was supposed to join the Silence Lotto team from Gerolsteiner during the close season but the contract was declared void after it was revealed that retroactive tests showed traces of CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator) in his blood.
Kohl faces a two-year suspension from the sport, a sanction that could be cut if he cooperates with anti-doping authorities.The length of the suspension is expected to be announced immediately after the NADA hearing.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Clare Fallon)

Vad var det vi sa! - Förbundets beslut måste ändras!

... och äntligen ser vi en reaktion från IAAF som nu är på kollisionkurs med Ryska förbundet. Ni kommer väl ihåg vår blogg// "Retroaktiv Reaktion och Reaktionärt Hanterande" //Publ. 21 oktober Dopingdebatt 2008.
http://renidrott.blogspot.com/2008/10/retroaktiv-reaktion-och-reaktionrt.html

IAAF on collision course with Russia over length of doping bans handed out to athletes The International Association of Athletics Federations are set to challenge the length and the timing of the bans handed out to top Russian athletes who were found to have committed doping violations ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

By Tom Knight// Last Updated: 8:05PM GMT 20 Nov 2008

The athletes include middle distance runners Yelena Soboleva, Svetlana Cherkasova, Yulia Fomenko and Tatyana Tomashova as well as hammer thrower Gulfiya Khanafeyeva and the European discus champion, Darya Pishchalnikova.There have been 16 Russian athletes penalised for doping offences in recent months but those under the spotlight in Monte Carlo were part of a group of seven found guilty of manipulating urine tests following a year-long under-cover operation using DNA analysis by the IAAF.Their absence from the Olympics was a major coup for the IAAF but the world governing body were understood to have been astonished by the Russian federation's decision to punish the violations with two-year bans backdated to April and May 2007.
This would enable the athletes to compete at next summer's world championships in Berlin and, according to a source close to the IAAF, is considered "totally unacceptable".A meeting of the IAAF Council, which starts in Monte Carlo, is expected to rule that the bans will be challenged.Having long since abandoned its own costly arbitration process, the IAAF will take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.The challenge to the Russian punishments will ask for the bans to be further backdated by at least another year, to when the doping violation was first committed.It could also push for the ban to be four years because of the seriousness of the offence.The IAAF, who will introduce four-year bans for serious doping violations when the new World Anti-Doping Agency code comes into force in January, will not want to see the Russian athletes competing again until August 2010.The IAAF Council will also hear the result of their president Lamine Diack's recent meeting with the International Olympic Committee president, Jacques Rogge.The pair had much to talk about following their public disagreement over the future of London's Olympic stadium.The Council meeting comes as the world's top athletes, a host of legends and the Olympic champions convene in the principality for the end-of-year gala dinner on Sunday Nov 23.Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who won three gold medals with three world records in Beijing is the favourite to be crowned male athlete of the year and win the performance of the year trophy.The shortlist for the female athlete of the year award includes Tirunesh Dibaba, Yelena Isinbayeva and Pamela Jelimo.

"First and foremost I am a doper"

Cyclist relates how doping damaged his career, life 11/17/2008 9:20:26 AM By Sarah Doty Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

On May 29, 2005, Canadian mountain biker Chris Sheppard injected recombinant erythropoietin (rEPO) for the first time.
The next day, at 7:30 a.m., the Canadian Centre For Ethics In Sport (CCES) knocked on his door for an out-of-competition random drug test. EPO is a drug that builds endurance by boosting the amount of oxygen-rich red blood cells. His career was permanently tainted.
Sheppard was in Rochester Saturday to share his story with Sports Medicine professionals at the 18th annual Symposium on Sports Medicine. "First and foremost I am a doper," said Sheppard in his presentation. "Before being caught using EPO I was addicted to one substance: cycling. I am not here to give you excuses for what I did, but maybe to shed some light on why I made that fateful decision that will be with me to my grave." The 10-time Canadian National Team mountain bike racer had been racing clean for 17 years before an accident on July 27, 2004 -- a truck that ran a stop sign and hit him -- left him with a concussion, whiplash, severe lingering back pain, and depression. "The worst part about this injury was it extends past racing and touches every part of life," Sheppard said. "For many years cycling was a way to get away from it all," he said. But after his accident, and an injury-plagued six years, he just couldn't snap out of his depression."Cycling is a tough sport and after 17 years of racing clean and pointing the finger, I gave up during hard times," Sheppard said. "In my head, I wanted what was taken away from me."Instead, he got a two-year suspension, loss of sponsors and friends, and a permanent ineligibility of receiving funding from the Canadian Federal Government as punishment for doping."In a way it was almost relieving, and funny," he said about getting caught. "With all the bad luck I had had (the previous) six years, it seemed like I was tempting fate."

Gene doping - The Battleground!

Telegraph Sport take a look at the front-line of drug-enhanced sport.By Simon Hart; Last Updated: 5:47PM GMT 15 Nov 2008

Myostatin - What is it?
A protein that inhibits muscle growth in animals and humans.
How can it benefit athletes?
If the gene responsible for myostatin is switched off, muscles will increase in size.
Does gene modification work?
Successful in trials on mice and dogs and set to go into commercial use as a veterinary treatment next year. Untested on humans but known to produce an immune reaction, so risky.
Can it be detected?
No, but researchers hope to find ways of testing for the virus used to deliver the gene.
IGF-1 - What is it?
Insulin-like growth factor 1, a natural protein that promotes muscle- growth and repair but declines with age.
How can it benefit athletes?
Over-production of IGF-1 will cause an increase in muscle mass and strength.
Does gene modification work?
Successful in animal trials but human application still being tested. Has to be injected locally into muscle because high levels in the bloodstream cause problems with other tissues.
Can it be detected?
Not without a muscle biopsy.
EPO- what is it?
A naturally occurring protein that produces red blood cells.
How can it benefit athletes?
A richer supply of oxygen-carrying blood cells reduces fatigue in muscles, which makes EPO so beloved of endurance athletes such as road cyclists and cross-country skiers.
Does gene modification work?
Offers prospect of permanent source of extra EPO rather than short-term burst. Trials on monkeys have had mixed results, with some producing dangerously high amounts of EPO and others developing immune responses. Very risky for humans at present.
Can it be detected?
Preliminary research suggests it will be detectable to drug-testers.

What if...genetically modified animals were allowed into sport?

Passport to a clean sport

International Cycling Union (UCI) anti-doping head Anne Gripper has come under pressure from antidoping advocates who wish to see the organisation's new biological passport programme begin to catch cheaters. Cyclingnews' Bruce Hildenbrand caught up with the Australian to find out about the status of the groundbreaking antidoping effort. With riders like Riccardo Riccò making it to the Tour de France still bold enough to use new versions of EPO, the UCI's biological passport is seen as the one system which should deter riders from doping. However, even though the agency has collected enough data on the ProTour and wild card team riders to generate complete profiles, and passed a "no start rule" for riders with suspicious values, no rider has even been kept out of competition or punished for doping based on the passport data. The UCI's antidoping head Anne Gripper understands that people are anxious to see action. "I know it is a little bit frustrating that we have gotten to this point and haven't actually opened any cases," Gripper said of her less than year-old system. "But it is a new ground-breaking program. We have to be really careful, really cautious that when we do open some cases they stand up to the legal and scientific scrutiny that they will definitely be subjected to.
Läs mer på:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/nov08/nov14news

"Not at THAT time..."

Ullrich Wins Wages Case, Denies Doping in Court
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS // Filed at 9:04 a.m. ET

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) -- Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich won a court ruling to get back unpaid salary after testifying Wednesday that he never took performance-enhancing drugs while he rode the Coast team at the start of 2003. Ullrich testified in a court hearing of his lawsuit against the then-manager of the Coast team, Guenther Dahms, who has refused to pay Ullrich's salary because he believes the German rider had been doping.
''I did not use any forbidden doping materials or methods banned under regulations during that period,'' Ullrich said of the time between January and March 2003, when he rode for Coast.
The court ruled in Ullrich's favor and ordered Dahms to pay the retired rider $433,400, plus interest, in back wages.Ullrich, who won the Tour de France in 1997, has always denied doping, although several of his former teammates from Team Telekom have admitted using drugs. Ullrich retired in February 2007 after being linked to the Spanish blood-doping scandal.

play true... Levelling the Playing Field

New Play True Magazine, hit the racks recently and Outlines Key Changes to Stronger World Anti-Doping Code and International Standards
A new issue of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) flagship magazine, Play True, is now available. This issue, entitled “Levelling the Playing Field,” highlights key amendments to the World Anti-Doping Code—the document harmonizing anti-doping regulations in all sports and all countries—and its related International Standards.

http://www.wada-ama.org/en/dynamic.ch2?pageCategory.id=810
Click here to download a copy of Play True.

UNESCO and WADA to host Pressconference!

France: 100 countries ratify anti-doping convention!
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, and the Director-General of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), David Howman, will host a press conference Wednesday, 12 November, here to celebrate the 100th ratification of the International Convention against Doping in Sports.The Convention, adopted by UNESCO in 2005, became effective in February 2007, provides an international framework for the harmonisation of rules and policies regarding the fight against doping in sports.
It contributes to the integration of the World Anti-Doping Code into international law and obliges States to take measures that conform to its principles.A Fund for the elimination of doping in sports, created under the terms of the Convention, has now become operational.Its purpose is to help the least-developed and lowest-income countries finance the development and implementation of programmes to fight doping in sports.The Sports ministers of France and Spain, Bernard Laporte and Jaime Lissavetzky Diez respectively, are also expected to attend the event along with the Director General of China’s General Administration of Sports, Jiang Zhixue.The historical milestone will be marked with a commemorative photo featuring Amb assadors from most of the 100 countries that have ratified the Convention.
Paris - 07/11/2008

Hur svårt kan dé vá?

MITT MÖTE MED EN MÄSTARE
Skrivet av: Erik Hörstadius, 2008-11-09 23:42 /Publ. Nyheter24 Blogg

Under OS i Peking satt jag i (Rickard) Olssons studio och kommenterade skeendet. Ett sjukt roligt uppdrag. Tänk att få sport-tycka inför snudd på miljonpublik, dag efter dag.Sjukt roligt, alltså. Men också ansvarsfullt. I ett av programmen prövade vi att "tycka synd om tyskar". Varvid Rickard sa att han fortfarande tänkte "Hitler, Hitler, Hitler, Hitler" när Tyskland kom på tal. Ilske-mailen haglade (enligt kvällspressen). Tysk och fransk press skrev om det svenska påhoppet. Själv sa jag säkert också en del dumt under programserien. Dock inte med internationella konsekvenser. Däremot med konsekvenser för egen del. När en av programmets gäster, Kerstin Dellert, berättade att hon skjutit lerduva och faktiskt fått träff på några, sa jag något i stil med: - Då skulle du i alla fall spöa Håkan Dalby. (Dalby var ett av våra guldhopp - men missade finalen i dubbel trap med en duva.) Min elakhet åhördes av Håkan efter att han kommit hem från Peking. Han blev sur. Och ringde därför upp mig för en utmaning: jag skulle minsann få se hur svårt det var... Och i helgen var det dags! En dubbel trap-serie består av 50 duvor. Håkan gav mig ett handikapp på 40 duvor. Jag ledde alltså med 40-0 från start, där vi ställde upp oss på skjutplattorna i Haninge inför en publik på två skyttar och en antidopingaktivist. Jag ska inte ens försöka dra ut på spänningen. Håkan vann med 49-41. Dvs han missade totalt en duva, jag träffade totalt en. Håkan var en skön kille. Glädjande nog berättade han att han satsar mot London 2012. Jag kommer att hålla på honom stenhårt; det var verkligen imponerande att se honom. Dels för den fullständigt osannolika träffsäkerheten, dels för fokuseringen, trots det klena motståndet. Sensmoralen med den här berättelsen skulle kunna vara, att man ska vara försiktig innan man hånar folk som satsar hårt och misslyckas. Men nu fick jag ju träffa Håkan och ha skoj på skjutbanan - och vann alltså på mitt hån. Så ni får klara er utan sensmoral. Eller komma på en egen.

No more Oprah for me!

So, I’m watching Oprah the other day...Wait, let me start over. So, the wife is watching Oprah the other day while I”m hard at work in the kitchen. I was making zingara, an Italian dish of sauteed pork chops, peppers, black olives and white wine. Wednesday is usually a light day for me, work-wise. It is, therefore, my day to take a stab at cooking. So, the wife interrupts my sullying of her kitchen by informing me that Marion Jones is on Oprah. Huh? What was Marion Jones doing on THAT show? Hadn’t she gone away?Jones is a former Olympic track star. She is also the same person who was just released from prison. She spent a half-year in the clink for pleading guilty to perjury.Having just been released from the hoosgow, Jones began the rehabilitation of her career by showing up on Oprah’s couch.I set aside my chopping, dredging and sautéing to check out Ms. Jones. She did a pretty nice job of painting herself out as a naive victim. According to Jones, she had been fooled into using anabolic steroids, thinking that they were flaxseed oil. For those of you who aren’t furniture refurbishers, flaxseed oil is also called linseed oil, a substance used as a wood finish.It does have some (suspect) nutritional value. It is also the substance that many accused users of steroids point to as to what they thought they were REALLY using. According to her account, it was her coach that slipped her the diabolical serum. But she couldn’t establish his motive. Nonetheless, Jones faced a dilemma when she tested positive for steroids.She could admit to using them and face certain disgrace. Or, she could lie about her knowledge of what was being put into her body and hope to preserve some shred of dignity.She chose door number 2. That didn’t quite work out and off she went to the big house. Now sprung, her performance on Oprah was rather pathetic. You could tell that Oprah wasn’t buying it.Hopefully, Ms. Jones can get her act together and (quietly) rejoin society. Now, I don’t plan on watching any more episodes of Oprah in the future. Principally, because I can’t face the ridicule associated with it. Plus, I’m sure that we won’t see the likes of Roger Clemens or anybody from the NFL on the show. That’s because, when it comes to performance enhancers, there are several sets of rules by which the sporting world plays.The International Olympic Committee, which stripped Jones of her medals, takes the use of steroids seriously. Major League Baseball did not and the NFL does not. Do you remember when Clemens made his appearance on Capitol Hill and was roundly beaten about the head and shoulders? Whatever happened to the outrage that shortly followed his appearance? I’ll tell you: It went away, whimpering in a corner. While pro baseball has done some things to tighten up its act, the NFL barely conceals its indifference. Minnesota Vikings receiver Bernard Berrian was recently quoted as saying that he had tried calling the NFL’s “steroid hotline” to check on a particular substance’s legality.His first two calls went unreturned.He finally got a return call on his third try. Now, just how seriously do you think the NFL is taking steroid use by its players? Why should it? As with seemingly everything else, the NFL gets a free pass on the steroid issue. It’s too bad Ms. Jones can’t catch a football. Then she could join the party that is the NFL, and she wouldn’t have to resort to selling her woeful tale to Oprah Winfrey and the rest of us. By the way, the zingara turned out to be quite tasty, thank you. And, in case you’re wondering, I used olive, not flaxseed, oil.

//By Mike Forster

Its a jungle out there...

...so far! Klassiskt myntade ord av Jane Goodall "Natures First lady" som vid en kongress i Chicago insåg den alarmerade faran som hotade för afrikas vilda schimpanser. "I came to the conference as a scientist. I left as an activist". Jag beundrar kvinnor som Jane Goodall. Med sitt starka engagemang och tron och övertygelsen om att vi kan och vi gör skillnad i vad gäller agerande, hanterande och genom kunskap. Vår roll är att tro på vårt ställningstagande och agera som förebild och kunskapsbank till våra unga, föräldrar, tränare och ledare. Vi gör skillnad. Men i dopingens värld är djungels snårig och tuff. För Goodall innebär det gott för oss gäller riktning och hur vi bäst kan ta oss igenom, nå fram och förmedla. Läste häromdan ett utalande av IOK´s President Dr. Jacques Rogge som ser fram emot att stanna på sin position även efter årets val (en post han haft sedan 2001)Jacques Rogge says, "Why am I a candidate? Well definitely because I still have a great passion for the movement, I still have a passion for sports, I still have a great enthusiasm, I believe that sport is a wonderful tool for young people, definitely it improves their health, it is a great educational tool and it is also a great tool of social integration.I think the biggest challenges ahead, on the long term, are the perpetual problems of sport: the fight against doping is definitely still our number one priority. We have now a second challenge, that is the rising inactivity amongst young people, which leads to obesity. Sport is not anymore the number one priority for young people. So we have to bring people back to sport."
It is a jungle out there. Det gäller att vi har de rätta redskapen!

McCain Obama... Ett k(n)äckt styre.

...där dagens valutgång refereras som en Historisk Duell där tider, stater och dess elektorröster är avgörande. Totalt finns 538 och den som får minst 270 vinner. Ni kommer ihåg key, bokstavligen,keystate Florida för fyra år sen. McCain offensiven där är brutal och i Virginia läste jag precis att "tre tunga "g" råder "Gods, guns and guts". Röstkaos hotar och den storm av snö och is som mötte oss ihelgens CX Cup Falun/Borlänge känns plötsligen en aning mindre brutal. Många vill påstå att det är cyclecross at its best! och visst är det så. Laddade var vi RI's eget Team Cobalt. Själv hade jag den, ibland otacksamma rollen som teamsupporter med handouts och fokusering på att depå, material, dricka var på plats... på rätt plats. Och det började bra. Grabbarna fokuserad, motiverad och virginia apporachen hängde i luften när supportercrew (ie undertecknad) ansåg att "dricka" var på sin plats. Så med säker hand, uppmuntrande skrik stod jag där redo att ge. Att platsen var i skugga med förädiska isfläckar hade min adrenalinhöjda önskan om att stödja, helt missat. Konsekvensen förödande. Likt McCains fammlande för last second votes, lika snabbt försvann cykel under åkare och med ett oroväckande "knaaak" insåg alla att det av carbonfiber utformade styret fick en mer lössläppt vinkel och att det som en gång skall liknas vid en stabil ram nu hade en mer vibrerande approach. Min man är amerikan. Det var han som körde. Om vi nu är osäker inför det amerikanska valets utgång och det potensiella ramaskri detta kan innebära, vare sig detta ter sig efter en historisk seger eller bland förlorare är det garanterat inget mot det som hördes över Borlänge Folketspark denna strålande men kalla, isiga och snöiga allahelgonahelg. Låt oss bara säga att i lägret rådde en isande, tung tystnad. Så med spänning följer vi nu val och letar febrilt nya komponenter. SM om två veckor och som Roberto Vacchi konstaterade. "Han är tillbaks, se Sparrow, han flyger!"
//Mia