Ren Idrott

Norrmännen må skratta åt vad vi inte stoppar i munnen...

2010-09-03T09:50:00.007+02:00

... men fakta kvarstår - kosten är en vital del i hur body och mind intigrerar och fungerar. Och han har kanske en sund strategi i detta vår Hamrén som nu tar bort sötsaker och söta drycker ur den meny som presenteras och erbjuds vårt forbollsspelande landslag vid läger och samlingar. Även om vi och norrmännen kan tycka att det låter en aning konstigt att vuxna män och fotbollsproffs måste bli tillsagda vad de ska äta så har ju faktiskt Aftonbladet en poäng i sin fråga: "Nämnde vi att Norge inte har spelat ett mästerskap sedan EM 2000?"
En som verkligen fann balansen häromdagen var Procyklisten Thor Hushovd som med sitt Cervelo Team tog en fin etappseger i Spanien Runt. Spurtstark och som ett levande bevis att "Food is fuel" rammade han mållinjen med sitt karakterisktiska Hushovd leende. Formen på topp alltså inför stundande cykel-VM. Annars har ju cyklingen brottas med just frågan om vad man ska och inte ska stoppa i munnen. UCI har det senaste åren arbetat starkt på sitt antidopingprogram och de antal tester som utförs på de aktiva är massiva. Resultateten låter inte vänta på sig och det är precis detta som faktiskt fått cykling att framstå som en oerhört smutsig sport med många dopingfall och fusk. Men, det är ju helt tvärtom vi ska titta på detta. Att vända på steken - ägget eller den friterade bananen och faktiskt applådera UCI för det rigorösa program som börja ta form och se de positiva testerna som just... något positivt. Att våga ta steget för en dopingfri sport kräver mod. Det kommer även att kräva positiva svar och en rensning av atleter. Vad UCI gör är en förebild för andra förbund och vi önksar att även dessa "vågade" satsa.
Friidrottens stjärnor fortsätter att verbalt uttala sig negativt och utmanade om sina konkurrenter och där har man inga problem med att "ta skeden ur mun". Bolt hävdar fortfarande att han är oerhört oimponerad av Tyson Gay. Även om Bolt förlorat mot Gay båda gånger dessa mötes på DN Galan (2008/10)så ser han ingen direkt konkurrens mellan de två. "Ingen fara, säger Bolt. Detta är inget mästerskapsår, det här är mitt lediga år, så det är inga problem..."
En som vi dock imponeras av är danska tennisspelaren Caroline Wozniacki som visar sin styrka på årets US Open. Vacker, glad och balanserad slår hon hårt och påpekar också mycket riktigt "Jag ger inte bort några gratispoäng. Det är en av mina styrkor"... Snacka om att fått i sig sin havregrynsgröt till frukost.

Johan Esk skriver i sin krönika "Vilka piller är okey?" - DN Mera Sport Söndag

2010-08-23T10:17:00.007+02:00

- "Jag har så otroligt svårt för den skarpa gräns elitidrottaren själv håller vid liv. Allt är svart eller vitt. Allt på dopningslistan är fel. Alla piller, sprutor och salvor utanför är rätt. Gråzoner finns inte" ...Johan Esk bör påminnas om att det faktiskt är precis tvärtom. Gråzoner finns och det är det som är ett av det stora problemen vi måste tackla. Att reglera det idag enorma inflödet av kosttilskott och otillåtna preparat som formligen öses in i vårt land samt komma bort från den tes som Esk beskriver... -"Det är fortfarande helt okey att knapra en massa andra piller - och kalla det ren idrott". De receptbelagda och kontrollerade preparat som idag finns på den svenska marknaden skall tas med försiktighet - det vet alla elitidrottare. Är man pga skador eller sjukdom tvungen att ta sin medicin skall detta klart deklareras och man skall ha en dispens för att kunna ta detta. Regler är helt klara. Den oreglerade marknaden och dess preparat är däremot inte klart. Införsel och användande av dessa preparat har drastiskt ökat de senaste åren och vi vet också att användandet av dessa preparat inte enbart handlar om att ta dessa för snabba resultat på den sportsliga arenan - det handlar lika mycket om snabba resultat för att uppnå kroppsideal och stärka självkänslan, speciellt hos unga. Vi är också oerhört medveten om att dessa preparat till stor omfattning är förorenade tillskott där risken för "misstags" doping är stor. Vi hör ofta berättelser om vitamin/mineral tillskott som visat sig innehålla förbjudna substanser. Att idrottstjärnor "väljer" att knapra piller måste vi ifrågasätta då många elitidrottare är oerhört medveten om konsekvenserna. Som Esk beskriver detta "Fallet Rahm är lika upprörande som när en b-kändis snortat knark någonstans på Stureplan"... fast egenligen har Esk missat en stor del av den tradegi som faktiskt följer en aktiv hockeyspelare som Rahm. Han blir avstängd och han blir dömd som fuskare och han kommer att känna av sitt svek mot det svenska folket. Så nej Johan Esk, det är inte okey att "knapra en massa piller - och kalla det en ren idrott" och vi har ett stort arbete i att minska den stora gråzon som faktiskt finns.

"Kaxig Supertalang" - Representerar ny generation med Attityd! ...

2010-07-19T07:26:00.011+02:00

Äntligen! Läste häromdagen om en av sveriges unga friidrottare på gång. "Supertalang och kaxig citatmaskin" - en sextonåring, med attityd och med målet att sätta nytt världsrekord! Me like! Friidrotten i Sverige behöver dessa talanger - Orädda och kaxiga. Den enorma tomhet som skapades då vår senaste "generation" friidrottare med attityd och resulatat försvann har varit ekande och ihålig! Men nu kommer dom ... äntligen! En som alltid varit kaxig, men tillika en hyllad stjärna är Zlatan. Helt klart har hans attityd till sitt spel, sig själv och opåverkad av medias roll drivit honom till den han är idag. Om än ett "par kilo för tung" ser vi fram emot Zlatans one-liners och återkomst i FC Barcelona! Här råder attityd! En annan mästarinna vi hoppas återfår sin, om något, lugnare attityd är Skidskytten Helena Jonsson. Efter fjolårets supersäsong men oh så tråkiga OS-insats har Jonsson säkerligen arbetat hårt på sin mentala styrka och att återfå glädjen till sporten och i livet. Jonsson som föressten blev Ekholm häromdagen ser fram emot uppstart och säsong... "ja, smekmånad får det bli nästa gång jag är ledig!" Det kallar jag attityd! Vi slår ofta hårt på ordet attityd. Vi driver en som alltid hårt jämtelag och det är på något sätt lite fult att våga tro på sig själv, uttrycka sina mål och bli besviken över att dom inte alltid blir verklighet. Helt fel! Låt ungdomarna ha sin attityd. Låt dom tro på sig själva och uppmuntra! Min gamla farmor lär ha sagt en gång: "Man kan alltid ta bort men aldrig lägga till" syftande på barnens ibland naiva entusiasm, sprudlande glädje, pratgladhet och driv att prova och lyckas! Låt denna naiva sköna attityd växa med. Låt den ledas in en målmedveten ambition att bli bäst! Detta är attityd vi behöver i svensk idrott!

"Lika surt som en gamal kartong mjölk..."

2010-07-06T07:26:00.005+02:00

...lär Armstrong sagt om Landis anklagelser att han använt sig av bloddoping under bla. Tour de France 2004. Ursinning och med ett driv som bara Lance har trampade han sig sedan in som fyra under prologen av Tour de France. Gårdagens andra etapp slutade otäckt då regnet gjorde en vägsträcka riktigt brutalt hal. Många var fallen och Armstrong själv beskriver det som "ett krig". - Det låg folk överallt, säger amerikanen till AP. De många krascherna ledde till att klungan i någon form av samlad protest vägrade dra på de sista milen in till mål utan inväntade de kraschade och skadade kamraterna. Andy Schleck hade slecka däck och gjorde illa sig rejält men tackade klungan och Schleck snackar Fair play. -We say; go for it! Armstrong style!
Ikväll fortsätter VM; Uruguay- Holland. Uruguay brottas med skador och avstängningar och Holland har varit oerhört starka. Spelar Uruguay som matchen mot Ghana har dom inte en chans... frågan är om dom överhuvudtaget skulle ha gått vidare. En som däremot beslutat att tacka för sig är Maradona. "Min tid är över - jag har gett allt" säger han själv. Vad vi vet har Maradona ännu inte lämnat in sin avskedsansökan.
Ett annat uppmärksammat fall som åter tas upp i tidningarna är den sydafrikanska löperska Caster Semenyas fall. Efter 11 månaders avstängning för att utvisa om Caster är man eller kvinna! uppges nu undersökningarna vara klara och att resultatet är fastslaget: Semenyas är kvinna. Uppgifterna publiceras i Daily Telegraph i dag. Tidningen hävdar att Semenya, 19, inom de närmaste dagarna kommer att förklaras fri att tävla mot kvinnor igen. Men vi måste alla fråga oss om drivet finns kvar. Efter allt detta som hon fått utstå. Anklagelser, utredning, skriverier, misstro och rigorösa undersökningar av internationella förbundet. Hon gjorde verkligen succé under VM i Berlin men frågan är om det var värt priset.
Priset däremot var nog det rätta då det nu står klart att Ingemar Stenmark - den nu 54-årige slalomgurun tackat ja till att delta i Mästarnas Mästare! Här finns inga sura kartonger inte, inte heller kommer dessa profiler att bry sig om lite regn. Nä, vi ser fram emot Stenmarks intagande av mästarborgen och utmaningarna som kommer. "De e bar å åk"! ... Samtidigt som vi inväntar dagens tredje etapp av Touren och hoppas att våra procyklister gör detsamma!

Varken världen, eller månen för den del", blev förvånade!

2010-06-29T08:28:00.010+02:00

..."Mutor bakom ryskt OS-Fiasko" rubriken slår emot oss och sticker liksom ut trots att de flesta spaltmeter nu intensifieras av VMs framfart och det faktum att Brasilien formligen körde över lillebror Chile där Robinho gjorde ett av Brasiliens tre mål. Men vad är Robinho mot Rubel... 950 miljader rubel nämligen som Ryssland planerar att spendera inför OS-2014 i Sotji. Som ni vet gjorde Ryssland sitt sämsta vinter-OS i någonsin i Vancouver, trots en rekordbudget på närmare 825 milj kronor. Men nu visar en statlig undersökning på att pengarna gått till annat och mutor. Pengar att hämta således för oärliga företag och personer."Varken världen, eller månen för den del", blev förvånade. Inom ett par dagar drar Tour De France igång. Förra året fanns vi på plats i MC och kunde från första parkett njuta av första dagens prolog som tog de klättrande mästarna upp från hamnen via casinot till målet 9 k upp. Vi njöt av Lance Armstrongs fräcka comeback at 38. 2006 vann italienaren Ivan Basso Giro d'Italia, men stängdes sedan av från Tour de France av sitt stall CSC endast dagar innan starten av TDF 06. Misstänkt för inblandning i en dopningsaffär kallad Operación Puerto. Vi hade alla följt hans oansträngda klättring i Pyreneerna och andats åt honom. Vid avslöjande om hans dopingaffärer kom förklaringen...Hm! "Varken världen, eller månen för den del", blev förvånade. Nu är Basso tillbaka. "Min form är bra", säger han själv. Lance meddelar dock att detta blir hans sista Tour. Året har varit turbulent för denna otroligt målmedvetne amerikan och Floyd Landis utspel kring sitt eget erkännande har säkerligen tagit hårt på Armstrong. Men han är strong! en vinnarskalle, no doubt och skulle det förvåna oss om Lance är bland de 5 när målet i Paris närmar sig...nej vet ni - "Varken världen, eller månen för den del", skulle bli förvånade.

Honda moves skapar Samuraj känsla...swisch!

2010-06-24T22:16:00.007+02:00

men Maradonnas tar Argentina till kvartsfinal... skarpt och snabbt och med bollkänsla. Man drogs med i stämmningen då matchen mellan Japan och Danmark kommer att klassas som en av de bästa och mest sevärda matcherna under detta VM. Offensiv taktkänsla är uppfriskande. Lika fräscht faktiskt som att Svenska Spel, med sin traditionella helylle image slänger ut både Marknadschefen och sin VD. Det finns mycket att spela på... eller kanske rättare sagt arbeta på i det bolaget. Att finna det rätta spelarna är key.Men även om Engelska media sågar sina så är vi inte lika drastiska i Sverige vad gäller att skam-förklara de våra. Om nu inte sveket har med doping att göra. För där har vi ingen förståelse eller förlåtande inställning. - Och det är bra! Sverige och svenska sporten har under alla tider uppfattats som ren och här spelar vi under schyssta former. Alla får vara med och alla skall träna och tävla under lika vilkor. All elitsatsning granskas under lupp och skapar stora mediala rubriker. Fågan är dock när ska man satsa? I slutet på den första halvleken gjorde Frank Lampard 2–2 till England mot Tyskland.Men linjemannen missade det och bjöd därmed på VM:s största skandal. Bollen var flera decimeter över mållinjen.
"Det var mål, utan tvekan", - men stackars linjemannen från Uruguay såg ingenting och blev därmed skyldig till en enorm skandal. Men, -Det är inte lätt att spela schysst alla gånger. VM rasar vidare men mina tankar går mot den stundande Touren. Det är bara dagar kvar nu till Tour de France. Läste precis att Cancellara är på gång och att han inte påverkats av det ihärdiga ryktet om en motordriven cykel. I New York Times skriver man: "So much doping, so much cheating, so many suspicions, so many accusations. Can any fan of bicycle racing feel free to believe in the goodness of the sport today?".Naturligtvis! Sviktar vår tilltro till prestationer då dör sporten. VM rasar vidare och vi ser fram emot nya moves och säkerligen omdiskuterade domartavlor men spelet är det viktigaste och vår tilltro till dessa underbara idrottsmäns prestationer!

2010-06-15T07:37:00.001+02:00

Fotboll, fotboll och pissiga dagar för och på Green!

2010-06-15T07:22:00.008+02:00

... det är spaltmeter nu. -Fotboll och den åh så irriterande tutan. Sedan starten av VM har vi alla gått i ett konstant surr/humm med fokusering på boll. - Det kan inte vara lätt. Som tv tittare är det enormt irriterande - som spelare måste det vara än värre. "Honka, Honka, Brääääll"... läste en gång en otroligt roliga bok "Fru Sunesson cyklar" och där fann hon, tillsammans med hunden Hubert, att en sån tuta var "precis vad vi behöver" "Honka, Honka, Bräääll"... frågan är - behöver VM den. Men annars går det bra där borta i Sydafrika. Än så länge är vi befriade från skanaler... vad vi vet, och det har trots farhågor om oroligheter varit relativt lugnt... vad vi vet, och de inledande matcherna varit bra. Själv satt jag naturligtvis som klistrad framför England-USA och simply love den målvaktstavla Green bjöd oss på. Rubrikerna "Miss USA" med den klassiska axelbannern var enormt roliga men Green själv tyckte säkert inte så. Hade nog önskat att tutorna dränkt lite av den missen. På dopingfronten är allt lugnt. Det brukar vara det i fotboll. Det enda pissande vi läst om är Rooneys teebreak spelande golf med just Green. - VM har inletts!!

"ANNARS KOMMER VI ATT VARA HJÄLPLÖST FÖRLORADE MOT EN HET NY MARKNAD...

2010-06-10T09:50:00.002+02:00

...som breder ut sig", säger Folkhälsominister Maria Larsson till Ekot. Och visst breder den ut sig, marknaden av otillåtna preparat och doping på internet. Under många år har vi förfasats över hur enkelt man kan ta in, sälja vidare och använda preparat utan som helst kontroll. Preparat som letat sig ut från den sportsliga arena in samhället och ut bland "oss vanliga". I Ren Idrotts undersökningar (UM 05/07/09) har vi sett en ökad tolerans och ett ökat användande av doping. Och ökningen hadlar inte bara om att ta preparat för att bli bäst i sin sport - det handlar om att snabbt nå upp till de ansedda kroppsideal som oftas utpekas i media. Smala tjejer och muskulösa killar. Närmare 70% av tillfrågade killar 15-17år menar att killar med mycket muskler har lättare att få tjejer. Tillika svarar närmare 6% av tillfrågade tjejer att dom visst skulle kunna tänka sig vara tillsammans med någon som dopar sig.(RI undersökning "Barn och ungdomar om doping" 2009). Detta är skrämmande siffror. Konsekvenser av använande av dessa preparat kan vara förödande och tjejer tillsammans med killar som använder preparat är en otäck tanke. - Här kan vad som helst hända!

I dagens media står vidare att läsa:
-Folkhälsoministern erkänner att det finns en risk att medel som inte borde beslagtas ändå tas om hand men tycker att det är en risk man får ta.

Bra Folkhälsoministern!!

http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/ratt-att-ta-lagliga-droger-i-beslag-1.1119346

REN IDROTT BLOGGAR IGEN!

2010-06-09T09:56:00.004+02:00

... och vi har så mycket att prata om!
Läser mycket fotboll i tdningarna dessa dagar. Spalterna fylls av förväntan inför stundande VM och vi med dem. Det ska naturligtvis bli oerhört spännande att följa! Men mycket är på gång även här på hemmaplan! LOVE Stockholm drog igång denna vecka. Allt inför det stundande bröllopet mellan Kronprincessan och hennes Daniel fylls staden av kärlek och aktiviteter - Ren Idrott finns med! Fredag den 18:e ska du ta dig till Kungsträdgården. Ren Idrott, tillsammans med Skandia, slår ett slag för en dopingfrisport och på plats finns vår ambassadör Jonas Björkman! Missa inte det!

Bifogar Doping News! På återhörande!

//Ren Idrott!

Bjarne Riis: Making cycling better

2010-01-27T08:07:00.000+01:00

Saxo Bank manager on blood profiling, nurturing young talent and post-ban comebacks
Saxo Bank team boss Bjarne Riis believes that the team can develop its younger riders and that the biological passport is a useful tool when it comes to signing riders. Riis, who is stepping up his search for a sponsor after it was confirmed that Saxo Bank would pull out of the sport at the end of the year, also credited his progressive methods with laying the foundation of the International Cycling Union's (UCI) biological passport. The Dane also put forward his stance on riders coming back from suspensions.
Riis was speaking at the team's recent training camp in Fuerteventura as his riders built up for their 2010 seasons.
"I'm proud of being in cycling. It's my life. I feel obligated to give back. The sport gave me so much," said Riis. "We get so much criticism but what do they do about it to make the sport better? We do things to make it better. If you want to be allowed to criticise it's because you know better. Then come up with solutions. Otherwise shut up and let us do our jobs because we try to make it a better cycling and we're doing that."
When asked about his critics and sections of the media, Riis was resolute: "A lot don't understand me or don't want to understand me. I do my job and do what I think I should do. I can't please them all but I figured that out a long time ago."
Recruiting based on blood profiles, instinct
In 2009 Riis's team ended its association with Dr. Rasmus Damsgaard. He had pioneered the squad's regime of blood profiling and Riis credited his work for creating the building the building block behind the UCI's biological passport, which opened its first doping cases in 2009. Damsgaard had always said that once the passport was in place he would step away from working closely with Riis's team.
"I think we showed the way by building our system with Rasmus and I think you can say that because of that we have the biological passport," he said. "It's a copy of what we did. Maybe ours was a little better but we did it in a way that we thought was the best but definitely the passport is a good thing. I won't say it's optimal but it's the best we have and it's definitely good."
Riis added that the passport data were used when signing riders, although it wasn't a mandatory part of his selection process. Instead, his gut instinct and his experience were crucial factors in not only determining a rider's honesty but also his potential and fit within the team. "We analyse the results when we sign riders but it depends on how far we go back. If I feel it's necessary, then we go back. It's just a tool. It doesn't absolutely make riders innocent but we still see that there are riders who cheat and who think they can come around it. It's just a tool but it's good to have.
"When you hire a rider it's a lot about gut feeling and if you use that and your common sense you're right most of the time," he added. "Sometimes you're wrong. You never know. My experience, it helps me. Not always but sometimes. I stick to my instincts. That doesn't mean they're always right."
Young talents coming up
Riis' instincts have drawn in a crop of young talent for this season, led by the likes of Richie Porte and Laurent Didier. The team manager is also expecting second-year professionals Dominic Klemme and Jacob Fuglsang to step up.
"I can't tell you where they can develop," Riis said when asked about Porte and Didier. "It's too early to say. They have talent but we have to work with them and then we can see which direction they go in. I think Didier can do okay. He finished his university studies last year so he's not really ridden that many kilometres. It's going to take him up to another level. I don't think we've seen his true potential or strength yet."
Porte signed after a stellar 2009 in which he won a time trial in the baby Giro, along with a string of other good performances, and only turned to cycling three years ago. Riis believes that the Australian houses raw talent that sets him apart.
"He's very young but I think he's an obvious talent who is good at time trialing and climbing," he said. "He has so much to learn. He's very green but give him a couple of years he might step into the scene."
Riis rode for Toshiba in his early days as a professional and at the age of 24 was dropped by the team and told he did not have a future in the sport. That harsh treatment at the hands of director sportif Yves Hezard scared Riis and it's something that he's not eager to repeat as he tries to nurture the talent he has attracted.
"We take good care of them. That's really important," said Riis. "When I was a young pro my teams didn't really take good care of me like they should. These are things we do differently here. We follow them, give them a good structure and training and that's what they need to develop. That the most important thing we can do."
Second chances
One rider that Riis won't be looking to nurture though is Riccardo Riccò, who is set to make a comeback to racing in March after a ban. Riis, who is no stranger to controversy and admitted to taking erythropoietin (EPO) and other products in 2007, believes that the Italian deserves a second chance but that he wouldn't thrive in Saxo Bank's current set up.
"I don't think that he's the first rider on my list because he has a personality that might not fit into my team, but apart from that he had his ban and I think he and everybody should have a second chance to come back and prove that he's okay. Like some of the other guys, like Ivan Basso," he said.
Asked what he thought of Riccò's apparent lack of remorse, Basso's unwillingness to criticise and David Millar, who works with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and has an outspoken stance on doping, the Dane had strong beliefs. "Ivan made a mistake, how can he then criticise other riders? I don't see the difference," said Riis. "Everyone makes Millar out to be a god but he should pay as the rest of us. They're in the same category.
"Ivan might be a different personality. Maybe he doesn't have the same need to speak up about others. It's bullshit; just because you shout out about other people doesn't make you less wrong than another guy. It doesn't make sense," he added.

By:Daniel Benson

Despite Steroid Admission, It's Way Too Late To Pump Up Mark McGwire's Bid For Hall Of Fame

2010-01-13T09:57:00.001+01:00

Former St. Louis Cardinals Mark McGwire is sworn in during a House Committee session investigating steroids in Major League Baseball in 2005.
At long last, Mark McGwire has elected to talk about the past - a past that isn't very pretty for baseball - and now the Hall of Fame voters are going to have to decide whether being an admitted cheater makes him any more worthy of a plaque in Cooperstown than a suspected cheater.
It's a little unclear as to why McGwire chose now to issue his mea culpa for having used steroids as he inflated his home run numbers to record-setting proportions in the '90s, other than his desire to return to baseball as the St. Louis Cardinals' batting coach cleansed of guilt. Undoubtedly, he'll attain sympathy in some quarters as Jason Giambi did when he was the only one of the players caught up in the BALCOprobe who admitted to the grand jury in San Francisco about having used steroids. But I highly doubt if it's going to make any appreciable difference in the 23-24% he's been getting in the Hall of Fame balloting.
If anything, when the voters reflect on what an absolute sham McGwire was, publicly embracing the Maris family in 1998 as he went about annihilating Roger Maris' longstanding single-season home record with the help of performance-enhancing drugs, they should be even more dismissive of him as a person deserving of any honor in baseball. In his statement Monday, McGwire said: "I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish and a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroids era."
It seems to me the most important people he needs to apologize to are Roger Maris' two sons. After all, he robbed them of their father's legacy, as did Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, although I'm not holding my breath for either of them to admit their cheating ways. (For what it's worth, Maris still has a place in the record books as the American League one-season home run record-holder.)
And when McGwire says he wishes he never played during the steroids era, I have to laugh. After all, he was the steroids era. Is he trying to suggest that he just happened to come along and get caught up in this web of performance-enhancing drugs that had been festering in baseball for years?
And whether he wants to admit it or not, McGwire's admission yesterday, along with Jose Canseco's past lurid tales of steroids use, has taken a big chunk out of Tony La Russa's legacy, as the "Bash Brothers" 1989 world championship with the Oakland A's is forever tainted. La Russa was still saying yesterday that he believed McGwire's home run prowess for him in Oakland and St. Louis was primarily the product of hard work in the weight room. It remains a weak defense from someone who has lived by the credo "respect the game."
McGwire cited the 228 games he missed over five years due to seven trips on the disabled list as his incentive to see if steroids could help him heal faster, and I suppose that's going to be the standard excuse used by all the other cheats who either come clean or get caught. And if the residual effect of taking steroids was being healthy and strong enough to make a mockery of the record book and enhance their salaries tenfold, well, who could help that?
I do believe McGwire's primary motivation for coming clean now was his desire to get back on the major league field with the Cardinals and teach hitting - which couldn't happen until he addressed the issue - and not necessarily an attempt to improve his image with the Hall of Fame voters. He has to know that finally talking about the past can never eradicate the past. Rather, it has served to further illuminate it and remind everyone, the players and their union, the media and, yes, the commissioner of baseball, that we were all complicit in looking the other way as all these cheats tarnished the game forever.
Admission of steroid use should never be construed as some form of healing process for baseball, either. There is no healing from this. But it's a whole lot better than the lying and denying.
Are you listening, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa? Or are you content to wait for your turn on the Hall of Fame ballot to see exactly how well you really fooled everyone?

bmadden@nydailynews.com

The Toll of Doping - was it worth it?

2010-01-05T08:00:00.001+01:00

Were the experiences and competitive results I obtained with the help of doping worth the physical and mental anguish I’ve suffered during the past two years? The simple answer is “no”. While this probably seems like a no-brainer to the casual fan or weekend racer, it was not a conclusion I ever foresaw during those long nights spent hooked up to an IV or smarting from an intramuscular injection.
Doping can ruin your life...
and that’s the message I have for young athletes who might face similar choices
Don’t get me wrong - save from a few brief moments of clarity when I recoiled in disgust from my participation in systematic doping - I understand that I was willing to follow “the program” if it meant I could keep racing and practicing the sport I loved in an environment that seemed intoxicating to me.
Unbeknown to most, I had two significant opportunities to escape the system - one in the aftermath of a terrible crash in 2003 that almost cost me my left leg, and later in early 2006 after it was revealed publicly that a former teammate of mine had tested positive for EPO.
And though both times I took baby steps towards the door of mental and physical freedom from cheating, I lacked sufficient willpower, confidence and hope for a future without competitive cycling to break free. Maybe things would have been different if I’d had a stronger outside influence, or a better-calibrated moral compass, but the reality is that I didn’t, and I’m reminded of this each and every day of my life.
I don’t ask for sympathy from those of you who could never understand how a good person can make a fundamentally bad decision - or even a series of major mistakes - but I was amazed by the venomous hostility that characterized so much of the anonymous email sent to me care of my website.
I never realized that so many people felt so let down or angry with me for my own failings. I do offer my sincerest apologies to those people I directly harmed - my competitors who raced without the aid of performance enhancing drugs. I know you’re out there and I took food from your plate. (Though I met more dopers than clean professional cyclists during my time with a UCI license.)
Without cataloging the entire collection of woes that have befallen me as a result of doping, there are four that bear mentioning (in addition to almost having died after my last race), and which future professionals tempted by the needle should acknowledge:
The poisoning of personal and professional relationships that were incredibly important to me; separation from my family.
My inability to secure post-cycling work in the professional field for which I’d trained,
My subsequent financial ruin;
And the dual physical and mental anguish I’ve endured since being cast out of the sport I loved, which formed such a dominant part of my identity and sense of self.
I started cycling on May 25, 1989 - my 14th birthday, one day after the death of my father. Cycling was an escape from a shattered childhood, but also a means to supercharge my existence - to travel to exotic parts of the world, immerse myself in foreign cultures, represent my country, test myself physically and mentally and generally collect experiences that I thought would form a life tapestry rivaling that of my peers. In the end though, that tapestry is shredded. It hangs in tatters, and I’m left with little more than a few dusty trophies, fading stamps in my passport and vague notions of “what could have been”.
Unlike the authors of more than a few melodramatic letters that appeared in major cycling publications, I would never dissuade a young athlete from following his sporting dreams. I would, however, strongly encourage anyone choosing to pursue sport as a career to relentlessly analyze the long-term costs of his participation against the short-term benefits. Ruin lies in wait for dopers who are caught, but even clean sport can exact a significant toll.
There are two questions I wish I’d prepared answers for prior to leaving grad school to return to racing:
1) What would I choose to do if I couldn’t race a bicycle and
2) How would I support myself doing something I loved and construct an enjoyable life if professional cycling couldn’t be a part of it?
I’ve been forced to confront the fact that my answers to both questions are still incomplete, and that I’m running out of time to respond appropriately. I am humbled and contrite, and implore you - young athletes to avoid making the same mistakes that have consigned me to my present state.

by Joe Papp

From cheaters to leaders; Canada lost its innocence as a country with Ben Johnson's fall from grace...

2009-12-18T08:42:00.005+01:00

Since then, we've been at the forefront of drug testing as cheating has become more and more common... It is a distinctive Canadian fantasy that we are all hoser cousins to Const. Benton Fraser, the overly polite, virtuous Mountie in the TV series Due South.After all, Vancouver Canucks fans have roundly booed the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner at playoff games, international speedskaters have complained of being shut out from access to the Richmond oval, and our single-minded Own the Podium, win-at-all-costs approach to the 2010 Winter Games tilts the playing field too much for some tastes.
"That, to me, is just not in the spirit of the Olympics," chided U.S. skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender.
It’s not the first time somebody has held a mirror up to us and we didn’t like the reflection.
In 1988, sprinter Ben Johnson was disqualified after winning 100-metre Olympic gold because a rival supposedly spiked his water bottle. As explanations go, it was lame —as plausible as Tiger Woods headed to the driving range when he crashed his Escalade at 2 a.m. Yet despite the messiness and the furor Johnson created, sparking a royal commission and passionate national hand-wringing, we were forever changed by it.
We grew up, lost our sense of virginity and reversed the ratio — long on rhetoric but short on action — to become world leaders in the anti-doping movement.
That position was cemented in place — literally — when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chose Montreal in 2001 as its home base. And it is no coincidence that Montreal is the hometown of lawyer Dick Pound, former International Olympic Committee vice-president, former chairman of WADA and one of the most strident critics of drug use in sports.
"I think there’s no question the Ben Johnson affair was a big shock to Canadians generally," Pound says. "It has propelled us into one of the leading countries in the anti-doping movement."
Even the name of Canada’s anti-doping body — the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport — has a moralistic, Benton Fraser ring to it, reflecting this country’s high-minded attitude to elite sport.Yet the watchdog agency responsible for administering our country’s anti-doping program seems to catch more "soft" drug takers than hardcore cheaters.
"The most common positive test [for a Canadian athlete] is marijuana," says Dr. Bob McCormack, Canada’s chief medical officer for the 2010 Olympics. "And pot is not exactly performance-enhancing."
But before we let our heads get as swelled up as baseball villain Barry Bonds’s transformed body, it’s naive to think there are no Canadians who accept performance enhancers as a means to a chemical edge.
Pound got into hot water with the National Hockey League in 2005 when he claimed about one-third of players, the majority of them Canadians, were taking advantage of »pharmaceutical assistance." It was a figure designed for shock value, though mild in comparison with Jose Canseco, the retired slugger who estimated that 85 per cent of major-leaguers were on steroids by the turn of the new millennium.
Pound is quick to point out that he is talking "stimulants," not "steroids," which can mean anything from caffeine intake (Wayne Gretzky gulped copious amounts of coffee before games), to Sudafed (an over-the-counter cold remedy players use to kick-start their motors) to heart-racing energy drink Red Bull.
"Just hearing [Alexander] Ovechkin say, ‘You don’t even need Red Bull to play in this building [Bell Centre in Montreal]’ tells you something," Pound says. "When players step out on the ice after ingesting these Sudafed and Red Bull cocktails, they’re just wired."
Still, what he says shouldn’t cause waves at all, not for anyone familiar with the Steroidal Era, and the hundreds of stories that remain buried. Did the fact that superhero Alex Rodriguez was unmasked as a cheat and admitted testing positive for steroids affect his already delicate relationship with Yankee fans? Not all, apparently, judging by the delirious throngs who lined the Canyon of Heroes in Manhattan to celebrate the Yankees’ 27th World Series title. A-Rod’s public rehabilitation might not be over, but he has at least reached first base compared to Bonds. Rarely does the topic of steroids go public in the Canadian Football League because there is no drug-testing policy. That is supposed to be rolled into a new collective bargaining agreement in 2010, promises commissioner Mark Cohon. But how necessary it is or how effective it can be is open to question, given the CFL’s working-class culture and the limited resources available to put real teeth into testing.A decade ago, there was a saying that to be a great Olympic athlete you need a great coach and a great chemist. Now you might need a great lawyer.
After years of discussion, WADA marked its 10th anniversary in November by ratifying the biological passport system, perhaps the most vigilant test yet in the detection of performance-enhancing drugs. The project involves collecting a sample of an athlete’s blood, storing the profile on WADA’s database and monitoring it over time to detect variations that could indicate doping. Long after traces of a banned substance have been purged from the system, an athlete’s passport could indict him for cheating through an abnormal blood profile, even without a positive drug test. It’s a reason you won’t see five-time Olympic gold medal speed skater Claudia Pechstein at the Winter Games in February. On Nov. 25, the German lost her appeal of a two-year ban based on an unusually high level of immature blood cells, though no actual trace of a drug was found.
"Because our athletes have been tested more severely, and we’ve stressed education, they are generally cleaner than [athletes in] some other countries," McCormack suggests. "It’s like tax filing. The more likelihood of an audit, the less of an incentive there is to cheat."
No doubt about it, since the mortifying spectacle of Ben Johnson, Canadian athletes have remained remarkably free from the whiff of scandal — the potent smoke of cannabis notwithstanding.

mbeamish@vancouversun.com
AFP/Getty Images files
Photograph by: ROMEO GACAD, AFP SUN

ATHLETE OF THE DECADE: Like him or not, Bonds drew all eyes - and most MVP votes

2009-12-08T09:56:00.001+01:00

A month ago, during simpler times, Tiger Woods was presented with a tricky question: Who would he pick as the athlete of the decade?
Plenty of possible choices - Lance Armstrong, Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant, Barry Bonds, Tom Brady, among them. Tiger, too. Told the list of candidates, and leaving himself out of the mix, Woods contemplated their merits for two holes during a pro-am in China before he finally found himself torn between Federer and Bonds.
Federer set the record for Grand Slam victories. And what did he find appealing about Bonds?
"Take the scandal out of it," Woods said. "He changed the game."
So there you have it. The whole Barry Bonds case, summed up by one of sports' greatest hitters.
On the field, with his maple bat cocked and his body covered in black armour, Bonds was a beast. Off the field, well, perhaps he also epitomized exactly what the era meant in baseball.
"No matter what people were thinking, they still came out to the park to see Barry," said Dusty Baker, Bonds' longtime manager in San Francisco. "Accuse him, cheer him, boo him, whatever. He was turning those turnstiles."
MVP in 2001. MVP in 2002. MVP in 2003. MVP in 2004. Remember this: No other player has won more than three MVP trophies in an entire career.
Oh, and the home runs.
A whopping 73 in a season and a record 762 for his career. Cameras flashed all over the Giants' waterfront ballpark in 2007 when he broke Hank Aaron's lifetime mark by launching No. 756 deep into the August night.
Bonds thrust both arms over his head when he connected, and the celebration began. He didn't seem to mind that Aaron and commissioner Bud Selig were absent, further fuelling the debate about steroid accusations and asterisks.
"This record is not tainted at all. At all. Period," Bonds declared.
Baker wasn't with the Giants then, but he once got a firsthand look at a similarscene. He was on deck in Atlanta when Aaron hit No. 715 in 1974 and broke Babe Ruth's record.
"I saw Hank Aaron every day," Baker said. "But when Barry Bonds was at his peak, boy!"
Easy to see why Bonds' achievements put him among the candidates for The Associated Press' Athlete of the Decade. And who would the slugger choose if he had a vote?
Woods, Bonds picked a few weeks ago. "He is an amazing golfer," Bonds told the AP through his publicist, Lisa Nitta.
Bonds' accomplishments may be equally amazing.
In 2001, he broke Mark McGwire's single-season home run record of 70. In 2002, he capped a monster post-season performance with his only World Series appearance - Bonds hit .356 with eight homers and 27 walks in 17 games that October, only to see the Giants fall short in Game 7 against the Angels.
In 2004, at age 40, Bonds became the oldest player to win an MVP award in North America's four major pro sports. He hit .362 with 45 home runs and 101 RBIs, yet those were hardly his most impressive stats.
His true dominance showed up in how teams pitched to him. Or rather, didn't pitch to him. Bonds drew 232 walks that year, 120 of them intentional passes. The Pittsburgh Pirates once gave him an intentional walk when he led off an inning - the 10th inning, that is.
Boosted by all those walks, Bonds reached base nearly 61 per cent of the time in 2004. Chances are, he didn't even do that as a kid playing Wiffle Ball in the backyard with his famous father. Who could?
Some pitchers basically decided to never fool around with Bonds. Consider Bonds' lifetime stats against reliever Guillermo Mota: 1-for-1, which was a home run, and eight walks. Arizona manager Buck Showalter took the same approach several years earlier, ordering Bonds to be intentionally walked with the bases loaded.
"Teams would try to take him out of the game, and he'd still find a way to beat you," Baker said.
Bonds missed most of 2005 because of knee trouble and couldn't find a club to sign him after 2007, when he led the majors in on-base average for the sixth time in seven years.
After winning three MVPs in the '90s, Bonds' totals for his shortened 2000s: 317 home runs with a .322 batting average, .517 on-base average and .724 slugging percentage.
Whether all of that will eventually lead Bonds to the Hall of Fame is uncertain. To some fans, he was the face of baseball's drug scandal, mentioned 103 times in the Mitchell Report.
Bonds steadfastly said he never knowingly used steroids - and he wasn't penalized by baseball - but still faces legal issues. In a case stemming from his testimony before a federal grand jury in December 2003, he pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice.
The cloud of suspicion certainly cost Bonds an opportunity to play longer, he was indicted seven weeks after his final game, and could cut down his chance of being elected to Cooperstown.
His agent, Jeff Borris, contacted teams for more than a year trying to find Bonds a job. Now 45, Bonds has not officially announced his retirement.
"He was run out of Major League Baseball. Barry's been unfairly vilified in the Steroid Era," Borris asserted. "If he had been allowed to keep playing, he would've hit 800-plus home runs in his sleep."
AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed to this report.

Olympic athletes breaking drug rules should face lifetime ban: poll

2009-12-03T11:39:00.000+01:00

OTTAWA — Olympic athletes caught taking illegal drugs should face harsh penalties such as a lifetime ban from competing in sports, according to a national poll released Tuesday.
An overwhelming majority of Canadians polled (92.8 per cent) said there should be "severe sanctions" on Olympic athletes who test positive for using performance-enhancing drugs.
The poll, done by the Ottawa-based Nanos Research, found that about one-third (32.7 per cent) wanted a lifetime ban placed on doping athletes.
Another third (33.7 per cent) want a penalty of at least four years, while the remainder (26.4 per cent) favoured a one-year suspension, according to the results.
"In essence, there is virtually zero tolerance among Canadians for athletes using performance-enhancing drugs at the Olympics," says pollster president Nik Nanos in a statement.
Only 3.2 per cent said there should not be any kind of penalty while 4.1 per cent said they were unsure about their opinion.
"I think it's a clear statement that Canadians continue to stand up for clean sport and a level playing field," added Paul Melia, CEO of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), one of the organizations involved in drug testing for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.
Melia said Olympic athletes now face a two-year ban for a first-time offence, and a lifetime ban if caught a second time.
Organizers at the upcoming Games say they plan on taking nearly 2,500 urine and blood samples from athletes during the competitions. Those tests — both random and targeted — will begin Feb. 4. Athletes will be checked to see if they have unusually high levels of testosterone or growth hormones in their bodies.
The $16.4-million drug-testing program, which includes an $8.9-million state-of-the-art lab, is the toughest stance organizers have ever taken at the Winter Olympic Games.
In 2006, organizers at the Turin Games tested only 1,200 athletes while only 800 tests were done in Salt Lake City.
Melia said the stronger anti-doping push in Vancouver is an effort to curb microdosing — using a banned substance well in advance of competition so that performance is enhanced, but the substance has cleared an athlete's body by the time of post-event testing — and to establish a larger sample database, since new technologies now allow blood samples to be stored for up to eight years.
"In Canada, we have been at it for a long time," Melia said. "Even before the world anti-doping code came into effect, we had a program that the code was based and modelled on."
Meanwhile, a quarter of the Canadians polled said they believed that drug use rates in the Olympics was still on the rise. Only one in five (19.6 per cent) believed the rates were falling.
The poll reported that Canadians had little faith in the World Anti-Doping Agency, which was developed 10 years ago to combat rampant drug use among athletes.
A spokesman with the Montreal-based agency could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The Olympics have been plagued by a number of drug scandals.
In 1988, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal and world records at the 1988 Seoul Olympics after it was discovered he had been taking anabolic steroids.
Officials at the 1998 Nagano Olympics took away Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati's gold medal after he tested positive for marijuana use. The medal, the first to be won in the sport, eventually was returned to Rebagliati because marijuana was not on the banned drug list.
In 2007, U.S. track athlete Marion Jones admitted that she had taken steroids while at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Jones forfeited the five medals she had won at the Games after her confession.
The survey also found that the majority (73.8 per cent) of those polled said they will watch some of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games in February, meaning it could be among the most-watched sporting events in Canadian history.
"Another way to contextualize the research? More Canadians are likely planning to watch the opening ceremonies in Vancouver than voted in the last federal election," said Nanos.
Nearly two-thirds (66.3 per cent) said they will tune into the opening ceremony on Feb. 12, while 68.4 per cent of Canadians polled said they were likely to follow daily recaps of events. Fewer (58.6 per cent) said they would watch the Games' closing ceremony.
The poll results were taken from a random telephone survey of 1,005 adults between Nov. 7 to Nov. 10.
It is accurate within 3.1 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.

BY LINDA NGUYEN, CANWEST NEWS SERVICEDECEMBER 1, 2009

Ren Idrott hos IF Linneá

2009-11-17T13:36:00.003+01:00

Det var som att kliva in i en svettig dimma. Det slog emot en lika hårt som de ungdomar som befann sig därinne smällde på upphängda fighterbags och villiga och mottagliga instruktörer. Pam!! Det kändes laddat, pam!pam!Pam! - det luktade testosteron och vinnarskallar men ochså ...mycket välkommet. Ren Idrott var igårkväll på besök hos Linnea Boxningsklubb i Stockholm. Innästlad precis mellan Mosebacke och Gamla Stadsteatern på söder ligger deras träningslokal och det råder febril aktivitet. Gamla som unga, killar och tjejer. Fokuseringen är enorm och när fikabordet dukades upp för den nödvändiga mackan och yogurt till återhämtningen fick ungdomar och tränare inta detta, som en god apertiff, inför och under en spännande föreläsning av RI och Tommy Moberg. AAS, Doping, kosttillskott, känsla och förstående. Föreläsningen ger bredd och kunskap. Många kommenterade. Många var frågorna. Han gör ett mycket bra jobb, Tommy. På ungdomars nivå lägger han informationen och blandat med en kuslig verklighet och realförankring invaggas förståelsen för konsekvenserna av att använda doping. Att beblanda sig i fel gäng eller att bara "pröva". Mixen mellan fakta, verklighet och "tänk om" är väl genomtänkt. På vägen hem gav jag Tommy en vänskaplig och uppskattande höger på axeln. Pam! Han var nöjd och till belöning blev det "världens största räkmacka"... "dé du Mia, världens bästa omega3"...

Hardy beats own world record in 50 breaststroke

2009-11-12T19:26:00.001+01:00

STOCKHOLM — Wearing a torn swimsuit, Jessica Hardy broke her own world record in the women's 50-meter breaststroke by nearly half a second Wednesday at a short-course World Cup meet.
The American finished in 28.96 seconds in a qualifying heat to beat her mark of 29.36 set four days ago in Moscow.
"I'm really happy to go under 29," said Hardy. "It's been a goal all year. I didn't ever think I would do it and I didn't think it would be that easy."
Hardy returned to competition in August after serving a one-year doping ban. Leading up to the Olympic trials in July last year, Hardy had been taking a powdered supplement that she mixed in water called Arginine Extreme.
U.S. authorities successfully argued that she should have special exemption to serve only a one-year ban because it was due to the contaminated supplements. However, Hardy could be stripped of Wednesday's world record if that ruling is overturned.
The World Anti-Doping Agency and FINA have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, saying she should be banned for two years.
"I've been training my butt off because of the stuff I've been through," Hardy said. "The only thing I have control over in my life is swimming and how hard I work. I have really enjoyed working hard and I guess to reap the benefits now is just kind of fun."
The 22-year-old wore a suit with a four-inch tear across her back but said she would put on a new one for the final later Wednesday.
"It's old. I did it a while ago," Hardy said. "They tear pretty easily."
It was the fifth world record set at the meet. On Tuesday, Jing Zhao of China twice set records in the women's 50 backstroke. Records were also set by Felicity Galvez of Australia in the women's 100 butterfly and Kaio Almeida of Brazil in the men's 200 butterfly.

By MALIN RISING (AP) – 1 day ago

Doping-Major cases in WADA's first decade

2009-11-06T09:36:00.002+01:00

MONTREAL, Nov 6 (Reuters) - The following are 10 significant events that have helped to shape the fight against the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport in the decade since the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was formed:

Tim Montgomery (United States, Athletics)
Montgomery's case is regarded as a landmark in the fight against doping as it introduced the non-analytical positive.
Once the world's fastest man, Montgomery never returned a positive test for a banned substance but admitted under oath to a U.S. Federal grand jury investigating BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative) that he had used steroids and human growth hormone.
Montgomery, who helped the United States to win gold in the 4x100 metres relay at the Sydney Olympics, was stripped of his medal and his 100 metres world record of 9.78 seconds set in 2002 in Paris was wiped from the record books based on the evidence given during his testimony. He was barred from competition in 2005 and retired the following year.
Montgomery, who has a son with disgraced sprint queen Marion Jones, was later sentenced to 46 months in prison for cheque fraud and money laundering and last October had five years added to his sentence after being convicted of possessing heroin with the intent to distribute it.

BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative)
In 2003, a little laboratory on the outskirts of San Francisco became the epicentre of a huge doping scandal that continues to reverberate around the sporting world.
BALCO head Victor Conte, a former bass guitarist who switched careers and opened the laboratory, used a gregarious personality and self-taught knowledge of nutrition to gain access to some of the top names in athletics, baseball and American football.
Conte's operation was exposed after a syringe containing the designer steroid known as "The Clear" or THG (tetrahydrogestrinone) was handed over to doping authorities by disgruntled coach Trevor Graham.
The list of athletes linked to the laboratory included sprinters Montgomery, Jones and Dwain Chambers and baseball sluggers Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball's all-time home run king.
Bonds has denied knowingly taking steroids and has never failed a drug test but the seven-time National League Most Valuable Player has been indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges based on his grand jury testimony in the BALCO investigation.

Marion Jones (U.S., Athletics)
The biggest scalp taken by anti-doping crusaders, Jones was the world's best known and most successful female athlete before her career ended in disgrace and jail.
Winner of five medals, including three golds, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Jones had been the darling of the sporting world until a federal probe into the BALCO laboratory revealed her feats had been powered by performance-enhancing drugs.
After confessing her steroid use, Jones, who earned millions in product endorsements, prize money and appearance fees, was stripped of the five medals and all her results from September 2000 were erased from the record books.
Humiliated and in financial ruin, Jones was sentenced to six months in prison in January 2008 for lying to federal prosecutors about her drug use.

Major League Baseball (MLB)
WADA gained a valuable ally in the fight against drugs in sport when the U.S. Congress used its muscle to force MLB to confront the doping issue.
Under threat from U.S. Congress to clean up the 'national pastime', MLB brought in highly respected Senator George Mitchell to conduct an independent investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the Major Leagues.
The result was a 20-month probe and an explosive, 409-page document known as "The Mitchell Report" released in 2007 that detailed a deep-rooted drug culture within baseball, identifying 89 players, including pitching great Roger Clemens, as alleged users of performance-enhancing drugs.
Commissioner Bud Selig termed the report "a call to action" and vowed to clean up baseball but two years later MLB continues to be battered by doping scandals.
In 2003, when MLB was debating the need to impose mandatory drug-testing, it conducted confidential tests on players with 104 returning positive results.
While those results were meant to remain anonymous they were leaked to the media ahead of the current season with baseball's highest-paid player, New York Yankees slugging third baseman Alex Rodriguez, featured at the top of the list.
Baseball's tainted reputation took another hit in May when Los Angeles Dodgers slugger and 12-times All-Star Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games after a positive test.

Rio Ferdinand (Britain, Soccer)
Ferdinand never failed a drug test but he did fail to appear for one in 2003, resulting in the Manchester United and England defender being given an eight-month suspension.
Ferdinand said he had simply forgotten about the scheduled test and took another one two days later that came back clean but, under the hard-line position of the Football Association, missing or refusing to be tested is the equivalent to testing positive.
It proved to be a costly slip for Ferdinand who was also fined 50,000 pounds ($82,600) and missed the rest of the league season and Euro 2004.
Although FIFA sought harsher sanctions in this case, world soccer's governing body and WADA have continued to bump heads over the contentious whereabouts rule that requires players to make testers aware of where they will be for a certain period each day.

Cycling
While the doping scandal that consumed the 1998 Tour de France and became known as the Festina Affair preceded WADA, the events of that year provided the catalyst for the formation of a world anti-doping agency.
After watching the ugly scenes on television of police raiding team hotels searching for performance-enhancing drugs the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided that doping was an issue that could no longer be ignored and convened a World Conference on Doping, bringing together all parties involved in the fight against doping.
The conference produced the Lausanne Declaration on Doping in Sport that provided the framework for the creation of an independent international anti-doping agency to be fully operational for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Kostas Kenteris/Ekaterini Thanou (Athletics, Greece)
Greek sprinters Kenteris and Thanou were expected to produce the biggest headlines at the 2004 Athens Olympics. They did, but for all the wrong reasons, plunging the host nation into a embarrassing doping scandal.
Kenteris, the 2000 Olympic 200 metres champion, and Thanou, who won silver in the women's 100 metres at Sydney behind admitted drug cheat Jones, were due to undergo doping tests the day before the opening ceremony but failed to appear, saying they had been involved in a motorcycle crash.
Thanou and Kenteris later withdrew from the Games amid speculation over whether there ever was an accident. They were later suspended by the IAAF for missing three drug tests.

Floyd Landis (U.S. cycling)
Landis became the first winner of the Tour de France to be stripped of the title after failing a dope test but for WADA the true victory came when the American's appeal was rejected and the ban upheld.
A day after a poor performance in the 16th stage of the 2006 race appeared to put him out of contention, Landis staged an astounding fight back, winning the final mountain stage in spectacular style to reclaim the yellow jersey.
A drug test after the 17th-stage win revealed Landis's dramatic charge was fuelled by performance-enhancing drugs when he tested positive for synthetic testosterone.
Landis denied using drugs and blamed the positive tests on procedural mistakes by the French laboratory, assembling a high-powered team of experts and lawyers to dispute the results.

Shane Warne (Cricket, Australia)
Widely regarded as the greatest leg spin bowler of all-time, Warne's career was interrupted by a one-year suspension from the Australian Cricket Board in 2003 after testing positive for a banned diuretic that could be used to mask other prohibited substances.
Warne admitted using the banned substance but said it was given to him by his mother so he would not look overweight on television.

Martina Hingis/Andre Agassi (Tennis, Switzerland/U.S.)
Hingis's return to competitive tennis was cut short in 2007 when the five-time Grand Slam winner announced she had tested positive for cocaine following her third-round match at Wimbledon.
The former world number one denied ever using cocaine but immediately retired for a second time saying she had "no desire to spend the next several years of my life reduced to fighting against the doping officials".
Eight-times Grand Slam champion Agassi shocked the tennis world last month when he admitted using the recreational drug crystal meth during his career and lying to men's governing body the ATP to escape a ban. WADA said it planned to investigate to see if any charges could be brought. (

Fri Nov 6, 2009 5:32am IST By Steve Keating/Editing by Clare Fallon

SOLUTIONS/POUND: Handling pro athletes who use steroids

2009-10-19T08:52:00.001+02:00

The question is too simple to be answered without some context. I assume it is directed at professional athletes who use steroids to enhance their performance, contravening rules that prohibit this.
If there are no contrary rules, players are free to take whatever drugs they choose, no matter how dangerous they may be, although professional sports organizations should accept an educational role so players can better appreciate the attendant risks. And, no matter what you may hear or read anywhere else, there are risks, both short term and long term. It is irresponsible to ignore them or to pretend that there are no reliable data pointing to the risks.
The other assumption (failing which there would be no need to solicit articles like this) is that sports have adopted rules prohibiting the use of certain drugs, including steroids. The question is limited to steroids, but there are many other drugs used in professional sport. Under this scenario, players compete, knowing the rules against the use of steroids, but some disregard them in order to obtain a competitive advantage.
At this point, it is worth taking a step backward, to consider the essential nature of sport. Sport is an activity defined and governed by rules agreed upon by all participants. Without rules, there is no sport. People considering whether or not to participate have a choice — if they do not like or disagree with the rules, they are free not to opt in. No one is forced to participate in sport. But, if they opt in, they must participate in accordance with the rules. Their competitors are entitled to rely on such compliance. If a rule is no good, it can be changed, but only by the sport as a whole, not unilaterally by individual players.
One of the sport rules, just like any of the many rules governing the field of play, equipment, scoring and so forth, is that the players may not use steroids. This may be a good rule (I think it is) or a bad rule (others will argue in this direction), but once it is a rule of the game, that is the end of the matter, unless the rule is changed at some time in the future by those representing all of the participants. In the meantime, if you use steroids, you are breaking the rules of the game and should be subject to sanctions.
Enter the professional sports organization: What should it do? First, it should educate its players regarding the existence of the rule and the reasons for it. Second, it should recognize that human nature is such that some players will cheat. It must, therefore, have an effective testing program to ensure compliance with the rules and have sanctions that will be serious enough to act as a deterrent. It should also make it clear that the health of the athletes is a factor, in addition to the integrity of the game and the expectations of players, spectators and the public at large. By appearing in a game or competition, every athlete makes a positive affirmation that he or she is in compliance with the rules. This is a higher standard than ordinary social conduct.
The "what it should do" is quite clear. Sadly, this is a far cry from what happens in practice. While lip service is paid to steroid-free sport — what professional sports organization in America would dare to say that it does not care what its players do or use — the detection and enforcement activities of some of them make the Keystone Kops look like Sherlock Holmes. An effective testing program for steroid use must be 24/7/365. Knowledge that testing will only occur during the competitive season is an invitation to use the offseason to bulk up. In spite of this, if someone is inept enough to test positive during the season (thereby failing an intelligence test as well as a drug test), the sanctions are ludicrous. A good steroid program produces an advantage lasting four to five years.
In Major League Baseball, the sanction is less than a third of a season; in the National Football League, a quarter of a season. It is practically an investment to take the risk of being caught. The message is that the professional sport organization does not care as much as it pretends to care about steroid use.
There are those who apparently welcome a sport system that allows drug use. They argue from the wrong premise, trying to pretend that because they do not think the rules are right, no one should be penalized for breaching them. Facile examples of advantages achieved in the absence of rules prohibiting specific conduct or equipment are trotted out as purported and illogical justification for use of steroids. They would not want their own children to use them but are free with advice that there is no risk, which non-acknowledged risk can be controlled with medical supervision. It is important not to be mesmerized by this well rehearsed "patter" and to separate the occasional kernel of wheat from the industrial quantities of chaff inherent in the "open everything up" agenda.
Turning sport into a pharmacological contest will destroy it. Responsible parents will keep their children out of it. The public will understand that it is no longer sport they are watching, but increasingly violent gladiatorial entertainment. Support for it will decline. Even the public has limited tolerance for meaningless freak shows.

Richard W. Pound
Richard W. Pound, a former Olympic swimmer, is a member of the International Olympic Committee and was the founding president of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He remains a member of the WADA Foundation Board and is chancellor emeritus of McGill University in Montreal.

Prehistoric man faster than todays best athletes?

2009-10-16T06:52:00.003+02:00

Many prehistoric Australian aboriginals could have outrun world 100- and 200-metre record holder Usain Bolt in modern conditions.
Some Tutsi men in Rwanda exceeded the current world high jump record of 2.45 metres during initiation ceremonies in which they had to jump at least their own height to progress to manhood.
Any Neanderthal woman could have beaten former bodybuilder and current California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm wrestle.
These and other eye-catching claims are detailed in a book by Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister entitled Manthropology and provocatively sub-titled The Science of the Inadequate Modern Male.
McAllister sets out his stall in the opening sentence of the prologue.
"If you're reading this then you -- or the male you have bought it for -- are the worst man in history.
"No ifs, no buts -- the worst man, period. ... As a class, we are, in fact, the sorriest cohort of masculine Homo sapiens to ever walk the planet."
Delving into a wide range of source material, McAllister finds evidence he believes proves that modern man is inferior to his predecessors in, among other fields, the basic Olympic athletics disciplines of running and jumping.
His conclusions about the speed of Australian aboriginals 20,000 years ago are based on a set of footprints, preserved in a fossilized claypan lake bed, of six men chasing prey.
An analysis of the footsteps of one of the men, dubbed T8, shows he reached speeds of 37 km/h on a soft, muddy lake edge. Bolt, by comparison, reached a top speed of 42 km/h during his then world- 100-metre-record run of 9.69 seconds at last year's Beijing Olympics.
In an interview, McAllister said that, with modern training, spiked shoes and rubberized tracks, aboriginal hunters might have reached speeds of 45 km/h.
"We can assume they are running close to their maximum if they are chasing an animal," he said.
"But if they can do that speed of 37 km/h on very soft ground, I suspect there is a strong chance they would have outdone Usain Bolt if they had all the advantages that he does.
"We can tell that T8 is accelerating towards the end of his tracks."
McAllister said it was probable that any number of T8's contemporaries could have run as fast.
"We have to remember, too, how incredibly rare these fossilizations are," he said. "What are the odds that you would get the fastest runner in Australia at that particular time in that particular place in such a way that was going to be preserved?"
Turning to the high jump, McAllister said photographs taken by a German anthropologist showed young men jumping heights of up to 2.52 metres in the early years of last century.
"It was an initiation ritual -- everybody had to do it. They had to be able to jump their own height to progress to manhood," he said.
"It was something they did all the time and they lived very active lives from a very early age. They developed very phenomenal abilities in jumping. They were jumping from boyhood onwards to prove themselves."
McAllister said a Neanderthal woman had 10 per cent more muscle bulk than modern European man. Trained to capacity, she would have reached 90 per cent of Schwarzenegger's bulk at his peak in the 1970s.
"But because of the quirk of her physiology, with a much shorter lower arm, she would slam him to the table without a problem (in an arm wrestle)," he said.
Manthropology abounds with other examples:
- Roman legions completed more than one-and-a-half marathons a day (more than 60 kilometres) carrying more than half their body weight in equipment.
- Athens employed 30,000 rowers who could all exceed the achievements of modern oarsmen.
- Australian aboriginals threw a hardwood spear 110 metres or more (the current world javelin record is 98.48).
McAllister said it was difficult to equate the ancient spear with the modern javelin, but added: "Given other evidence of Aboriginal man's superb athleticism, you'd have to wonder whether they couldn't have taken out every modern javelin event they entered."
Why the decline?
"We are so inactive these days and have been since the industrial revolution really kicked into gear," McAllister said. "These people were much more robust than we were.
"We don't see that because we convert to what things were like about 30 years ago. There has been such a stark improvement in times, technique has improved out of sight, times and heights have all improved vastly since then, but if you go back further it's a different story.
"At the start of the industrial revolution, there are statistics about how much harder people worked then.
"The human body is very plastic and it responds to stress. We have lost 40 per cent of the shafts of our long bones because we have much less of a muscular load placed upon them these days.
"We are simply not exposed to the same loads or challenges that people were in the ancient past and even in the recent past, so our bodies haven't developed. Even the level of training that we do -- our elite athletes -- doesn't come close to replicating that.
"We wouldn't want to go back to the brutality of those days, but there are some things we would do well to profit from."

BY JOHN MEHAFFEY, REUTERSOCTOBER 15, 2009 4:30 PM
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Photo: Usain Bolt hit a top speed of 42 km/h at the '08 Olympics. Footprints from some 20,000 years ago suggest an Aussie aboriginal may have hit 37 km/h on a soft, muddy lake edge. Photograph by: canada.com,

Angry Cannavaro cleared of doping

2009-10-15T20:54:00.000+02:00

Juventus defender Fabio Cannavaro has criticised the media after he was cleared of doping by the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni).
The Italy skipper, 36, took a medicine containing banned substance cortisone after a wasp sting on 28 August and failed a dope test two days later.
But the case was dropped at the request of Coni's anti-doping prosecutor.
"You get stung by a bee and then find yourself in the newspaper as if you had been doping," said a furious Cannavaro.
"Some newspapers and television channels went too far.
"It's the second time in my life that I've found myself gratuitously in the newspapers for a story like this.
"I hope this story does not follow me beyond today. My career has always been distinguished by respect for the rules."
On the eve of Parma's 3-0 1999 Uefa Cup final victory over Olympique Marseille, Cannavaro was videoed inserting a drip into his arm.
His lawyer confirmed the drip contained Neoton, a drug used in cardiac surgery to protect the heart, and was not on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances.CONI anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri asked for the case to be dropped last week, saying that Cannavaro had not committed a doping offence.
Torri has a reputation for being uncompromising in the battle against doping, having charged sports personalities in the past even when they argued that their positive tests were the result of accidents.
Cannavaro, who had requested an exemption after being treated for the sting but did not receive the documentation before he was tested, added on Juventus' website: "I didn't have any doubt [about the outcome].
"I am sorry that a matter of this kind stirred up such a fuss.
"My personal history and my career show my respect towards sports and the ethical principles which support it."
Cannavaro, who was suspended for Italy's 2-2 draw in Ireland on Saturday, which guaranteed their place at the World Cup finals in South Africa next year, is preparing to play in Wednesday's home game with Cyprus.

BBC Sport

Skandalcyklist hittad död på hotell

2009-10-13T13:24:00.001+02:00

Frank Vandenbroucke har hittats död på ett hotellrum i Senegal.
Belgaren, som blev 34 år, har varit en av sportens mest omskrivna de senaste åren.
Vandenbroucke blev professionell redan 1994 och vann totalt 51 segrar under karriären – bland annat klassikern Liege-Bastogne-Liege 1999.
Belgaren befann sig på semester i Senegal när han hittades död på sitt hotellrum.
Enligt AP dog han av en blodpropp.
– En idrottsman med en briljant men alldeles för kort karriär han lämnat oss, säger Laurent De Backer, chef för det belgiska cyklingförbundet.
Frank Vandenbroucke har varit inblandad i flera skandaler på 2000-talet.
2002 fann polisen dopningspreparat i hans hem.
När domen sedan skulle falla försökte han ta sitt liv.
Enligt norska VG ska Vandenbroucke också haft drogproblem och åkt fast för rattfylla två gånger. Många av hans personliga problem har också blivit väl kände genom den belgiska pressen.
Vandenbroucke hade planer på att göra comeback redan nästa år men har inte lyckats hitta något team att tävla för.
Belgaren blev 34 år gammal.

Publicerad: 2009-10-13 Aftonbladet Sport/ Marcus Leifby

Bordry: "Two new products were used at the Tour"

2009-10-06T11:51:00.000+02:00

French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) president Pierre Bordry told Le Monde that he is convinced that "two new products were used during the Tour de France: two medicines that aren't yet on the market". Bordry also said that he believes there was clear evidence of blood transfusions taking place during the race.
According to Le Monde, the two new products are hematide, a third-generation EPO that maintains haemoglobin levels, and Aicar, a product that works on muscular tissue and encourages the burning of fats. Bordry is quoted as saying he was shocked to see how thin some Tour riders looked.
Hematide is still undergoing clinical testing and won't be authorised for use until 2011. It is already on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list.
Le Monde reported that tests to detect use of these two products should be ready in the near future and could be used on samples given by riders at the Tour de France. The AFLD is reported to be ready to re-test samples given by some riders during the 2008 race. Bordry also said that the AFLD had found evidence of what he described as "hardcore medicines" in rubbish bins during the Tour, among which was "a substance for producing insulin that is normally used by diabetics".

By:Peter Cossins
Published: October 5, 21:44, Updated: October 5, 21:55

IOC to mull tougher anti-doping requirements

2009-10-06T08:54:00.001+02:00

Tough anti-doping laws that give police the power to raid and investigate those suspected of helping athletes to dope could become a new requirement for countries hoping to host the Olympics.
The value of such police powers was driven home to the International Olympic Committee by the 2006 Turin games, where Italian police raided the Austrian cross-country and biathlon team lodgings and seized a large amount of doping products and equipment.IOC medical commission chairman Arne Ljungqvist said IOC president Jacques Rogge has asked him to prepare a formal proposal that such laws become a requirement for bidding cities. Ljungqvist said it "absolutely" should be in place for cities bidding for the 2018 winter games.
"This is something that I feel should be a prerequisite for bidding cities, that countries do have these laws in place that makes it possible for public authorities and sport to work together, like we did in Italy," Ljungqvist said in an interview Monday with The Associated Press.
During the 2006 Winter Olympics, he said the IOC received intelligence "that something suspicious might be going on" with the Austrians but couldn't act on it because "we have no authority to make a raid." The IOC passed the information to the Italian police, "and they came back to us and said 'Yes, this looks serious and we will make a raid."
Drug tests on the athletes came back negative, but the raid netted what Ljungqvist called "a hematological laboratory, more or less, with all sorts of equipment and substances.".
"This was a very significant experience," Ljungqvist said. "The whole story would have remained unknown to everyone had the Italian law not been in place and had we not shared the information between ourselves."
"It would be dramatically negative for the host country if something happens, or if suspicions happen, that cannot be pursued. It would look very bad," he added. "They have to have the law in place that supports their police authorities to do it ... because this will happen again."

Associated Press

Belgian recruits the help of Aldo Sassi as he searches for new team!

2009-10-05T09:09:00.003+02:00

Vandenbroucke to publish blood values online
Frank Vandenbroucke has announced that he will publish his blood values on the internet in an effort to attract a new team. The Belgian has says he has made the decision in order to clear his name of what he feels in a general perception of him as a doper.
"I carry around the stigma of a doping rider, but this is not the case," Vandenbroucke told Belgian newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen. "I need to address this and I have been in contact with Dr [Aldo] Sassi of the Mapei-training center in Milan."
Vandenbroucke said that Italian cycling coach Aldo Sassi has agreed to support the former Mapei rider with his training and the ongoing publication of his blood values. "Sassi will work with me from now on. He will also regularly test my blood and we will put my blood [values] on the net."
A well known figure in the cycling world, Sassi currently acts as a coach to both Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) and Ivan Basso (Liquigas). He has been instrumental in Basso's return to cycling's top level after he agreed to coach the Italian, on the condition that his blood values be open to public scrutiny.
For Vandenbroucke, the motivation for transparency comes from his desire to find a new team. In a career that dates back to 1994, the now 34-year-old has ridden for 11 different squads, most recently Cinelli-Down Under. He left the Australian-registered squad in June and has been unable to find a new team.
"My financial requirements are not high," he told Gazet van Antwerpen. "It must have to do with my past."
Vandenbroucke was a prodigious figure early in his career. He won races including Gent-Wevelgem (1998), Paris-Nice (1998), Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1999) as well as two stages of the Vuelta a España. He rode for Mapei from 1995 to 1998 and Cofidis from 1999 to 2000. His career began to falter in the early 2000s as he battled problems on and off the bike.
In 2004, he admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs, including EPO, and was subsequently convicted by Belgian authorities 2005. Following the failure of his marriage Vandenbroucke reached his lowest ebb in 2007, after a failed attempt to commit suicide.

By: Richard Tyler
Published: October 3, 19:08

Hingis discusses positive cocaine test as two-year ITF ban lapses

2009-10-02T22:25:00.000+02:00

Wednesday marks Martina Hingis' 29th birthday. It also marks the final day of her two-year drug suspension from the International Tennis Federation.
While we've been conditioned to raise a skeptical eye when athletes profess innocence and ignorance after a positive drug test result, the ITF stance was troubling from the onset.
To review: The ITF claims that 42 nanograms per milliliter of a cocaine metabolite was found in Hingis' system, as per a drug test administered after her third-round defeat at Wimbledon in 2007. This is an amount so trace that it would not trigger a positive result had the test been administered by the U.S. military. In the wake of the positive result, Hingis voluntarily took a hair-follicle test -- which, unlike a lie-detector test, is cited by drug experts as meaningful and reliable. It indicated no traces of cocaine in her system in the 90 days following Wimbledon.
The amount was so trace that, in marked contrast to Richard Gasquet -- who was cleared to return after completing a 2�-month ban in July when an anti-doping panel ruled that he accidentally ingested cocaine by kissing a woman at a nightclub -- Hingis was at a loss even to fashion a plausible theory about how she could have tested positive. (In the past few months the British media have reported about trace levels of cocaine turning up everywhere from the Thames River to restroom sinks.) Though circumstantial evidence is just that -- circumstantial -- it defies logic that a veteran player who had passed upwards of 100 tests, some of them unannounced and out of competition, would dabble with cocaine in conjunction with a Grand Slam, knowing with virtual certainty that she would be tested.
Under the "strict-liability standard" -- which means the athlete is responsible regardless of culpability or circumstance -- Hingis was stuck, guilty until proven innocent. As a first-time offender, she faced a mandatory two-year suspension.
Though never directly attributed to the peculiarities of her case, curiously, in the months after her hearing, rules were altered and administrators were given latitude to dispense suspensions of any length from zero to two years.
With Hingis back from her foray into reality television, we caught up with her by phone at her stable in Switzerland.
SI.com: From an emotional standpoint, how do feel you've handled the past two years?
Martina Hingis: OK. There were hard times and it was frustrating knowing I did nothing wrong but couldn't really fight this. It was my reputation and I knew the truth. But the process didn't really let me fight.
SI.com: Given your outspoken personality, I think it surprised a lot of people that maybe you weren't as forceful, deciding, for instance, not to appeal. Do you regret that?
Hingis: Like you say, I always spoke [honestly] even if I wasn't always politically correct. I spoke the truth even when the truth may have hurt me. But the system was set up in such a way that there was nothing I could do.
SI.com: Bottom line: have you ever ...
Hingis: No. Taken cocaine? Never. No [recreational] drugs. I don't know even the effects. I've maybe been in a position where I could have. But never, no. If I had ever taken cocaine, I would have said so.
SI.com: Before this happened, did you ever worry about a situation like this?
Hingis: No, because I probably had between 80-100 tests and no problems. The only thing I would ever take was aspirin and I was very particular about these things. Even if I had a flu I'd call my doctor and say, "What can I take?" I was always very cautious. I never took anything that was not approved first.
SI.com: Were any players notably supportive?
Hingis:Billie Jean King wrote a letter on my behalf. But, you know, I wasn't allowed at the Grand Slams, even to enter the stadium during tournaments. So I had little contact with the other players.
SI.com: Richard Gasquet?
Hingis: No.
SI.com: Lots of comebacks going on. You're 10 years younger than Kimiko Date ...
Hingis: I'll leave it Justine [Henin]! It's not so easy. You need to commit. You can't just do it when you want to. I know the women's game isn't at the highest point it's ever been. OK, look at Kim [Clijsters]. But she has the family support, the husband, she's physically strong. She played three tournaments and she's right back and I don't think anyone can hurt her on the court.
SI.com: What is your relationship with tennis?
Hingis: I love tennis, still a big part of my life. I didn't play much in the beginning of the suspension, but then I played more. Now when I play, a lot of the time it's with juniors. I've been able to [distinguish] between the sport and the administrators.

Dekker's counter-analysis positive for EPO

2009-10-01T11:12:00.004+02:00

Dutchman admits to doping, says he wants to return to cycling Dutch cyclist Thomas Dekker announced on Wednesday that counter-analysis has confirmed his positive test for blood booster Erythropoietin (EPO).
He "acknowledges that he has made a mistake, he takes full responsibility," his lawyer Hans Van Oijen said in a press statement. "Thomas Dekker regrets his mistake; he will apologise and be held accountable, where possible."
An anti-doping laboratory in Cologne, Germany, found Dekker positive on June 20 after performing analysis on an out-of-competition control conducted in December 2007. It released the positive result prior to the Tour de France this year, where Dekker was scheduled to race. Silence-Lotto removed him from their Tour team and suspended him on July 1. Dekker, 25, rode for Dutch team Rabobank at the time of the test. He left the Dutch squad last August and joined Belgium's Silence-Lotto at the start of this season. In the press statement today, Dekker said the drug use was a one-time mistake and that he wants to return to cycling to prove he achieved his past results because of his talent and his teams' help. He faces a likely two-year suspension before he can return. Dekker is a two-time Dutch time trial champion and winner of the 2006 Tirreno-Adriatico and 2007 Tour de Romandie

By: Gregor Brown Published: September 30
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)

Doping saga huge setback for Brooks

2009-09-28T08:47:00.003+02:00

Brooks (above) was stunned, cried, refused to train ... her coach Marlon Malcolm said. The management of Sheri-Ann Brooks is confident the Jamaican sprinter will rebound from the devastation of missing last month's IAAF World Championships in Athletics (WCA), while battling a charge of banned substance use, to defend her Commonwealth Games 100 metres title next year.
According to close associates, Brooks was emotionally and physically drained by a sequence of events which began after she was notified she had tested positive for the stimulant methylhexanamine during Jamaica's trials. Although eventually cleared, she was not allowed her to compete at the WCA in Berlin, Germany, and eventually shut down the remainder of her 2009 season.
That decision did not spare Brooks damage to her reputation and loss of earning. However, according to her agent Kris Mychasiw, the "step back" should not prevent the sprinter from returning to the track early in 2010 for the indoor season and later in the year for the Commonwealth Games in India if she qualifies.
"There's no reason she should quit," Mychasiw said last Wednesday while dismissing speculation that the 26-year-old sprinter was pondering retirement from the sport. "She's going to go for (the Commonwealth Games gold) again."
Mychasiw said Brooks was invited to run at several post-WCA meets, including the lucrative mid-September IAAF/VTB Bank World Athletics Final, but the sprinter declined, choosing instead to re-group from the doping saga.
"She was crazy stressed," Mychasiw said.
"She told me that she was losing hair," the agent added. " ... She wasn't physically and mentally ready to race. She said, 'I think we should just call it a season'."
According to her coach, Jamaican Marlon Malcolm, the United States-based Brooks received a telephone call the day before a late July meet in Europe informing her of the positive test. The coach said Brooks, who through her agent declined to be interviewed for this story, was "stunned", cried, refused to train and wanted to withdraw from the meet.
"That was very hard for her," Malcolm said on Monday. " ... We couldn't practise ... We couldn't do anything, basically."
The toll lingered well beyond Brooks' return to Jamaica shortly after for a procession of disciplinary hearings and appeals which began on August 5.
"The damage was very high," said Malcolm. "Contracts gone down the drain. Money that could be made in the Worlds and also other meets also gone down the drain. Stopping her from running means wages lost and individuals are looking at her differently now."
Both Malcolm and Mychasiw insisted Brooks had been taking the same supplements for the past four years, which the agent claimed was checked by him to ensure they did not violate any International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) or World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules.
Methylhexanamine is not on WADA's banned list, which originally led to Brooks and four other athletes who tested positive for the stimulant at the trials being cleared of wrongdoing by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission's (JADCO) Disciplinary Panel. However, JADCO, which took the urine samples at the trials, appealed the panel's decision, arguing that the stimulant had a similarchemical make-up to a substance banned by WADA.
But according to Malcolm, Brooks had been tested three times in Europe during the month and half immediately before Jamaica's trials, where on June 27 she finished third in the 100 metres, behind eventual WCA champion Shelly-Ann Fraser and silver medallist Kerron Stewart, to make Jamaica's team. The most recent test, he said, was done about two weeks before the meet at the National Stadium. Malcolm said Brooks was also tested in Europe in the weeks immediately following the trials. At no time, he explained, was she notified she had tested positive for any banned substance or that she was being investigated for banned substance use.
"None of them," the coach said.
The result from the test of her first or 'A' sample, Malcolm said, therefore came as a shock to the Brooks camp.
"I have no explanation," he said. "I strongly believe it was a mistake."
Brooks, as is her right, requested in writing that JADCO arrange to test a 'B' or second urine sample. Dr. Patrece Charles-Freeman, JADCO's executive director, said that letter asked for information about a "hearing", but did not state specifically that either Brooks or her representative needed to be present for the 'B' sample test, which is also the athlete's right under WADA code. The local agency authorised the Montreal, Canada-based testing laboratory to use another representative.
"If the athlete does not inform JADCO that they intend to be there, or that they intend to send a representative, then JADCO can request the lab assign a surrogate witness," Dr Charles-Freeman said on Tuesday.
Mychasiw, who said he is based in Montreal just minutes drive from the lab, insisted he was prepared to represent Brooks at the 'B' sample testing, but was not notified.
"Of course, I would have been there," he said.
Both Mychasiw and Malcolm claimed they first learned of the 'B' sample testing from JADCO's disciplinary hearing. The JADCO Appeals Tribunal cleared Brooks of the doping charge because neither she nor her representative was present at the testing.
"We were unable to impose a sanction on her, as there was an irregularity with the testing of the B sample that was raised by her counsel," Kent Gammon, JADCO's head of the disciplinary committee, explained in published statements. "Therefore, we were unable to conclude that she was guilty of an offence."
Meanwhile, Brooks's associates admitted that the doping saga was a huge setback for the athlete. Mychasiw said meet directors in Europe are willing to invite Brooks to compete. But Malcolm accused JADCO of "incompetence" and "ruining" Brooks's reputation.
"They ruptured their names on the circuit at the athletes' expense," he said.
But Dr Charles-Freeman brushed aside the coach's claims.
"I do not have to respond to Mr Malcolm," she said. " .. It think it is pointless."
Malcolm is also unhappy that the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) did not allow Brooks to compete at the WCA.
"They should have allowed her to run the 100," the coach argued. " ... A lot of athletes compete at the Worlds who are under investigation."
Mychasiw conceded that Brooks' reputation won't easily be repaired on the circuit.
"It comes with a shadow," he said of the doping saga.
However, he believes Brooks is willing to close that chapter.
"She is angry at how things transpired, but she's not holding any grudges," Mychasiw said. "She's ready to move on."
But the agent is still waiting to receive official correspondence from JADCO indicating Brooks was cleared. The four other athletes, who also tested positive for the stimulant at the trials, have been officially banned by Jamaica, although their cases were heard after Brooks'. Mychasiw said he needs the documentation for his records.
"Just something simple, so we have it on file," the agent said. "One page, one
paragraph, is all we wanted."
It would, he added, put an official cap on Brooks's disastrous - and abrupt - 2009 season and possibly work as a launching pad for next year, which includes October's Commonwealth Games in India.
"It's been a long mountain to climb," said Mychasiw on behalf of his client, "but sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward."

Saturday September 26, 2009
Published: Sunday | September 27, 2009/Gordon Williams, Gleaner Writer

Caster Semenya, the poster victim

2009-09-25T08:50:00.001+02:00

The South African runner is being used by those arguing gender is just cultural
You've got to pity Caster Semenya, the ambiguously sexed runner who won a women's world championship race last month - by quite a wide margin. The poor South African girl has been betrayed by her handlers and exploited by her own country. She has set off a huge debate about the uses and abuses of gender testing in elite sports. Her track career is probably over. On top of that, the entire world is curious about her genitalia. And now, she's become the poster victim for a bunch of folks who think that gender is just cultural, that our questions about Ms. Semenya are oppressive, sexist and racist, and that gender testing ought to be abolished.
"Results of the gender investigation aside, Caster Semenya's humanity has already been sacrificed to Western culture's desperate, frightened effort to maintain the fiction of binary, fixed gender," wrote Kai Wright at The Root.
"The salacious sports media and the puritanical zealots that run international track and field have joined forces to hit a new low," thundered Dave Zirin, sports editor of The Nation.
"To win, you need to start with an unfair advantage. Maybe Semenya has one, but I'm still not sure it matters," argued Craig McInnes in The Vancouver Sun.
Ms. Semenya is blameless in this matter. She was raised as a girl and identifies as a woman. At first, the villain was the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which ordered her to be tested after she won. The tipoff might have been that she looks like a man. She has a man's musculature, flat chest and thicker facial features. She has a deep voice, too. I'm ashamed to admit that when I saw her picture, I too rushed to judgment. "That's a man," I thought.
The South African government was outraged. It accused the IAAF of being sexist and racist. The women's minister said questions about Ms. Semenya's gender showed the "extent of patriarchy" in the sports world. The sports minister threatened a "third world war" if she was banned from competition. One magazine dressed her in stilettos and put her on the cover to prove how womanly she was. She looked like a man in drag.
Unfortunately, Ms. Semenya had already been secretly tested - by her own handlers - and the team's own doctor had urged them to withdraw her from the race.
Australian newspapers report that Ms. Semenya is, in fact, intersex. She has no uterus or ovaries, but she does have undescended testicles. People born with such anomalies are not rare. But they're not common, either. They have disorders of sex development that used to be known as defects. They are now cited as proof that sex and gender are entirely fluid, largely socially constructed, and that biology and DNA mean nothing.
Some people argue that these things don't even matter in the world of elite sports. "When training and nutrition are equal, it is increasingly difficult to tell the difference between some of the best-trained male and female Olympic swimmers," Mr. Zirin gamely wrote. He suggested that the idea that "women are somehow weaker and slower than men" threatens to catapult women's sport back into the Dark Ages.
Of course that's ridiculous. No woman will ever beat Michael Phelps, or even the guy who came in last. Those pesky male hormones will always make men significantly faster, stronger and higher than women are, to say nothing of more interested in beer and football. They aren't just another individual genetic advantage, like Mr. Phelps's gigantic feet. They are the deep, fundamental dividing line between the sexes.
It may be impossible to find a way for Ms. Semenya (who's been atrociously mistreated by the medal-hungry South Africans) to compete at an elite level. Is that unfair? Maybe. But it's even more so to pretend that it would be an equal contest. Women athletes shouldn't have to compete against people with a male hormonal edge. The next time we worry about how to be fair, maybe we should ask them.

By Margaret Wente
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Mothersill's husband in doping scandal

2009-09-24T09:04:00.000+02:00

Trinidad & Tobago’s Olympian Ato Stephens, husband of Caymanian sprinter Cydonie Mothersill, has been banned for two years following a doping scandal, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) disclosed on Friday.
In a list posted on the IAAF website on Friday, Mr Stephens was among 11 athletes who names had been posted due to doping violations.
Stephens, who failed to get past the first round of the 400m at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was born Ato Modibo.
Stephens’ absence from the track this year had brought about speculations in Trinidad & Tobago, as it was clear that he was not injured. However, according to a source close to the Trinidad & Tobago federation, “we knew about his positive test, but the IAAF had asked us not to say anything.”
Stephens also represented his country at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and again in Athens four years later. He placed fourth at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.
His personal best in the 100m in 10.83 a race held in Clemson, South Carolina, on 12 April 2003.
In the 200m he had a personal best of 20.84 during a race held in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, 7 April 2007.
On 16 July last year, Stephens had 32.62 in 300m in Liege. In the 400m he ran a personal best of 46.0 in Blacksburg Virginia.
Other athletes announced in the two-year ban include Hamid Essine of Morocco, Alexander Bulanov of Russia, Oxana Grishina of Russia, Alexander Trembach of Israel, Hamilton Silva of Brazil and Corne Barnado of Republic of South Africa.
Published on Wednesday, September 23, 2009

By Mwangi Ngamate
Mwangi@caymannetnews.com

Valverde won’t sleep in Italy during worlds

2009-09-24T09:03:00.000+02:00

Alejandro Valverde doesn’t want any surprises from the Italians and will not sleep in Italy during this week’s world championships as planned.
According to the Spanish daily AS, Valverde and possibly other members of the elite men’s road team will sleep in a hotel in Switzerland rather than with the rest of the Spanish national team at a hotel already reserved in Italy.
The Spanish national team booked a hotel in nearby Italy last fall, but Valverde is looking for a hotel and plans to sleep safely within Swiss borders during the 2009 road cycling world championships, AS reported.
The recently crowned Vuelta a España champion is banned for two years from racing in Italy by CONI for what they say is proof he was linked to the Operación Puerto blood doping ring and wants to avoid any possible conflict from the Italian authorities.
An appeal by Valverde’s legal team to the Court of Arbitration for Sport challenging the jurisdiction of the Italian federation to impose a disciplinary sanction on a Spanish rider is pending, with a decision expected sometime this fall.
Spanish cycling federation president Juan Carlos Castaña told AS that the UCI promised him that Valverde has the green light to compete in the worlds.
“We registered Alejandro and there was no problem,” Castaño said. “I met yesterday with (UCI president) Pat McQuaid and he assured me that until CAS rules on his case, they are not going to act against him.”
Valverde is one of the favorites for victory in Sunday’s elite men’s road race.
“I am banned from racing in Italy,” Valverde was quoted in AS. “But I can go there for vacation, or to a hotel, whenever I want.”

By VeloNews.com
Published: Sep. 23, 2009

Six suspects still in frame over Finnish Ski Association doping case

2009-09-23T08:48:00.000+02:00

Former cross-country skiing head coach Vähäsöyrinki not heard because of health problems. The seemingly never-ending saga over allegations of widespread doping in Finnish cross-country skiing is now entering the consideration of charges phase.
Det Chief Insp. Pauli Huuskonen, who is in charge of the investigation, disclosed in the commercial Finnish television channelNelonen’s news programme Nelosen uutiset that six individuals are still being treated as suspects.
“The criminal offences in question are aggravated fraud and false disclosure”, said Huuskonen.
The suspects are the former cross-country skiing head coach Pekka Vähäsöyrinki, the then cross-country skiing boss Antti Leppävuori, the Finnish Ski Association's then managing directorEsa Klinga, former top skiers Marjo Matikainen-Kallström and Jari Räsänen, and the Association's managing director from 2001 until earlier this year Jari Piirainen. The National Bureau of Investigation (Finland’s central criminal police) has heard 27 people in connection with the case. Background information was given by athlete and medical witnesses. According to District Prosecutor Mikko Jaatinen, who has been assigned to the case, the consideration of charges will be completed in the spring, at the earliest. Of the six suspects, Pekka Vähäsöyrinki has not been heard because of his health problems. Vähäsöyrinki has been the principal of Vuokatti Sports Institute since 1998. He will retire from this post at the beginning of November. Even if Vähäsöyrinki is not heard at this stage, he will still remain among the suspects. According to Huuskonen, it was clear from the start that the case would advance to the consideration of charges phase after the completion of the preliminary investigation. This is because the investigation was prompted by the Office of the Prosecutor General to begin with.

Tidigare avstängd får hoppa i Globen

2009-09-22T12:15:00.002+02:00

2004 fråntogs han OS-guldet i Aten efter dopningsmisstankar. I maj i år stängdes han av. Ändå tävlar Ludger Beerbaum i Stockholm Horse Show i november. – Han är en hedersman med stort H, säger organisationskommitténs ordförande Ulf Rosengren.
Tyske stjärnryttaren Ludger Beerbaum är visserligen en ikon inom hoppningen och har fyra OS-guld på meritlistan. Men guldet som skulle ha blivit det femte raka, i Aten 2004, förvandlades till brons efter att hästen Goldfever testats positivt för dopningsmedlet betametason. Som om inte det missade lagguldet vore nog hamnade Beerbaum dessutom i rejält blåsväder när tyska ridsportsförbundet i våras bestämde sig för att ta krafttag mot dopningen.
– Det som hände nere i Tyskland var ett virrvarr. Men han (Beerbaum) har ju aldrig blivit fälld för något och jag känner honom som en väldigt rekorderlig person, säger Ulf Rosengren.
På måndagen stod det klart att Ludger Beerbaum gästar Globen i Stockholm Horse Show. En kontroversiell inbjudan kan det tyckas, med tanke på tyskens bagage.
Efter dopningsmisstankarna 2004 – något som Beerbaum själv förklarade med att medlet ingått i en eksemlindrande salva – har Beerbaum vunnit både VM- och EM-medaljer. I maj stängdes han dock av sedan han i en tv-intervju halvt om halvt erkänt att han tidigare i karriären använt icke tillåtna medel.
”Förr var min inställning att det som inte upptäcks är tillåtet. Men det vi gjorde förekommer inte längre”, sade han då.
I EM i somras deltog han inte, men nu är 46-åringen tillbaka, och vann bland annat huvudtävlingen i tyska Donaueschingen i lördags.
– Han är en levande, och synnerligen aktiv, legend, säger Ulf Rosengren.
– Det som hände 2004 handlade om dålig kontroll från hans sida. Det var en stor händelse och ett stort straff, men jag tycker att hans förklaringar låter plausibla.
Vad svarar du de som finner det märkligt att han kommer till Stockholm?
– Dels är det som hände fem år sedan och fullständigt överspelat. Dels är han en väldigt högt ansedd person.

DN Publicerat 2009-09-21 18:34
Lisa Edwinsson
lisa.edwinsson@dn.se
Foto: Walter Bieri / AP

WADA Executive Committee Approves 2010 Prohibited List

2009-09-21T08:48:00.001+02:00

Montreal, September 19, 2009 - The World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) Executive Committee approved today the List of Prohibited Substances and Methods for 2010. The new List will now be officialized and published on WADA's Web site by October 1, 2009It will take effect on January 1, 2010.
The Prohibited List is one of the cornerstones of the harmonized fight against doping. It specifies substances and methods prohibited in sport. Its implementation is mandatory for organizations that have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code.
"The annual revision of the List is an elaborate and dynamic process involving international scientific experts and the solicitation of input from stakeholders so that changes are founded on expanding anti-doping knowledge, evidence from the field, and constantly growing understanding of doping practices and trends," said WADA's President John Fahey. "This process is highly consultative and WADA's role is one of facilitation. I am satisfied that, once again, the 2010 List reflects the latest scientific advances."
The development of the List begins with the circulation of a draft to stakeholders for comment. Comments received are considered by WADA's List Committee, who then presents its conclusions to WADA's Health, Medical and Research Committee. The latter in turn submits its final recommendations to the Executive Committee, who discusses the recommendations and makes a final decision at its September meeting.
Change of Status for Salbutamol
The 2010 List offers a number of changes compared to the 2009 List. In particular, the status of salbutamol, a beta-2 agonist, will change. Salbutamol - a substance considered as specified and therefore more likely to result in a sanction of a warning to a two-year ban in case of anti-doping rule violations - will be permitted under 1,000 nanograms per millilitre. Under the 2010 List, its use by inhalation will no longer require a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) but rather a simplified declaration of use. This measure will allow the handling of salbutamol by anti-doping organizations in a more cost-efficient way.
In addition, the 2010 List will no longer prohibit supplemental oxygen (hyperoxia). The status of platelet-derived preparations (e.g. Platelet Rich Plasma, "blood spinning") has also been clarified. These preparations will be prohibited when administered by intramuscular route. Other routes of administration will require a declaration of use in compliance with the International Standard for TUEs.
Pseudoephedrine Reintroduced
Another noteworthy amendment is the reintroduction of pseudoephedrine to the List as a specified stimulant - a category of substances that is more likely to result in a sanction of a warning to a two-year ban in case of anti-doping rule violations.
Until 2003, pseudoephedrine was prohibited in sport. Pseudoephedrine was subsequently included in WADA's Monitoring Program in 2004. The Monitoring Program includes substances that are not prohibited in sport but are monitored in order to detect patterns of misuse.
Results of the Monitoring Program over the past five years have shown a sustained increase in samples containing pseudoephedrine concentrations of more than 75 milligrams per millilitre. The Program indicated clear abuse of this substance with high concentrations in a number of sports and regions. In addition, available literature shows scientific evidence of the performance-enhancing effects of pseudoephedrine beyond certain doses.
Based on literature and results of controlled excretion studies funded by WADA, pseudoephedrine will therefore be reintroduced in the List starting on January 1, 2010, with a urinary threshold of 150 milligrams per millilitre. Given the wide availability of medicines containing pseudoephedrine, WADA's Scientific Committees and Executive Committee recommended that the reintroduction of pseudoephedrine be accompanied by information and education campaigns by WADA's stakeholders.
New Scientific Research Projects
As is traditionally the case at its September meeting, WADA's Executive Committee approved scientific research projects for funding.
"Scientific research is one of WADA's key priorities," said John Fahey. "Our Research Grant Program allows us to enhance current detection means and to fund reactive research to ensure that quick response is made to new substances or methods that are being used by cheaters. It also contributes to anticipating doping trends and developing detection means before new doping substances or methods are made available to athletes. Our growing cooperation with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as drug agencies and evaluation bodies, is a good example of how we strive to stay ahead of drug cheats."
A record number of research proposals (88) were received this year from 22 countries, with 34 being selected for funding by WADA's Scientific Committees and Executive Committee. These projects will help advance anti-doping research in such areas as the detection of blood manipulations, the development of new technologies of detection and the implementation of further means for detecting a number of substances and methods currently abused by athletes or potentially interesting to cheaters. Project descriptions will be posted on WADA's Web site once the contracts have been signed.
Book on Ethical Issues
The Executive Committee approved a special book project to be commissioned by WADA as part of the Agency's tenth anniversary. This book - to be written by Dr Thomas Murray, President of the Hastings Center in Garrison, United States - will address the ethical issues surround doping and doping-free sport. It will seek to advance knowledge in the field of social science and to provide an alternative vision of the future of sport based on ethical reasoning and an appreciation of the forces that shape elite sport.
WADA Tenth Anniversary
The next meetings of WADA's Executive Committee and Foundation Board will be held on December 1-2, 2009, in Stockholm, Sweden. These meetings will be an opportunity for the Agency, which was founded on November 10, 1999, to mark its tenth anniversary.

Shimano gets tough on dopers

2009-09-18T08:38:00.003+02:00

Bicycle component manufacturing giant Shimano has issued an anti-doping statement saying that any of its sponsored teams found guilty of doping practices will have its sponsorship removed and all Shimano components will have to be returned.
It may seem odd that a component manufacturer should join in the fight against doping in such a firm manner, but the Japanese company invests millions of pounds in providing professional teams and riders with cycle equipment.
As such, Shimano ranks among the largest sponsors of professional cycling and the company evidently does not want to be associated with any drug-related scandal, particularly as it is now joint sponsor of Skil-Shimano, which is currently aiming for a ProTour licence.
"The two positive tests at Euskaltel-Euskadi, particularly when the team stood behind Mikel Astarloza, is the direct reasoning behind this message," explained Shimano's PR and Marketing Officer, Harald Troost.
"We won't accept doping full stop and I think we are the first company in the bike industry to make such a statement.
"We will continue our partnership with Euskaltel, but if there is proof of a team management's involvement with doping we will withdraw our involvement with a team," said Troost.
In future, any team wishing to open sponsorship negotiations with Shimano will have to show its anti-doping statement to the company for scrutiny.
Established in 1921 in Japan, Shimano now manufactures a whole range of bicycle components including gears, brakes, pedals, shoes and clothing. It is one of largest global manufacturers of cycling equipment in addition to being a leading player in the fishing tackle market. The company recently ventured into the rowing market.
The statement, issued on Thursday, read as follows:
With this statement, Shimano would like to make clear to all parties involved that we would like to strive for a fair and drugs free sport to protect the future of cycling for next generations. Besides the bad impact to the reputation of the sport, we all know Doping and Drugs are damaging and destroying the health and image of especially young people in and outside of the sport. Therefore we are taking a firm stand against doping in general and in the cycling sport in particular.
Basic guidelines in Shimano's anti doping policy:
• All our contracts and sponsorship-relations are made under the condition and in the believe that there is no doping involved in the particular team or with the individual athletes
• If the team management of one of our sponsored teams (no matter in which cycling discipline) is involved in any doping affair, we will stop our sponsorship of this team immediately
• If an individual rider is involved in any doping affair without the knowledge of the team management, the team will be given the chance to give a clear explanation and a future improvement & control plan to Shimano, upon that it will be decided to continue the sponsoring or not. If another doping incident occurs within the same team, we will keep the option of terminating our sponsorship contract
• Terminating a sponsorship contract means return of all Shimano materials or other contributions that have been supplied to the concerned team immediately.
This anti doping policy is already stated in our ongoing sponsorship contracts but Shimano feels it is valuable to emphasize this ones more to make it clear for everybody what is our opinion about the use of doping in sport. For all our future sponsorship negotiations it is essential for us that the teams show us their anti doping policy in advance.
Shimano Inc.

Thursday, 17 September 2009
Nigel Wynn, Cycling Weekly

No comeback for Mayo

2009-09-16T10:25:00.002+02:00

Basque climber Iban Mayo says he won’t mount a professional comeback despite having served out his two-year racing ban for an EPO positive in 2007.Now 32, the once-feared climber called his controversial doping case a “witch hunt” and told the Bilbao daily El Correo he will not try to return to the professional ranks.
“I had already decided I wasn’t going to return after the two years’ sanction. I could do it, because I served out the punishment, but I don’t like the circumstances around cycling and I decided not to continue,” he told El Correo. “I have no intention of returning to race.”
Mayo’s case was controversial because the UCI re-tested a second sample to confirm the sanction. Mayo tested positive for traces of the banned blood booster during the 2007 Tour, when he finished 16th overall racing with Saunier Duval, but the follow-up B sample returned “inconclusive,” and the Spanish federation cleared him of wrong-doing. His first sample was tested by French authorities, but the follow-up, B-sample was tested in a Belgian lab because the French lab was closed for vacation. UCI then had the French lab re-test the B sample, which produced the evidence needed to slap Mayo with a two-year racing ban. I served out the punishment, but I don’t like the circumstances around cycling and I decided not to continue.
Mayo claimed the UCI breached anti-doping protocol by re-testing the second sample, but the UCI challenged the case in the Court of Arbitration for Sport and won.
Mayo’s racing ban ended this summer, but he said the bitter experience soured his desire to try to find a new team.
“It was very hard to leave cycling for this, especially with everything that surrounded my case. It was very strange, every time you think about it, you understand it less,” he said. “Three analyses is a very strange story, and because of this among other things, I decided not to come back, because I believe it was a witch hunt.”
It wasn’t the first time Mayo ran afoul with anti-doping authorities. In June of 2007, he was cleared of testing positive for testosterone during the Giro d’Italia because the UCI ruled he had not breached any doping rules despite high levels.
Mayo was once one of the most-feared rivals of Lance Armstrong, winning a stage at l’Alpe d’Huez in 2003 and barnstorming to victory in the 2004 Dauphiné Libéré. He said he will continue riding his bike as a “hobby.”

By Andrew Hood
Published: Sep. 15, 2009

"Mona Sahlin är bäst när hon är tyst"...

2009-09-16T09:41:00.005+02:00

... låter rubrikerna efter gårdagens Korseld special.Ledarskribenterna brillierar inför nästa års riksdagsval. Jobben key, ruta ett är åter ruta ett. I dopingens värld är vi även här tillbaka på ruta ett: Tre månader fick de fyra jamaica atleterna som testats positiv för doping.
Drugs ban for four athletes
Four Jamaican athletes who produced positive tests at their National Championships in June have been suspended for three months.Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson, Lansford Spence and Allodin Fothergill were reprimanded and given their sentences by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Appeals Tribunal for using the banned substance methylhexaneamine. The offences, which are of a minor nature, see the quartet banned from competition until December 14. A fifth athlete, Sheri-Ann Brooks, was earlier cleared of the offence after testing procedures of her samples were not undertaken in the correct manner. All five runners were withdrawn from Jamaica's team for the World Championships in Berlin until the decision of the appeals tribunal was announced.

(UKPA) – 9 hours ago
Foto: Yohan Blake Beijing 2008

Osympatiska Ankor...

2009-09-15T10:34:00.003+02:00

...kvackade oroväckande nonchalant och otrevligt under gårdagskvällen då Tv3 hade premiär på Svenska Hollywood Fruar.
MEN...
Don't judge women by their covers
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the bearded lady was a staple attraction of travelling human freak shows. But while these sideshows may have declined in popularity, a bearded woman - or any woman who exhibits masculine traits - is still a social aberration.
Take South African athlete Caster Semenya, who has become a modern-day curiosity. After winning the women's 800 metres at the World Championships in Athletics in Berlin last month, fellow athletes questioned her biological sex. Was she a woman? The International Association of Athletics' Federations ordered a series of tests.
Recent media reports allege these reveal that Semenya possesses both male and female sex characteristics.
She's a young woman with a possible intersex condition who produces a higher level of testosterone than so-called ''normal'' women. For this, she has suffered the indignity of having her core identity challenged.
In an attempt to prove she is "all woman", the South African magazine You decked her out in heels and make-up and put her on its cover. The African National Congress MP Winnie Madikizela-Mandela slammed the publication for "making a spectacle" of Semenya and turning her into a "caricature". She is right.
Semenya's makeover reinforces our narrow-minded view of what a woman is - or should be. The message, ingrained in society, is: if you don't adopt the trappings associated with conventional femininity, you're not a ''real'' woman.
This notion leaves every woman who finds long hair, lipstick and a pair of 13-centimetre Manolo Blahniks to be about as useful as a fork to eat soup feeling like a failure, or even a traitor to her gender.
The emphasis on a woman's attractiveness or femininity means talent is often overlooked. Semenya is a case in point. Another example of this is the furore at Wimbledon earlier this year when it was reported higher-ranked female tennis players, including world No. 1 Serena Williams, were relegated to the outer courts while ''prettier'' players were favoured for the centre court.
Homophobia, of course, plays its part in society's revilement of women who don't conform to gender stereotypes. Legendary tennis stars such as Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova no doubt lost sponsorships because they were gay. But it's likely their physical appearance played a part.
If Maria Sharapova suddenly declared membership of the Sapphic sisterhood, it's unlikely she'd lose sponsors. Rather than cries of ''She's not a real woman'', we'd likely hear ''Can we watch?'' Lesbians - along with all other women - are acceptable to mainstream society if they're considered ''feminine'' enough. MTV's Ruby Rose is snapped by the paparazzi every day ''despite'' being a lesbian, because she's ''hot''.
But regardless of who they're sleeping with, successful sportswomen, businesswomen and female politicians all cop flack for looking or behaving in ways considered ''unfeminine''.
The idea of a ''butch'' woman who dares to reject feminine accoutrements and a passiveness generally associated with her gender sends tidal waves of fear thundering through the patriarchal psyche. It's time for the freak show to end. It's time to stop demonising women who don't conform to conventional feminine ideals.
The irony is that if a woman wears too little make-up, she's not a real woman, but if she wears too much, she's compared with a drag queen - that is, a man - albeit one who has taken femininity to the extreme. Talk about a rock and a hard place.
This isn't an argument against femininity itself. Many women, including me, revel in putting on a pretty frock, painting our faces and wrecking our spines by teetering around in fabulous stilettos. But that doesn't make us ''women'', any more than short hair and jackboots make a man.
Rigid gender stereotypes of women as feminine and men as masculine do a disservice to us all, as we struggle to live up to a particular image and are stigmatised if we don't.
No good can come of sending the message to young girls that, regardless of how intelligent or talented you are, your real worth is in how pretty you're considered to be. Or if you're not genetically ''blessed'' with acceptable standards of beauty, you'll be judged on how much effort you're prepared to put in to achieve a conventional feminine appearance - to ''make the best'' of yourself.
We need to shift our mindsets to allow for diversity in physical attributes and gender expression. So when sportswomen like Semenya come along, we can appreciate their exceptional talent instead of harping on about their appearance.
There has been much debate about whether Semenya is a woman, but the more important issue is to examine why she - and any other woman - has to have a makeover to prove it.

KATRINA FOX
September 15, 2009
Katrina Fox is a freelance writer.

Doping Buzz

2009-09-11T09:18:00.003+02:00

"Caster Semenya a hermaphrodite" vs. "Results in November". The rumor mill starts spinning ---IAAF position: Semenya will find out in November
First, the IAAF have announced that the results will be available in November only, because this is when they have an executive council meeting. According to Pierre Weiss, Secretary General of the IAAF, "there will be nothing before that".

CAS decision will not come until October
Current Vuelta a España race leader Alejandro Valverde may be the subject of a UCI and WADA action trying to enforce a worldwide ban, but the Spaniard will almost certainly be able to contest this year's world championships and finish out the 2009 season.

Euskaltel-Euskadi stands by its rider
Basque Mikel Astarloza reiterated he's innocent following counter-analysis confirmation of a positive test for blood booster Erythropoietin (EPO). Astarloza, who won Tour de France stage 16, dismisses any drug use and his Euskaltel-Euskadi team supports him.

Tour of Missouri concludes a difficult return
It seems only a short time ago that Floyd Landis was making his return to professional cycling at the 2009 Tour of California with the American-based UCI Continental team OUCH p/b Maxxis after completing a two-year suspension for a doping violation. Now, Landis is mid-way through one of his last races of the season at the Tour of Missouri, and he gaveCyclingnews a brief insight on where this year has taken him.

Play the Game is looking for contributors to our site on IOC's October summit
In three weeks from now, the IOC will make its entry in Copenhagen, when thousands of leading sports officials and media professionals will join the IOC Session and Congress from 1.-9. October. The meetings will bring about important political decisions and extensive debates on a number of essential issues for world sport.

Analysis: Armstrong’s Tour blood levels debated
There’s been a varied reaction to questions raised by a Danish anti-doping researcher about the blood values that Lance Armstrong exhibited during this year’s Tour de France. The scientist Jakob Mørkeberg and his supervisor Bo Belhage have elaborated on their details, the International Cycling Union (UCI) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has largely declined to comment, and Astana anti-doping monitor Rasmus Damsgaard has said that it is up to an expert panel to assess whether or not the values are unusual.

Anti-doping top priority: Macki
MUSCAT — Medical and Anti-doping will be heading the priority list for the 2nd Asian Beach Games in December 2010 according to The Muscat Asian Beach Games Organising Committee (MABGOC).

And finally...

Athletes argue against harsh penalties for party drugs
Professional sportsmen and women in Britain mounted a campaign yesterday to soften the penalties handed to athletes caught using recreational drugs.
Under new proposals from all the leading sports in the country, an athlete such as Matt Stevens, the Bath rugby union player, would not be given a two-year ban for cocaine use and treated like a criminal within the sport; instead, he would be given treatment, counselling and rehabilitated into the game far sooner.

The IAAF testing results on the way

2009-09-10T07:30:00.002+02:00

Latest on Caster Semenya: Results pending as we look at the possibilities and the importance of testosterone
...And then finally, the test results from the IAAF are ever nearer to being announced. Last night, the local news said "within days", and then this morning, I read this piece from the Telegraph saying that the results may take a week to 10 days.

The possible outcomes: What is on the table?
So, in the lead-up to the results being known, I guess the following are the four options:

1) A conclusive negative finding: This allows Semenya to continue to compete, no problems or questions asked. It is the best result for Semenya, and for SA athletics. I dare say that if this happens, then SA has the next world record holder on their hands, assuming she's managed and coached well (these may be rather big 'ifs' given how management are going about things). I would also dare say that this is no longer an option, since a conclusive negative finding would not require any more delays in announcement. I'd therefore all but rule it out of contention at this stage.
2) An inconclusive finding: This is the worst-case scenario. It would allow Semenya to continue competing, which is good for her, and should be respected. But it won't be. Competitors will doubt, Semenya will compete under a cloud and it will be very difficult for all concerned, in the longer term. This is the "doubt" scenario I spoke of previously.
3) If I had to guess (and it is a guess), this is a likely scenario, given how difficult it is to actually prove performance advantages based on biology. It's one thing finding physiological differences, quite another preventing competition. So rightly or wrongly, it means Semenya competes with permanent doubt. Not pleasant for anyone, least of all her rivals (who are silent protagonists in this whole issue)
A conclusive finding of advantage: Whether due to a disorder of sex development that causes an intersex condition, or a medical problem, this scenario means Semenya has to either be treated (if possible) or cannot race against women in the future. Those are tough options for Semenya. With luck, it'll be the former option and she'll be OK to race after treatment. This depends on what condition, if any, is present.
4) Positive for doping. This has rarely been spoken, but certainly is implied by many articles that have raised the issue that ASA's head coach advisor is Dr Eckart Arbeit, the former East German doctor known for his involvement in doping programmes in the doping-era of athletics. That's not to say he's responsible, or that there is doping, but it remains on the table as possible. That is purely because of the rapid nature of performance improvement, which, taken in isolation, compel one to ask these questions below is a chart showing her progress between July 2008 and August 2009.

POSTED BY ROSS TUCKER AND JONATHAN DUGAS ON 9/09/2009 03:38:00 PM

Lance Armstrong slutade på tredje plats i sin comeback i Tour de France. Nu misstänks han för dopning – igen.

2009-09-04T08:54:00.001+02:00

En av Danmarks främsta blodforskare, Jakob Mörkebjerg, har granskat Amstrongs blodvärden under touren och menar de visar på bloddopning.
Armstrongs blodvärden var i stort sett oförändrade under hela tävlingen, vilket är helt ovanligt.
- Vid hårt arbete som under Tour de France sjunker blodvärdena markant och det ser vi inte hos Lance Armstrong. Det kan förklaras med blodtransfusioner. Därmed inte sagt att han fått det, men det kan vara en förklaring, säger han till Danmarks Radio.
Undert Giro d'Italia sjönk Armstrongs blodvärden som förväntat.
En annan orsak till de oförändrade blodvärden kan, enligt Jakob Mörkebjerg vara diarré eller uttorkning.

Publicerat 2009-09-03 10:54 DN Sport
Foto: Bas Czerwinski / AP

Facebook...

2009-08-28T14:46:00.002+02:00

... åh plötsligt inser jag fascinationen med detta "vänner över världen" verktyg. Kolla in Ren Idrott - vår Fan Club växer,... åh växer. Jätteroligt alla ni som stödjer vårt arbete - Tack!

2 Olympic ski champs retire after testing positive
MOSCOW — Olympic cross-country ski champions Julia Chepalova and Yevgeny Dementiev retired Tuesday, a day after it was announced they tested positive for the banned blood booster EPO. Russian Ski Federation president Vladimir Loginov said their decisions to retire "do not absolve them of responsibility and "both will be disqualified."
A third Russian skier, Nina Rysina, also tested positive for EPO during a competition in France on Jan. 27. She asked for her backup sample to be tested.
"Unfortunately, this doping 'infection' has spread too deep," Loginov said. "We have no chance to check everyone every day or even every minute, even on the national team. But at the end of the investigation the necessary decisions will be taken."
On Monday, the International Ski Federation told the Russian federation that Chepalova and Dementiev tested positive during the Tour de Ski at Val di Fiemme, Italy, on Jan. 2-3.
Chepalova won gold medals at the Winter Games in 1998, 2002 and 2006. The 32-year-old skier was the world champion in 2001 and 2005 and won the World Cup in 2001. Dementiev, 26, captured the 30-kilometer men's pursuit at the 2006 Turin Olympics.
On Aug. 12, the International Biathlon Union suspended three Russians for two years for doping violations. Albina Akhatova, Yekaterina Iourieva and Dmitri Yaroshenko tested positive for EPO during a World Cup event last December in Ostersund, Sweden.

Två ryska åkare fast för dopning

2009-08-27T12:57:00.002+02:00

De ryska skidåkarna Julia Tjepalova, 32, och Jevgenij Dementjev, 26, har åkt fast för dopning. De bägge olympiska guldmedaljörerna har testat positivt för epo.
– Det är väntade namn, säger landslagsåkaren Anders Södergren, 32, till Sportbladet.
Det är två stora namn som åkt fast. Tjepalova har tagit guld i tre raka OS, och Dementjev tog ett guld och ett silver i Turin för tre år sen. Guldet tog han i skiathlon, silvret på femmilen. Distanser där Anders Södergren blev femma respektive sexa.
– Det känns skitbra att de tar fuskarna. Det känns bra så länge de gör det. Och Wada och alla antidopningsorganisationer är mycket närmare fuskarna nu, de gör ett bra jobb, säger Södergren.
Såväl Tjepalova som Dementjev lämnade de positiva proverna i samband med Tour de Ski i januari. Det har alltså tagit åtta månader att få reda på resultatet från testerna.
– Att det tar så lång tid att få provresultaten är ju inte bra, säger Södergren som haft misstankar en längre tid om de båda åkarna.
– Man får en viss känsla när man är ute och tävlar vinter efter vinter mot samma åkare. Och det känns inte helt oväntat att det är de här namnen.

Sportbladet Aftonbladet Publicerad: 2009-08-26
Anders Forsberg
Foto// AP: Tjepalova är en av de stjärnor som testat positivt.

"Nytt betygssystem får kritik"

2009-08-26T09:40:00.007+02:00

... och trots en positiv inställning till en mer strukturerad och kravbenägen skolpolitik måste jag i detta hålla med. Ännu ett "drag" att förbättra urvalsgrupper och höja elevers motivation till att prestera håller inte. Jag vill kalla detta - rent kränkande och ypperligt diskriminerande för oss "äldre" som tidigare tagit vår examen med det då gällande toppbetyget. Nu nedgraderas detta och plötsligt kommer sökande med 2,5 poäng extra - så kallade - meritpoäng, att ligga på topp i urvalsgruppen. Frågan är vad de fått sina "meriter" ifrån. Skolan är en institution, en begränsad omgivning, dock mycket lämplig för teoretiska studier. Livet, det finns utanför och det är där vi lär oss. Samhälle, kommunikation, moral och värderingar. Det om något som bör kallas "merit". Jag föreslår att "vi gamla" med livserfarenhet kräver de 2,5 poängen för just detta. Vilken styrka.
Att detta direkt kopplas till sportens värld är att ta nästa steg i morgonens tankebanor - eller löparbanor, kanske. Ska de gamla rekorden suddas ut? Detta då vi vet att det under sportens "storhetstid" a'la - 70, -80 och delvis 90-tal användes och utnyttjades en hel del doping och otillåtna preparat. Är det rättvist att "vi rena" nu brottas med och mot rekordnivåer som stått sig i årtionden? Kanske. Vem är vi som påstår att alla dopade sig bara för att året var 1988? Vad hände med alla rekord som satts av hyllade idrottsstjärnor som aldrig åkt dit för doping men trots årtiondet låg på topp. Skall även dessa fördömmas ... eller.
Så hur gör man här egentligen? Skall man bedömas efter gällande förutsättningar och göra urval och- eller räkna rekord därefter? Absolut!
Så alla politiker, inom skolan och sportens värld. Fokusera. Lägg tid, resurser och budget på det som för oss framåt. Skolan och världen utanför behöver en mix av meriter och kunskap och likt sportens värld, på den arena som skall vara renast och mest lärorik av dem alla, där... där bör vi alla konkurrera, tävla och utmanas på lika villkor!

Skidskyttar överklagar dopningsdom

2009-08-25T10:01:00.000+02:00

Två av de tre ryska skidskyttarna som åkte fast för dopning i samband med världscuptävlingen i Östersund i december överklagar den tvååriga avstängningen.
Jekaterina Jurjeva och Albina Achatova har kommit överens med Internationella skidskytteförbundet att överklagan ska gå direkt till idrottens skiljenämnd Cas. Ryskorna vill bli helt friade från dopning. Dmitrij Jarosjenko har inte lämnat in någon överklagan.
Alla tre testades positivt för bloddopningsmedlet epo.

DN Publicerat 2009-08-24 14:20
TT-AFP

"Onormalt höga värden på Semenya”

2009-08-25T09:51:00.002+02:00

VM-vinnaren har tre gånger så höga värden av testosteron, mot vad som är normalt för kvinnor. Det är brittiska The Telegraph som nu kommer med nya uppgifter gällande 800-metersvinnaren Caster Semenya. Enligt tidningen genomfördes testerna innan VM i Berlin inleddes. Resultaten är inte officiella ännu, men källor till tidningen uppger att testerna avslöjar onormalt höga värden av testosteron. Telegraph skriver också att Ekkart Arbeit – före detta tränare i DDR – numera är ansvarig för det sydafrikanska landslaget. Arbeit har anklagats för att vara en av männen bakom den systematiska dopningen som genomfördes på DDR-idrottarna. En av hans före detta idrottstjejer tvingades till och med byta kön, på grund av all dopning. 18-åriga Semenya tog VM-guld på 800 meter för en dryg vecka sedan. Därefter drog spekulationerna om Semenyas könstillhörighet igång. Diskussionen har till exempel fått det sydafrikanska parlamentet och FN att prostera mot IAAF:s sätt att behandla fallet.

Aftonbladet Sportbladet Publicerad: 2009-08-24
Stefan Persson
Foto: AP

Vapnet mot dopning -– en ny musikvideo

2009-08-21T15:00:00.002+02:00

Jamaicas spelar reaggelåten för skolbarn och för föreningar.
Jamaicas dominans på sprintbanorna fortsätter. Samtidigt är landets anti-dopningskommission bara ett år gammal.
– Många tror att det inte görs särskilt många tester hos oss, men det gör det, säger Shelly-Ann Fraser, världsmästare på 100 meter.
Den lilla önationen har knappt tre miljoner invånare. Det motsvarar en tredjedel av Sveriges befolkning och bara en hundradel av USA:s. Men på sprintbanorna vid OS i Peking och friidrotts-VM i Berlin har Jamaica utklassat alla. Dominansen har väckt misstankar och nyligen avslöjades också fallet med de fem dopningsmisstänkta jamaicanska friidrottarna, som tills vidare friats av den egna antidopningsbyrån, men fortfarande riskerar avstängning. De fem kommer inte att tävla under VM. Landets idrottsminister, Olivia Grange, vill inte uttala sig om fallet, men försäkrar att Jamaica tar krafttag mot dopningen.
– Vårt antidopningsprogram har varit i gång i ett år nu. Vi tror starkt på att vårt utbildningsprogram är centralt för att få ut budskapet, säger Grange.
– Jamaicas regering är engagerad i kampen mot dopning inom idrotten.
Som ett led i arbetet presenterade Olivia Grange på torsdagen en musikvideo som ska användas på skolor och på idrottsklubbar. Budskapet är enkelt – "Vi klarar oss bra utan droger" – och levereras i en klatschig förpackning till reggaerytmer. ”We don't need no dope”
– Den ska spelas på radio, i tv och på internet. Den är medryckande, säger Olivia Grange till TT och gnolar på den centrala textraden.
– We don't need no dope to cope.
Även idrottarna, som världsmästaren Shelly-Ann Fraser, talar sig gärna varma för kampen mot fuskarna. Den 22-åriga sprintstjärnan vann även OS-guld i Peking i fjol, ett guld som ändrade hennes liv på mer än ett sätt.
– Jag kan inte ens räkna hur många gånger jag testats efter OS. Men jag har inte emot det, jag stödjer deras jobb, säger Fraser.
– Jag vet hur förödmjukande det är för dem som testas positivt, det är inte en väg jag vill gå. Jag vet att det finns många barn som ser upp till mig. Jag vill inte göra dem besvikna.

Aftonbladet/Sportbladet Publicerad: 2009-08-20

”Ryskorna är inte heller så snygga”

2009-08-21T14:26:00.004+02:00

Nu ger sig Patrik Sjöberg in i könsbråket i VM
Könsbråket kring Caster Semenya har retat upp höjdhoppslegendaren Patrik Sjöberg, 44Nu går han till angrepp mot konkurrenterna som smutskastat sydafrikanskan.
– Ryskorna är inte heller så snygga. Är man mer kvinnlig bara för att man har två kilo smink i ansiktet?, säger Sjöberg.
De senaste dagarna har det stormat rejält kring Caster Semenya och huruvida hon är en kvinna eller man. Den överlägsna vinnaren på 800 meter har ifrågasatts av såväl experter som konkurrenter.
– För mig är hon ingen kvinna, sa till exempel italienskan Elisa Cusma Piccione.
– Semenya kommer inte klara könstestet. Hon är som en man, inte en kvinna, sa ryskan Maria Savinova.
Nu går den som vanligt frispråkige Patrik Sjöberg också till attack – men mot belackarna.
– Vad kvinnlighet är ligger så klart i betraktarens öga, säger Sjöberg som inte tycker att Semenya är mindre kvinnlig än flera andra friidrottstjejer i VM.
– De som springer 100 meter, 200 meter och 400 meter tilltalar inte mig i min syn på vad kvinnlighet är. De har smink och hårförlängning men annars är det ingen skillnad på sydafrikanskan och de andra.
Även ryskan Marina Savinova får sig en rejäl släng av Sjöbergs slev.
– Ryskorna är inte så snygga heller och ryskan som uttalat sig, gör två kilo smink henne mer kvinnlig? Jag tycker inte det är någon större skillnad.
Varför tror du de går på så här hårt?
– De är väl bara avundsjuka för att de inte kan springa lika snabbt.
Tycker du att det är rätt att könstesta henne?
– Jag fattar inte det där. Alla tjejer gör ett könstest och alla har ett certifikat på att de är kvinnor. Jag förstår inte varför de gnyr om det här, men de kanske inte litar på sydafrikanerna, säger Sjöberg.
– Men det där är ju lätt att reda ut. Det är en tops på tungan sen ser man ganska snabbt om det är x eller y.

Marcus Leifby
Aftonbladet/Sportbladet Publicerad: 2009-08-21

Patrik Sjöberg om ...alla dopningsrykten...
– Folk börjar tro att jag också var dopad bara för att jag var jävligt bra och tävlade under det som nu kallas ”det glada dopnings 80-talet”. Jag tycker det är fel att smutskasta alla gamla rekord och hävda, utan att någon har blivit fälld, för att de var dopade.
– Det är en jävla myt att det var lättare att dopa sig på min tid. Alla ska inte belastas för det som hände bakom järnridån. Jag blev testad på alla galor och mästerskap och jag gömde mig aldrig för någon.
... om dopningsavstängningar...
– För att få bukt med problem tycker jag att man ska gå tillbaka till fyra års avstängning som det var på vår tid. Det avskräcker mer än två år som det är nu. Blir man avstängd i fyra år, då kommer man inte tillbaka.

"Ingen dopad på hundra meter!"

2009-08-19T14:33:00.000+02:00

Det internationella friidrottsförbundet IAAF avvisade på tisdagen uppgifter om att Daniel Bailey skulle ha lämnat ett positivt dopningsprov.
Som DN kunde berätta under förmiddagen meddelar IAAF i ett pressmeddelande att ingen fällts för dopning i de test som genomfördes i samband med finalen på 100 och att samtliga involverade inte heller åkt fast i något tidigare test.
Uppgifter har tidigare gjort gällande att Usain Bolts träningskompis Bailey kan vara dopad. Först uppgavs att VM-fyran åkt fast för ett dopningsprov i samband med 100-metersfinalen, sedan att det var ett oannonserat test före VM.

DN Sport Publicerat i dag. 11:30

Vad skulle talangen säga?

2009-08-19T09:09:00.004+02:00

Ökad tolerans för användande av doping och en naiv inställning till kontaminerat kosttillägg (Ren Idrotts Undersökning Maj-09)... och kanske är det inte så konstigt att våra barn och ungdomar påverkas, att de reagerar. Endast dagar in i pågående Friidrotts VM "skakas" sporten av nya dopingavslöjanden och vi, vi skakar långsamt på huvudet. - Känns detta som en överraskning? Nej, egentligen inte. Rykten har försigått det intesiva arbetet och dopingtest program IAAF iscensatt och genomfört långt innan VM började för att runda upp detta med ett tusental prover under själva mästerskapet. Det börjar ge resultat, och för oss antidopare kan vi bara hylla den enorma kartläggning, uppspårning och testtagning som lett oss till detta. NADOS som jobbat häcken av sig i länder långt bort från regeringsfödda antidopinggrupper och där elitidrottare har en tedens att förlägga uppladdning och träningsläger. Jamaica är bara ett av dessa mer "oåtkomliga" länderna. Så hur ren är sporten, egentligen? En mer berättigad frågeställning är kanske om den överhuvudtaget är ren? Vi får ofta frågan. Framför oss en fullsatt aula med gymnasieelever, härdad och kunniga. Internetvan och otroligt skeptiska. Närmare 43% av 15-25 åringar är tveksam till att man kan bli bäst på 100 meter utan att dopa sig. 65% anser att doping är vanlig bland elitidrottare (Ren Idrotts Undersökning Maj-09). I sverige har vi ett bra system. Våra elitidrottare rapporterar sin whereabouts både till nationella och internationella förbundet samt WADA. RF tar årligen 3500-4000 dopingtester. Detta är bra - men som alltid kan system förbättras... men till vilken kostnad - och vem skall betala denna? Vi fick ett helt sanslöst enormt världsrekord häromdagen! Talangen, ...och det kan ingen ta ifrån honom, Bolt sprang 100 meter på 9.58! Idag har två av hans träningskompisar åkt dit för doping. Alla tre står under samme tränares beskydd och arbete. Alla tre har innan VM befunnit sig i Jamaica för uppladdning och träning. Hur hanterar Bolt detta? Den intensiva beundran vi kände bara för ett par dagar sedan har plötsligt blivit ifrågasatt. I Ren Idrotts undersökning frågar vi ungdomarna "Du kan få ta ett magiskt piller som gör att du blir bäst i världen på valfri sport. Men, det finns en baksida - om du tar det kommer du att dö om 30 år. Ingen annan behöver få veta att du tackar ja. Skulle du ta prillret?" 11.7% av Sveriges 15-25 åringar svarade Ja.(Ren Idrotts Undersökning Maj-09). Frågan är, hur skulle talangen svara och han/hon fick samma frågeställning.

VÄNNERNA DOPADE!

2009-08-19T08:57:00.004+02:00

BERLIN. I Paris Golden League jublade Usain Bolt ihop med sina träningskompisar Daniel Bailey och Yohan Blake. Det är bara en månad sedan. De kom etta, två och trea och ställde leende upp framför Sportbladets kamera. En månad senare är Yohan Blake avstängd för dopning och VM-fyran Daniel Bailey pekas ut som dopad. Och Usain Bolts nya, fantastiska världsrekord på 9,58 är under beskjutning. Sportbladet avslöjade i natt uppgifterna att även VM-fyran Daniel Bailey åkt fast för dopning. De första uppgifterna sa att provet togs efter VM-finalen på 100 meter, men uppgifter senare i natt pekade mer på att Daniel Bailey utsatts för ett oannonserat dopningprov under veckan innan VM-starten. Ryktena att någon varit dopad i herrfinalen på 100 meter satte igång redan dagen efter finalen på söndagskvällen, vilket var ovanligt tidigt och på gränsen till att urinproverna efter finalen ens skulle ha hunnits analyserats. På tisdagen tog ryktena ny fart – och enligt Sportbladets källor är det den 22-åriga Daniel Bailey som åkt dit. Bailey som tävlar för ögruppen Antigua & Barbuda. Hade det bara varit så enkelt hade det förmodligen inte väckt någon större uppmärksamhet. Men Bailey tränar på Jamaica ihop med Usain Bolt, precis som den tidigare dopningavstängde Yohan Blake. Alla coachas av demontränaren Glen Mills, som även är huvudansvarig för den jamaicanska VM-truppen.
– Och har två av hans träningskompisar åkt fast, så har även Usain Bolt en
hel del att förklara, säger Sportbladets källa. – Då förbleknar en del av vad han gjort här i Berlin. I Paris för en månad sedan dansade Bolt, Bailey och Blake ihop efter trippelsegern. Trots kyla och regn sprang Usain Bolt på 9,70, Daniel Blake sänkte sitt personbästa till 9,91 och Blake sprang på nya personliga rekordet 9,93.
– Det finns bara en Usain Bolt, sa Bailey efter den tävlingen.
– Men det finns ingen bättre att träna med. Tillsammans krossar vi allt.
Här i VM väckte både uppmärksamhet då de sprang och småpratade och skrattade mot varandra ända in på mållinjen i lördagens kvartsfinal på 100 meter. En kvart som Bailey vann på 10,02, en hundradel före Bolt.
Många tyckte att de visade bristande respekt för motståndarna, bland andra svenske 400-meterslöparen Johan Wissman. – Ja, ibland kan jag tycka att han (Bolt) fjantar sig lite väl mycket. Det är nästan på gränsen till osportsligt. Någonstans måste du visa respekt för motståndarna och springa ända in i mål, sa Wissman.
Usain Bolt visade inga sådana divafasoner då han tog sig vidare till semifinalen på 200 meter i går. Å andra sidan fanns inga av hans träningskompisar med på 200 meter.
Nu lufsade han i mål i båda sina försöksheat, men utan någon att prata med på upploppet.

Aftonbladet Sport//Publicerad: 2009-08-19
Mats Wennerholm
Andreas Bardell

Blodpass ska stoppa dopning

2009-08-18T10:54:00.001+02:00

Finalfälten på 3 000 meter hinder kan se annorlunda ut i framtiden. Mustafa Mohameds tränare Ulf Friberg vill införa blodpass för att stävja dopningsfusket. - Det verkar bli verklighet redan i höst, säger Friberg till TT.
Under EM i Göteborg 2006 hade hela 23 friidrottare hb-värden över de normala gränsvärdena. Ingen kunde dock fällas för dopning då inga otillåtna substanser kunde hittas i blodet.
- Tydligen gäller det att göra testerna vid rätt tillfällen, det kan röra sig om några få timmar, för att upptäcka dopning med små mängder av epo, förklarar Ulf Friberg.
Flera medaljörer i OS och VM under 2000-talet har kommit från ingenstans och prickat in oanade formtoppar framförallt på medel- och långdistans.
- Det är typiskt för dem som man misstänker, de som springer få internationella lopp och plötsligt får anmärkningsvärda formtoppar. Det har väl snackats mest om de fransk-marockanska löparna, säger Friberg, som är grenansvarig för långdistans, maraton och hinder på Svenska Friidrottsförbundet.
En av få som har åkt fast är den störste marockanske stjärnan, den olympiske 1 500-metersmästaren Rashid Ramzi, som testade positivt för bloddopningsmedlet epo i februari.
- Om man åker fast för dopning i Sverige får man nästan fly landet, men så är det inte i fattiga afrikanska länder. Där är det många som kan ta en chans för att komma ifrån fattigdomen och få ett bättre liv.
Längdåkningen har infört ett system med blodpass, där åkarna testas ofta för att visa vilket hb-värde (hemoglobinhalt) de normalt har i blodet. Ulf Friberg har i flera år varit drivande för att samma system ska införas även inom friidrotten.
- En blodbank håller på att byggas upp och det kan bli verklighet redan till hösten, säger han.
- Jag tycker i alla fall man inte ska få starta på grund av hälsoskäl om man har för högt hb-värde, även om man inte blir avstängd för dopning, det är ju också samma regelverk som inom längdåkningen.
Inom längdåkningen är gränsvärdet för män 170 och 160 för kvinnor. Mustafa Mohameds hb-värde ligger kring 140 och är bara marginellt högre efter en höghöjdsvistelse.
Mohamed själv vill att blodpass ska införas så snart som möjligt:
- Det har varit på gång länge så jag hoppas det blir av snart. Vi inte vad som har gjort att det har dröjt.
På tisdagen avgörs VM-finalen på 3 000 meter hinder och Ulf Friberg är noga med att inte rikta någon misstanke mot de ledande kenyanska löparna.
- Nej, de tävlar hela säsongen och testas ofta. Dem man misstänker är de som inte tävlar lika ofta.

Publicerat 2009-08-17 19:25 Lars Markusson/TT

Bolibompa = Startskottet!

2009-08-18T09:04:00.006+02:00

Min vana trogen satt jag denna morgon med RIX FM's småprat i bakgrunden och lyssnade till lite extra då morgonens gäst var ingen mindre än Martin Stenmark. Jag gillar Stenmark. Både vår egen Tärnabyson men även denne underbara artist som kan blända de flesta med sin utstrålning, för att inte tala om sin personlighet. Så genuint äkta! Nyhet för morgonens zoo, och då talar jag inte om det egna hemmet, är den frågesnurra som gästerna får dra ett varv på och beroende på nummer svara på den fråga Fylking så inspirerat och genomtänkt har skapat. Martins fråga - "Vem tar initiativet till sex hemma hos er"? ...och som en blixt, kom svaret : -"Bolibompa"! Skratten ljöd men i mitt stilla morgonsinne nickade jag igenkännande. - Vi har alla varit där! Som en jingel klockan 6 pm, lika klart ljuder startskottet. Som en Bolt med sikte på världsrekord är förspel lämnat i mixzone och med huvudet först slänger vi oss desperat mot mållinjen. Yes! - där satt den. ...eller som Martin själv sa: -"Jag presterar alltid bäst under press"! - Vilken pärla!

IAAF to rule on Jamaican doping case before start of world championships

2009-08-14T08:02:00.000+02:00

BERLIN — The world athletics federation says it will rule on the doping cases involving five Jamaican athletes before Saturday's opening of the world championships. The IAAF had been waiting for documents all week after the five were cleared by a a disciplinary panel appointed by the island's sports minister. The panel found there wasn't enough evidence for substance abuse.
The IAAF could provisionally suspend the five if it rules that the doping infractions were serious enough. The runners have been identified as Yohan Blake, Sheri-Ann Brooks, Allodin Fothergill, Lansford Spence and Marvin Anderson.
The ruling could affect the Jamaican sprint relay teams competing at the world championships.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CP) – 2 hours ago

”HAN BORDE FÅTT 270 ÅR”

2009-08-13T15:41:00.002+02:00

Svenskarna rasar mot den dopade världsmästartrion
De dopade ryska superstjärnorna döms till två års avstängning.
Det får de svenska åkarna att rasa.
– Jarosjenko borde stängts av i 270 år, säger Björn Ferry till Sportbladet.
I går kom så domen i förra säsongens stora ryska dopningsskandal.
Jekaterina Jurjeva, Albina Achatova och Dmitrij Jarosjenko, alla tidigare världsmästare, lämnade positiva dopningsprov vid världs-cuptävlingarna i Östersund i december i fjol. De hade allihop blod-dopat sig med epo och döms till två års avstängning. Det får de svenska stjärnorna att rasa.
Livstid – gånger tre...
Björn Ferry menar att framför allt Jarosjenko borde ha fått ett hårdare straff då han testades positivt för epo ytterligare två gånger under säsongen.
– Mer än så kan man inte fuska i en konditionsidrott. Jag tycker att bloddopning borde ge livstids avstängning, följaktligen borde Jarosjenko få cirka 270 års avstängning, säger Ferry till Sportbladet.
Han får medhåll av sina lagkamrater.
– Två år är för lite. Att medvetet dopa sig under lång tid som Jarosjenko gjort... då ska man bort, säger Carl-Johan Bergman.
Anna-Carin Olofsson: – Reglerna är väl så här. Men jag tycker att straffen bör vara hårdare i alla dopningsfall. Har man fuskat ska man få det surt.
Mattias Nilsson fick häromdagen, tillsammans med tränaren Wolfgang Pichler, stiftelsen Ren Idrotts pris på 25 000 kronor för sin kamp mot dopningen när den ryska dopningsbomben briserade i vintras. Nilsson är inte förvånad över straffet:
– Det var ju väntat. Men det är konstigt att det ska ta åtta månader att komma fram till det, säger han.
Enligt ryska medier planerar trion att överklaga domen.

Aftonbladet Sportbladet Publicerad: 2009-08-13
Johan Flinck

Berlin.Det tuffaste antidopningsprogrammet hittills vid ett VM hotar stoppa sprintstjärnan Asafa Powell!

2009-08-12T10:10:00.001+02:00

...samt två andra av Jamaicas OS-medaljörer dagarna innan VM invigs. De tidigare fem dopningsertappade jamaicanerna friades, men är åter under utredning.
Bara tre dagar före VM-invigningen här i Berlin har dopningen redan kastat sin skugga över mästerskapet.
Internationella Friidrottsförbundet (IAAF) kör här sitt mest omfattande antidopningsprogram hittills vid ett VM. Drygt 1 000 dopningsprov, varav 600 blodprov, ska tas. Därför är IAAF noga med att alla som ska tävla i VM finns på de uppladdningsläger deras förbund arrangerar. Detta för att vara tillgängliga för prov.
Då inte Asafa Powell, tidigare världsrekordhållare på 100 meter, Shelly-Ann Fraser, OS-mästarinna på 100 meter i Peking, samt Sherika Williams, OS-silver på 400 meter inte dök upp på Jamaicas läger i Nürnberg hotas de nu från sitt eget förbund att inte få tävla i VM. Powells agent Paul Doyle sa till Reuters att han inte uppfattat att lägret var obligatoriskt för att få tävla i VM.
– Bara att det förväntades att de skulle vara där. Jag har talat med alla inblandade och de har också uppfattat det så. Ingen av de aktiva har heller uppmanats av IAAF att vara i Nürnberg, sa Doyle.
– Jag sa till Doyle att lägret var obligatoriskt. Kommer de inte till lägret kan de inte delta, sa i sin tur Howard Aris, ordförande i Jamaicas friidrottsförbundet, till Reuters.
De tre friidrottarna plus kortahäcklöparen Brigitte Foster-Hylton, som det också handlar om, tävlar för samma klubb MVP (Maximum Veocity Power) under ledning av Stephen Francis på University of Technology i Kingston. De VM-laddar på ett eget läger i italienska Lignano.
– Jaha, förbundet har sagt att vi inte kan delta eftersom vi inte var på lägret, skrev Williams på sin Facebook-sida enligt Jamaica Observer.
Nu hoppas Doyle att allt ska lösas då han adepter kommer till Berlin.
De fem jamaicaner som ertappades med mentylxanthin vid Jamaicamästerskapen, friades först då medlet inte fanns på listan för förbjudna preparat.
Det fick den jamaicanska antidopningsbyråns disciplinkommitté, Jadco, att direkt överklaga sitt eget beslut.
– Den som tror att de kan delta kan glömma det, säger Neville McCook, bas för för Nord- och Centralamerikas samt Karibiens friidrottsförbund till Jamaica Observer, och pekar på att IAAF ännu inte fått in uppgifter från Jadco och den omständliga process som väntar.
Av de fem aktuella ingår bara Sheri-Ann Brooks, 100 meter, i Jamaicas VM-trupp.

Publicerat 2009-08-11 14:23
Sven Gustavsson
sven.gustavsson@dn.se

IAAF issues world championship drugs warning

2009-08-12T07:32:00.000+02:00

MONACO — The world athletics championships, which get underway in Berlin on Saturday, will be the target of the most comprehensive drug testing programme ever conducted, the IAAF announced on Tuesday.
Over 1000 samples will be collected, both before and during the competition in Germany, the sport's governing body promised in a statement from its Monaco headquarters.
IAAF president Lamine Diack said the two week championships were a chance to recognise 'clean' athletes.
"I would like to turn our attention back to the huge majority of honest athletes who will arrive at these championships and compete based on their own skill and years of hard work and sacrifice," Diack remarked.
"All this anti-doping work is done to protect them, and so that in Berlin we can join together and celebrate their achievements."
But he went on to warn: "However for those athletes who still consider that they need to cheat to succeed both blood and urine samples collected from this event will be analysed and even stored by the IAAF for future analysis should new prohibited substances or methods become detectable."
Around 600 blood samples will be taken in Berlin prior to the championships and another 400 blood and urine samples taken during the competition itself with all samples being sent to the Cologne and Dresden World Anti-Doping Authority accredited laboratories.
Diack added: "Athletes should be well aware that not only do we have the possibility to store samples, but that already in the past year the IAAF has prosecuted several cases based on re-analysed samples.
"If they think they can turn up to our championships with an undetectable drug and get away with it, then they may be in for a shock, and our recent prosecutions prove this."
Five athletes competing at last year's Beijing Olympics, including Bahrain's 1500m champion Rashid Ramzi, were caught out after samples were re-tested in February and found to contain a new form of the banned blood booster EPO-CERA.
The majority of blood samples taken from the world championships will also form part of the IAAF biological passport programme and be added to the individual profiles of each athlete.
The IAAF say it has been collecting samples as part of this passport programme from selected athletes since January 2009.
The organisation added that the world championships are not all about testing, with the important aspect of education also present in Berlin via the IAAF Athlete Outreach Programme and the implementation of an IAAF interactive online education programme called 'Real winner'.
IAAF staff will be onsite in Berlin to answer any athletes questions and both education programmes aim to raise athlete awareness of the important anti-doping issues.

ANDY MIAH, Sports Doping, and the Enhancement Enlightenment

2009-08-10T08:01:00.002+02:00

Andy Miah is the Renaissance man of the enhancement enlightenment. While best known for defending “doping” (performance enhancement) in sports, as a professor in Ethics and Emerging Technologies at the University of the West of Scotland, his work draws from law, philosophy, art, cultural studies, sociology, bioethics, human enhancement, social media, life-extension, ethical culture, climate change, synthetic biology, and artificial life. As if that isn’t enough, Miah says he’s now looking at architecture and the future, extraterrestrial ethics, and ideas about biocultural capital. (And just for fun, he’s also a graphic designer and film connoisseur.)
Miah has been writing and talking in various public forums about enhancement, sports enhancement, and the future for almost ten years. In that time, he has become an influential voice in these areas, along with all things “bio.” Miah has published over 100 soloauthored academic articles on sports enhancements and other topics. He has published two books, including Genetically Modified Athletes (Routledge, 2004), regarding biomedical ethics, gene doping and sport. And while Miah’s writing on sports enhancement has made him fairly controversial, he refuses to be pigeonholed. He knows that being labeled creates boundaries, and he has worked to have his voice heard in such influential places as the Olympics committees.
The Olympian Professor With his spiky jet-black hair, self-confident charisma, and his understated but hip sartorial style, Miah gives the impression of an intellectual rock star. Given his eclecticism, it shouldn’t be surprising that our conversation skips across a wide range of topics.
We talked about the Beijing Olympics, which Miah attended. Suffice it to say that he continues to be an unapologetic supporter of human enhancement in the world of sports. Miah wants to see sports doping normalized, by regulating it and making the enhancements safe, accessible and accepted. In his articleGene Doping, published in the April 2007 issue of the Biochemical Society Journal, he wrote,“Genetically modified athletes will simply be those people who gave value to enhancements that are most suitable for athletic performances.”
Our conversation turned to controversial headliner and amputee sprinter, Oscar Pistorius. Miah said that he wanted to see Pistorius be allowed to compete, if he would have qualified, amidst the fantastic architecture of the Beijing stadium, saying that, “there’s so much conceptual overlap when thinking about the future” and seeing these two images together.
It may surprise you to know that Miah has written papers for the British Olympic Association, the International Olympic Committee, the International Olympic Academy, and the Brazilian Olympic Committee. But he doesn’t seem to expect to win his point with the Olympic authorities. “For the anti-doping authorities, they have little option but to press on full steam. It’s getting a bit out of control in my view, how much they will do for socalled clean sport.”
I asked Miah about the notion of having two separate venues — one for enhanced athletes and another for clean (au natural, if you will) athletes, He’s somewhat skeptical. “The problem is that, in this scenario, you’d still have the enhanced trying to get into the clean… I think people like Pistorius will allow us to confront some important issues.” Reflecting on it a bit, Miah conceded, “It all depends on whether the enhanced could achieve adequate prominence to rival the clean. It’s ultimately about trying to build symbolic value around a new series of competitions. I actually think the way it’ll go is that we end up with just the enhanced… I argue that sports authorities are obliged to invest into creating safer forms of enhancement for athletes to use.”
We seem to be witnessing the wisdom of Miah’s way when we look at the borderline hysteria and the apparent inability to stop steroid and other performance enhancement in major league baseball in the U.S. The societal consensus is that we do not want our athletes to do steroids or human growth hormone or any other drugs that enhance their athletic performance. The acceptance of human enhancements in sports will be a long time coming. In the meantime, we’re likely to witness another unwinnable “war” attempting to stop people from doing what they are inevitably, eventually going to do. As Miah observed, the acceptance of personal enhancement “has been far from smooth… but equally the desire to enhance has become more apparent, as evidenced by the number of ways in which we seek to alter our bodies and minds.”
The acceptance of personal enhancement “has been far from smooth… but equally the desire to enhance has become more apparent.”
As our conversations moved from sports and into the more general subject of human enhancement, I discovered that Miah’s enthusiasms are pretty much limitless and his knowledge is encyclopedic. Mention that you’re looking for an image of an enhanced eye, Miah’s got one. Want a woman that could be a poster girl for the beauty of enhancement, with prosthetic legs and a body and face you wouldn’t believe? Miah has the information and images. “We are very keen on exploring dimensions of our identity though biological modifications. We’ve done this in the past through tattoo, piercing, scarification even. There’s a long list and each of these mechanisms has been about marking oneself out culturally and socially.”
Remember that story about the selective memory deletion in mice a few months back? (If not, Google it. Crazy cool.) Ask Miah about it and he’ll refer you to his article on Eternal sunshine of the Spotless Mind. (Do you remember that movie? Or was it selectively deleted?) His article, like that film, really brings home the situation, and the nuances of memory deletion. It’s a good read, not just a journal article.
“…the moral narrative of Eternal Sunshine is ambiguous in many respects, since it confronts our uncertainty about how best to overcome difficulties in life… After watching Eternal Sunshine, while one is left feeling that the best solution to dealing with human suffering already resides within our learned capacities, there is also a sense in which leaving this merely for time to heal is inadequate and that we are quite right for seeking more effective, efficient and gentle means. The difficulty, though, is that Eternal Sunshine portrays memory deletion as anything but gentle.”
Lastly, as Malcom Gladwell would say, Miah is a Connector “with a special gift for bringing the world together.” Aside from his intellectual eclecticism, making connections between art and science and a broad mix of disciplines, he knows a lot of people: science fiction writers, philosophers, designers, artists, scientists, academics, people from sports and architecture. Andy Miah sees the value in bringing people together in a collaborative manner and having them work on ideas about the future. He believes that the artist and the scientist, working together, can create a truly beneficial relationship, envisioning a future that is enhanced, in the deepest and best sense of the word.

Written By: Kristi Scott - Date Published: June 15, 2009
Kristi Scott has a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, interns with the Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies, is a freelance writer, and mother of three.

Armbågar min väg runt atleter och managers...

2009-07-29T22:31:00.002+02:00

...med síkte på Nordic Sea bar för en välbehövd och kall drink har jag äntligen landat. Årets DN Galan veckan är här, och så är jag. Redan vi "infarten" till stan välkommnades vi "galare" och ju närmare hotellet desto mer kändes den ankommande puls som väntade. Rav4:an tickade ihärdigt då jag helt felparkerade med varningslampor tända för att checka in, checka av och check out allt och alla. Ansikten många och välbekanta. Trevligt! - "So, whats your role"? Manager? No, no Antidoping! - AH! Doping. Yeah, god damn whereabout rules! Truly!
Diskussionen i full gång och inom lopper av minuter var en större grupp från olika "roller" involverad i vår diskussion- trevlig men ifrågasättande. Att ordet "doping" triggar vet vi, att ämnet är så hett, en självklarhet. Det tickade, nästan lika högt som den bortglämda Rav´4:an, precis utanför. Whereabout...unknown.

Wiggins: No doping here; tests to prove it

2009-07-29T22:24:00.001+02:00

LONDON (Reuters) -- Britain's Bradley Wiggins said he would publish his blood tests from the last two years to dispel any doubts about the legitimacy of his surprise fourth-place finish at the Tour de France.
The 29-year-old triple Olympic track pursuit champion was praised by French media for his performance, which equalled the best by a Briton in the race, but suspicions regarding drug use remain high in the sport.
"I came from nowhere on the Tour and everyone knows where it's been with blood doping," Wiggins was quoted as saying by London's Evening Standard newspaper.
"I don't want there to be any suspicion or doubt that what I did was natural. I have nothing to hide and I want this transparency."
Wiggins was considered something of a time-trial specialist in the Tour but his tenacious performances in the mountain stages -- when he vied with seven-time winner Lance Armstrong for a place on the podium -- surpassed expectation.
"We had a test on Saturday that should be back soon and I expect everything to go online within the next few days," he said.
"Once the last set of bloods are in they'll release the whole thing for the last couple of years.
"British Cycling have all my blood tests results from the age of 19 and I might even release everything from the last 10 years."
Wiggins said road racing would be his priority over the coming seasons with his ultimate goal being Olympic track gold in London and Tour de France success in 2012.
"There will be no track for the next two years, it will just be full on for the Tour," Wiggins said.
"In 2012 I'll try and do both: I'd like to win Olympic gold and then win the Tour in the same year. I believe it's possible and can be done," he added.
"It's the biggest bike race in the world (the Tour) and finishing fourth has opened up a whole new set of doors for me. What a challenge winning it is: I want a go at it."

Wed Jul 29, 2009 By Reuters

French agency to retest 2008 Tour samples

2009-07-27T08:40:00.001+02:00

PARIS — The French anti-doping agency will retest some blood samples from last year's Tour de France, mainly for the banned blood-booster CERA.
About 15 riders will be affected by the retesting, AFLD president Pierre Bordry said Sunday. He refused to identify the riders, but said they had been informed of the proceedings before the start of this year's Tour in Monaco.
The retesting will be conducted in September and October.
"We have obtained information concerning those riders and we are going to retest their samples" Bordry told The Associated Press by phone. "We didn't want to do it during the Tour because it could have disturbed the competition."
No positive test has been announced so far on this year's Tour, which ends Sunday on the Champs-Elysees.
"It's far too early to report on the testing because we haven't received all the test results yet," Bordry said.
Pat McQuaid, the president of cycling's governing body, has already said that all samples from this year's Tour would be stored and could be retested in the future.
Last year, 38 samples from about 30 riders were retested for CERA, a new advanced form of the endurance-boosting drug EPO.
Six competitors were caught by doping testers — four for using CERA. They included third-place finisher Bernhard Kohl, and three others — Italians Leonardo Piepoli and Riccardo Ricco and Germany's Stefan Schumacher — who combined to win five of the 21 stages.

If you think this is just a cycle race, you’re a dope

2009-07-27T08:37:00.000+02:00

The French minister for health and sports, Roselyne Bachelot, raised more than a few eyebrows when she dropped in for a one-day visit to the Tour de France and declared herself delighted that not a single doping case had been discovered during the race, which began on July 4 and ends today on the Champs-Elysees. “I say bravo, it’s a great success for the organisers and the drug inspectors,” she announced.
Then she returned to her office in Paris, possibly dismayed to read in French newspapers the next day that, because journalists have heard this so many times before, her remarks rated only the tiniest headline, no bigger than the one on an article reporting that two Spanish riders had failed drug tests before the Tour.
In other words, business as usual: some riders continue to use illegal performance-enhancing drugs and some officials, well-meaning but oh so naive, continue to proclaim that the absence of convictions means nobody is doping.
Madame Minister, face facts. In last year’s Tour there wasn’t a single positive test for doping until the race was over. Then the rider who finished third, the winner of both time trials and the winners of two demanding mountain stages were all found to have been illegally drugged. All were disqualified.
On Wednesday, international authorities announced the provisional suspension of the Italian cyclist Danilo Di Luca for testing positive for doping during the Giro d’Italia in May, in which he finished second. The 33-year-old LPR team leader, who is not competing in the Tour de France, won two stages in the Giro and wore the leader’s pink jersey for eight days.It is an axiom of the sport that, because of their doctors, drug users are always ahead of drug inspectors. The inspectors are plodding types – technicians really, underpaid and overworked – and the doctors are cutting edge. In the early 1990s, for example, they discovered that the drug Erythropoietin, or EPO, developed to deliver more red-blood corpuscles to the bodies of kidney patients, could boost the same oxygen-bearing corpuscles in the tired muscles of riders. Even before EPO was certified safe for patients on dialysis, it was prevalent among cycle racers, boosting their endurance by 20 per cent.
But now there are tests for EPO – so enter CERA, or third-generation EPO; and blood doping, a recent favourite, which involves drawing a rider’s blood, rich in red corpuscles, and then transfusing it back into his body near the end of a race. So far no test can detect the transfusion.
So why do riders cheat? Why is this one sport under a constant cloud of suspicion and innuendo?
Riders would say that professional cycling is an exhausting endurance sport, with six or more hours in the saddle at high speeds every day for three weeks. Temperatures fluctuate from torrid in valleys to chilling atop mountains. The sport takes a lot out of the men who practise it and they rely on medical help, both legal and, in some cases, not. As long ago as the 1960s, when drug tests began in France, riders used to say the Tour wasn’t won on water.
So corners are cut. Dismayingly, court cases show that this goes on at all levels of the sport, starting with clubs for teenage riders up to the professionals.
Some Tour de France teams – notably two from the United States, Columbia and Garmin –have instituted strict anti-doping programmes with frequent medical examinations. Many teams will automatically suspend any rider who fails a drug test, and often fire him. The governing body of the sport, the International Cycling Union, suspends for two years riders who prove positive and has begun a blood profiling programme to detect abnormal swings in hematocrit, or red-corpuscle, levels.
Yet every now and then, eyebrows are raised. A day after the French sports minister spoke at the Tour, the race stage was won by a 34-year-old Russian, Sergeui Ivanov, six times his country’s road-race champion and the winner of the Amstel Gold Race one-day classic this spring.
Also on his record, according to the French sports newspaper L’Equipe, was this: in the 1998 Tour, he and the rest of his TVM team quit the race to avoid a police investigation of doping. In 2000, he was barred from starting the Tour because his hematocrit level was too high. In 2007, he and the rest of his Astana team were forced to withdraw from the Tour because the leader was found guilty of blood doping.
Some really bad memories, L’Equipe added, without further comment. And none was needed.

Samuel Abt
Samuel Abt has covered cycle racing for more than 30 years and is the author of 10 books on the sport

Over 1,000 doping tests poised at World Athletics Championships

2009-07-26T12:36:00.000+02:00

BERLIN, July 24 (Xinhua)Over 1,000 doping tests will be carried out on athletes before and during the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, the president of the German Athletics Federation (DLV) has confirmed.
"We are conducting the fight against doping, including at the world championships, with an intensity that touches the limits of what is possible for the sport," Clemens Prokop sais in Berlin.

The worlds is to take place on August 15-23.

Italian newspaper names Jamaican dopers

2009-07-26T12:30:00.002+02:00

An Italian newspaper has named the five Jamaican athletes, among them a promising young training partner of three-time world record holder Usain Bolt, who failed recent doping tests, calling into question their eligibility for the upcoming World Championships. Gazzetta dello Sport reported this morning that athletes involved are Yohan Blake, the 19-year-old training partner of Bolt, 200m runner Marvin Anderson, Commonwealth Games 100m champion Sheri-Ann Brooks, and 400m runners Allodin Fothergill and Lanceford Spence. Of the names on that list, the first three are the most prominent. In his last two races, Blake has finished second to Bolt in the 100m, at both the Aviva London Grand Prix on Friday and at the Areva Golden League Meeting in Paris on July 17. Blake’s time of 9.93 seconds in Paris, a personal best, ranks as the fifth fastest in the world this season.
Blake, along with Anderson, figure prominently in Jamaica’s 4x100m relay pool. Led by Bolt and Asafa Powell, Jamaica won gold at the Beijing Olympics last summer in a world-record 37.10 seconds. Brooks was a member of the Jamaican women’s 4x100m squad in Beijing. All five athletes were selected to Jamaica’s team for the World Championships in Berlin August 15-23. On Friday, the Jamaican Amateur Athletics Federation, the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission, and the International Amateur Athletics Federation all confirmed the positive tests but stated that it was too early in the process to reveal the names of the athletes under suspicion or the substances involved. According to the Jamaica Gleaner, a release sent by Oliver Watt, the Director of Communications in the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture, states that of the 43 tests taken at the Jamaican National Championships last month, five revealed “adverse analytical findings.”
While declining to name the substance that resulted in the positive tests, Dr. Herb Elliott, a member of both the IAAF’s Medical and Anti-Doping Commission as well as JADCO, told the Jamaica Gleaner. “I can assure you it wasn’t any major stuff.”
A Reuters source seemed to confirm that notion.
"It's frightening, but all five tested positive for the same drug, although the five trained almost under different circumstances," the official said. "I can tell you that none of the world stars are involved. The drug itself is not an anabolic steroid and is considered a minor drug, meaning that with a good explanation at a hearing, the athlete could get off with a reprimand."
Elliott added that when all of the athletes were officially informed of the test results, a hearing would be held and a request made for the B sample to be tested. That hearing could come as soon as this week. According to JAAA regulations, no sanctions can be levied against the athletes until after that hearing and the possible testing of the B sample.
While often criticized for being slack, Jamaica’s anti-doping stance has been one of zero tolerance. Last July, sprinter Julien Dunkley was dropped from Jamaica's Olympic team and banned for two years after his urine sample turned up with traces of the banned substance Boldenone. Dunkley, who maintains his innocence, would have been part of the gold-medal-winning 4x100m relay squad.
Glen Mills, who coaches Bolt, Blake and Anderson at the Racers Track Club, told The Guardian of London earlier this year that Jamaicans are proud of their track and field reputation and do not take blights lightly.
"Jamaica does not have a drug culture,” Mills said. “We have never had an athlete who has had his entire athletic life in Jamaica have any kind of drug problem. That's just not us. We take our athletics very seriously. The nation at large would be very hurt, and very hard on anybody who would bring their fun into disrepute and the athletes know that. Here we hate cheats.
"Who wants to think what they want will. We can't stop them from saying but we're willing to be tested every day and every minute of the day because we are just training and we've got nothing to hide. You only worry when you've got something to hide."
After winning the 100m at the Aviva London Grand Prix on Friday, Bolt told the BBC that he was saddened by the positive tests but said, "I'm sure it's not me so I'm not really worried."
Powell, who finished sixth in that race, shared the same sentiment.
"It's their bad luck, it's not for me to worry about, and it doesn't affect me one bit,” Powell told reporters. “People might be saying bad stuff now but it doesn't really bother me."

Sat Jul 25, 2009 By Joe Battaglia / Universal Sports

Dame Kelly Holmes: medals for all culture risks generation of bad losers

2009-07-23T07:12:00.003+02:00

Dame Kelly Holmes has criticised the "medals for all" culture in British schools and said it risks spawning a generation of bad losers.
The double Olympic champion said a culture of political correctness had made "competitiveness" a dirty word and had led to the decline of competitive sport in schools.
The 39-year-old former middle distance athlete, who won two gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics, said: "Too often, in these politically sensitive times, it seems that competitiveness is seen as a dirty word.
"I was surprised by how many schools I came across where sports day had been abandoned. It's very important to learn how to lose.
"What you should do is pick yourself up, dust yourself down and start all over again. If everyone gets a prize, where on earth is the incentive to push yourself to do better next time?"
She was speaking a year after the Prime Minister said Labour had made a "tragic mistake" by allowing dozens of councils to scrap competitive sports in schools amid claims children on losing teams could end up psychologically damaged.
After the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Government promised to end the "medals for all" culture which had led to the demise of competitive sport.
But Dame Kelly said established policies continue to allow health and safety concerns to come first – dismissing the positive effects of sporting competition.
The retired British record-breaking athlete, who was awarded an honorary degree from Brunel University this week, called for competitive sport to play a much larger part in the school curriculum.
She told Heat magazine: "Competitive sport can increase a child's confidence, develop their social skills and get them fit into the bargain."
Fixtures between schools dropped 70 per cent in the early 1990s following a steady decade-long decline, according to figures from the Secondary Heads Association. But in 2007, Government figures showed numbers were still falling.

The full interview with Dame Kelly appears in this week's Heat magazine.
By Ben Leach
Published: 10:51AM BST 22 Jul 2009

Så knäcktes Dopingen!

2009-07-20T08:23:00.002+02:00

Marcus Ljungqvist om varför cykelsporten är ren ”Jakten på fuskarna har blivit en industri” - I år bestämde sig cykelsporten för att det fick vara nog. Dopningfuskarna skulle bort – till varje pris.
Den hänsynslösa jakten har gett resultat, hittills under Giro d’Italia och Tour de France har bara ett enda dopningsfall hittats.
– Rom byggdes inte på en dag, och det är väl tyvärr likadant för anti-dopningsarbetet. Men vi är på rätt väg, säger svenska proffset Marcus Ljungqvist, 34.
I fjol fälldes sju cyklister för dopning under och efter Tour de France, inklusive tre etappvinnare och sammanlagda trean, Bernhard Kohl. Två stall lades ner efter de fällande domarna. En svår smäll för cykelsporten, som redan låg på knä efter alla dopningavslöjanden de senaste åren. Men samtidigt ett steg framåt för dopningsjägarna. Så gott som samtliga cyklister fälldes för att ha använt CERA, en ny form av bloddopning som cyklisterna inte trodde kunde hittas. I år har jakten intensifierats ytterligare. Samtliga ryttare fick i lördags, när touren inleddes, lämna två blodprov. Under de 21 etapperna kommer 500 tester att göras, mer än dubbelt så många som i fjol. Både toppåkare och såna som tidigare har dragit till sig dopningpolisens misstankar kommer att testas. Dessutom har det biologiska passet nu börjat komma igång på allvar. 800 åkare har lämnat både blod- och urinprov som senare tester kan jämföras med.
– Jakten har blivit en industri. Samarbetet mellan de olika myndigheterna har också blivit bättre, säger Marcus Ljungqvist.
Ingen ska känna sig säker I fjol brast samarbetet mellan det internationella cykelförbundet och den franska anti-dopning polisen. Men under vintern reddes de interna striderna ut, och parterna gör nu allt för att sätta fast fuskarna – ingen som har dopat sig ska känna sig säker.
Ljungqvist har en idé om hur dopningsarbetet hade kunnat underlättas ytterligare.
– Det bästa hade ju varit om alla läkemedel som hamnar på dopningslistan hade fått ett spårämne tillsatt, så att det lätt skulle kunna gå att se om någon dopat sig. Det görs fler tester i dag, men samtidigt dyker det ju upp nya preparat hela tiden. Med spårmedel så hade det problemet varit borta. Men det är klart, alla förstår ju att det är en miljonindustri för läkemedelsföretagen. De har tjänat stora pengar på att idrottarna proppar i sig dopningspreparat, säger han.
Cykel är den sport som drabbats hårdast av fusk, men är också den idrott som jobbat mest mot det. Ändå har sportens status smutsats ner av alla positiva test och det är inte alla som vill prata om det.
När Sportbladet ringer upp Eurosports populäre cykelkommentator Roberto Vacchi suckar han bara.
– Jag vill inte prata om dopning, det har inte varit ett positivt fall inom cykelsporten på jag vet inte hur länge.
Men det är just det artikeln ska handla om?
– Äh, skriv om någon skidåkare eller friidrottare i stället. Jag orkar inte snacka.
Marcus Ljungqvist är mer pratglad.
– Cykel har fått en stämpel som en sport full av fuskare. Nu är vi på rätt väg, men det är upp till oss att göra resultat och samtidigt hålla oss rena.

Aftonbladet Sport
Publicerad: 2009-07-19
Henrik Lundgren

More Asian teens 'using steroids'

2009-07-20T08:08:00.001+02:00

A growing number of young Asians are using steroids to try and build up muscle and achieve the perfect body, according to drugs workers.
John Bolloten, a needle exchange co-ordinator in Bradford, said the number of Asians using his centre has jumped from about 5% to between 25% and 30%.
While only a small number traditionally used street drugs, they were now "primarily using steroids", he said.
Most anabolic steroids are classified as class C drugs.
The drug increases testosterone levels in the body, which then helps muscles absorb protein and boosts their growth.
Mr Bolloten told the BBC Asian Network steroid users visiting the needle exchange in Bradford were also getting younger.
"It worries us because the people who are coming forward to use needle exchanges are becoming younger, so we seeing people at their late teens to mid 20s - they are forming a big percentage."
Needle exchange centres in Luton have also reported a significant increase in Asian men using their services. They said 84% of Asians visiting them take steroids.
'Look the part'
Abu, 26, from Bradford, said he has a high-protein diet, works out every day and has been using steroids for eight years.
"It's that image, everyone wants to look good, look the part, I always wanted to look good, have the six pack, the biceps and big calves."
He describes himself as a skinny, average teenager who wanted to beef up after seeing his brothers use steroids.
But he recognises there can be some unwelcome side-effects.
"Some of my friends who take them have flipped out and done crazy stuff. It plays with your sex drive, without a doubt, it does worry me, you always think the worst, what if I can't have kids?"
“ I think if I stopped I wouldn't feel as good or great about myself ”
People who use anabolic steroids usually either inject a cocktail of hormone growth substances into their body or take them orally as pills.
Steroids are not illegal to possess but it is illegal to sell them. They can have dangerous side effects and cause aggression, mood swings, baldness, infertility and in some cases heart attacks.
Charities like Bridge, a drug treatment charity in Bradford, say most people buy them online, from their personal trainers or friends who have imported them from places like Pakistan.
'Easy fix'
Barry Langleyman, a specialist harm reduction worker at the charity, said there is too much pressure on teenagers to look good.
"They see it as an easy fix, and they won't have to put as much effort into their training. It does increase their performance in the gyms - they can lift bigger weights, their stamina increases and endurance.
"They do work, that's what we are up against - we can't argue, we have to accept they do work."
He said he is worried about the ignorance surrounding steroid use.
"They don't see it as drug use they see it as a supplement to training regime. They will often go into a shop thinking you can buy them over the counter."
Part of the problem is often when people come through the door, they have already started a course, he said.
"The practice around here is people who sell it will give them the first few injections. By the time they come to us, they've spent their money, so to try and pull them back from that is very, very difficult."
But not everyone wants to be helped.
"I think if I stopped I wouldn't feel as good or great about myself. A lot of girls come to you and look at your biceps - it can be quite flattering at times," said Abu.
"If I don't train I get depressed, I don't feel as good. When I train I feel happy."

By Gurvinder Aujla
BBC Asian Network
Story from BBC NEWS

Poll- kids dont look up to cheating athletes!

2009-07-17T18:48:00.002+02:00

Kids are more grown-up than you think.
A poll of more than 1,000 children conducted by Sports Illustrated Kids and C&R Research found that 30% of the 8- to 14-year-olds surveyed believe the use of performance-enhancing drugs is the biggest problem in professional sports. Eighty-six percent say athletes proven to have used PEDs should be barred from their sports’ Hall of Fame. An even more encouraging sign of young America’s intelligence: The study found that 78% of kids say a parent is their most important role model, while only 3% said their most important role model is an athlete.

July 16, 2009

'I know that some people think I'm on drugs. I know how the sport is'

2009-07-13T07:46:00.003+02:00

Wiggins flying, but drugs not on menu
Saint Girons, France - Olympic pursuit king Bradley Wiggins has moved to end doubts surrounding his superb form on the Tour de France by insisting his performances are not drugs-related.
Wiggins started and finished the eighth stage of the race Saturday in fifth place overall at 46secs behind overnight race leader Rinaldo Nocentini, who is being trailed by both Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong.
As part of a team aiming to put Christian Vande Velde into race contention after his fifth place finish last year, Wiggins has so far stolen most of the American's limelight.
'I know that some people think I'm on drugs. I know how the sport is'
A time trial specialist whose background is in track, Wiggins' new status as an emerging all-rounder has prompted some surprise at the Tour.
The Londoner believes a strict diet and a "lot of racing" have helped get him in supreme physical shape, but he insists that he is not using drugs - and that his ability to survive the killer climbs shows the peloton is cleaner as well.
"I know that some people think I'm on drugs. I know how the sport is," said Wiggins, who won two pursuit gold medals in Beijing last year.
"The sport changed so much in the past three years. I was inspired by Christian's performance last year and maybe I realised that on this Tour you don't have to be on drugs to do well."
Wiggins' Garmin team claims to base much of its philosophy on ethics; in layman's terms 'they don't do drugs'.
'I can never get away from that tag unfortunately.'
Wiggins' improving climbing form emerged most notably on the difficult mountain stage to Alpe di Siusi on the Giro d'Italia last month.
Despite finishing 1:47 behind stage winner Denis Menchov, Wiggins finished over a minute ahead of seven-time Tour de France champion Armstrong.
And in the lead-up to the Tour, he had a simple philosophy.
"I've just ridden my bike. Ride my bike, eat less. It's quite simple really," he said Saturday.
Now two kilos lighter than he was at the Giro, Wiggins aims to maintain that form until the crucial third week so that Vande Velde, who crashed out of the Giro injured, can race himself into yellow jersey contention.
"I just want to keep helping Christian and be out there as long as possible. The Alps are going to be more important so I'm trying not to get too carried away with anything," he added.
"My personal objective before the Tour was to finish in top 20, but we'll see how it goes.
"I'm just going to keep plugging away, taking it day by day. I'd like to get through the Pyrenees in the same condition, then get through the second week - I've got two arms and two legs like everyone else - and we'll see how it goes in the third week.
"I believe I'm in good physical condition to do something in this Tour."
Asked again when he had found his climbing legs, he added: "I never found them really, I've always had them. I just stopped track (cycling) and lost weight. The rest is science.
"I'm two kilos lighter than I was at the Giro, so I'm kind of putting out the same power."
Although Wiggins, who is now an OBE (Order of the British Empire), is likely to resume track racing ahead of the London Games in 2012, his reputation as just a track rider continues to precede him.
"I can never get away from that tag unfortunately. I don't know what the fascination is with the track, everyone keeps asking - it's still an endurance sport," he added.
"It's easier for me to just say I'm a trackie, then everyone goes, 'yeah he's a trackie, but he's doing great at the Tour'." - Sapa-AFP

By Justin Davis
Photo: Ren Idrott

New steriod test based on oil exploration technique.

2009-07-13T07:43:00.001+02:00

Researchers at the University of Nottingham have developed a new, highly sensitive, anti-doping steroid test using hydropyrolysis. It’s a technique that has previously been used for oil exploration. The technique is also used to refine current radio carbon dating processes using carbon 14 isotope.
The process uses high pressure environments to investigate the chemical structure and make-up of a sample. It is refined at the University to develop highly accurate tests for detecting levels of illicit steroids in urine.

From Medical News Today:

Funding from the Natural Environment Research Council’s Ocean Margins LINK programme saw researchers take the hydropyrolysis technique and apply it to geochemical studies.
Colin Snape, Professor of Chemical Technology and Chemical Engineering at the University, said: “Steroids are produced naturally in the body, but they have a different carbon 13/carbon 12 ratios to those that have been introduced illicitly. By refining the measurements of these two isotopes we can produce a very accurate test for the presence of illegal steroids in athletes.
“We are currently working with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to develop the technique for trial and have entered into partnership with Strata Technology, a London-based company with expertise in high pressure equipment, to commercialize the technique.”
Professor Snape is an expert on hydropyrolysis - he’s been working on the technique, both in industry and academia, for the past 25 years. Over the coming year he hopes to refine the testing process, exploring optimum sample sizes and checking the sensitivity of the technique, working with WADA and experts in steroid testing from Imperial College London.

Dwain Chambers finds ally in battle to compete at 2012 Olympics

2009-07-10T11:08:00.002+02:00

The World Anti-Doping Agency has reopened the debate about Dwain Chambers' eligibility for the London Olympics.
It expressed concern at his treatment and called on the British authorities to let him "go about his daily business untainted".
Chambers, who will be competing this weekend in the World Championship trials in Birmingham, has served a mandatory two-year ban for doping offences, yet was still prevented from representing Britain at last year's Olympics.
A British Olympic Association bylaw gives a lifetime ban to anyone convicted of a doping offence. Christine Ohuruogu successfully appealed after missing three drugs tests and went on to win a gold medal in Beijing.
UK Athletics selected Chambers for the individual events at the recent European Cup but he has been excluded from the main European meetings and has already been told that he will not be considered for the 100 metres relay at the World Championships in Berlin.
"I don't know why he is being singled out," said David Howman, the director general of WADA. "It does not feel right when you see he is still subjected to things that maybe others haven't. Is he subjected to those because he owned up? Sure he was a bad cheat. You shouldn't wear a nasty stain [because you owned up]. That's not fair.
"We are concerned from a human point of view. He has been sanctioned and he has served his sanction and he should be able to go about his daily business untainted. That is normal human behaviour for someone who has served their time.
"Fairness prevails and once you have served your time you are not subject to double jeopardy. That is a basic human, let alone legal, process. It [an admission] is significant because if an athlete has cheated and is prepared to say what is going on, then we should be listening."
Chambers failed to gain an injunction that would have allowed him to compete at Beijing. Howman, who was a practising barrister before working for WADA, said that the BOA's stance differed from doping law in the vast majority of other countries and said the bylaw needed to be legally tested.
"The BOA have a rule that I think only one other Olympic association has in the world," Howman told The Daily Telegraph. "He was challenging it and only reached an interim stage. I would have been very interested if that challenge was continued in court to see what the judge would have said. The interim judgment had nothing to do with the merits of the case, it was only whether he should have an interim injunction or not.
"The principles around that have nothing to do with it, so the case is yet to be heard. There needs to be a court decision on that rule."
Cyclist David Millar is also considering a challenge to the BOA bylaw so that he can compete in London in 2012. Millar has admitted to doping offences, served his ban and since worked with anti-doping organisations in an attempt to educate other athletes. He will decide what action he might take after the Tour de France

By Jeremy Wilson
Published: 5:26PM BST 09 Jul 2009

Jag fångade Lance...

2009-07-07T15:44:00.006+02:00

...två gånger! Hiken upp till Le Turpien var het och intensiv. Vi hade startat tidigt men redan under förmiddagens tidiga timmar stod solen hög. Vatten. I byn Ese fann vi ett quaint litet café, typ "hole in the wall" med underbart franskt kaffe och kicken var perfekt för att åter vara på topp inför den ankommande caravanen. Så kom den. Som barn hoppade vi och fångade. Hattar, väskor, nyckelringar och minikorvar - allt fylldes i den åtråvärda Confidis bagen vi minuter innan lyckats få. Skratt. Timmar av förväntan. Så hördes de. Först som avlägset muller för att sakta komma närmare och snart hördes de välkända "fläbbet" av de ankommande helikopterna. Närmare. Jag hade den perfekta positionen. Precis ur vänsterkurvan, lite rakt, för att sedan ta en snäv höger och ned för rakan. Alé! I ett muller av ekrar och hjul i 55km/h formligen flög dom. Killen med 9 bild a sec kameran såg förnöjd ut. Mitt finger i kramp. "Fick du han?!!" - Yeah, sure. Absolut! Vart!?". Well... Inom loppet av sekunder var uplevelse Tour de France Etapp 2 över och sakta började vi gå nerför. "Men, Jag är helt säker!"... Sure Mia, sure. Följande picknic med goda vänner och vin förgyllde eftermiddagen och trot om ni vill. Dagarna efter när allt laddats ner. Där var han! Mitt i klungan! och jag, ja lovordar kamera features som digital och förstoring!

"En katastrof för ridsporten"

2009-06-24T22:17:00.002+02:00

Ännu en dopningsskandal skakar tysk ridsport. Isabell Werth, dressyrryttare med fem OS-guld, har stängts av sedan hennes häst Whisper testat positivt vid tävlingar i Wiesbaden. "Det här är en katastrof för ridsporten" konstaterar tyska förbundets ordförande, greve Breido zu Rantzau, på det egna förbundets hemsida.
Greven är en hårt prövad man. Tyskland är världens ledande hästsportnation men har fått sitt anseende skamfilat rejält den senaste tiden.
Det har funnits flera dopningsanklagelser efter OS i Peking/Hongkong och förbundet har upplöst sina landslag i OS-grenarna hoppning, dressyr och fälttävlan i hopp om att kunna rensa ut och göra nystart.
Ridsportikonen Ludger Beerbaum stängdes av och utländska experter kallades in för att rensa upp. Då kom beskedet om Werths test i Wiesbaden.
Hon är nu avstängd tills vidare i avvaktan på att även B-provet för hingsten Whisper ska analyseras. Det som hittades i A-provet var Fluphenazine vilket för människor används som dämpande medel vid psykiska problem. Det står också på förbjudna listan för hästar. FEI ska höra fakta i ärendet den 25 juni, för att bland annat diskutera om Werths avstängning ska hävas eller ej.
Werth har förutom fem OS-guld också tre OS-silver.

Publicerat i dag. 15:29
TT

RI Note: Ren Idrott har idag två ambassadörer inom Ridsporten. Malin Bayard samy Malin Hamilton. Dessa utgör två utmärkta förebilder för alla de ungdomar som är engagerade inom ridspoten. Båda tar stark avstånd till fusket.

Why Don't the French Triumph in Their Tour?

2009-06-24T07:49:00.005+02:00

Here’s another certainty besides death and taxes: No Frenchman will win the Tour de France this year or come even close.Or so says the latest skeptic, the French sports daily l’Équipe, which admitted last week that “except in special circumstances, which perhaps they have the capacity to exploit, no French riders right now can imagine being high in the overall rankings” when the Tour finishes in Paris on July 26. Coming from l’Équipe, this is strong stuff. The newspaper’s circulation, usually about 350,000, can zoom by at least a third if a Frenchman appears to be challenging for the yellow jersey. Additionally, the paper is owned by the same people, the Amaury Sport Organization, that owns the Tour, so naysayers are not common in its pages. But l’Équipe’s reporters are both honest and realistic. Casting a general look at some of the 30-plus Frenchmen who will be part of the 180-man pack when the Tour starts July 4 in Monaco, the paper found only a few capable of winning at best a daily stage. It nominated only a single rider who might win one of the race’s four competitive jerseys, that for the top climber.
Even more dubious is Bernard Hinault, the last Frenchman to finish first in the Tour. He did it in 1985, then came in second in 1986, as did Laurent Fignon in 1989.
Since then, no Frenchman has come closer to winning his country’s greatest bicycle race than Richard Virenque — coked to the gills by his own tearful admission in court — who finished second in 1997 and third in 1996. This record infuriates Hinault, now 54 years old and forever outspoken. Quoted this month in the newspaper Le Parisien, the Badger was scathing in his view of French riders.
“There are champions who become like civil servants when they turn pro,” he said. “You have to put a knife to their throats to get any results. The French earn too much money and don’t make enough effort.”
“The French don’t train,” he continued, repeating a criticism by many others. “Nobody taps them in the mouth to get them going. It’s necessary to block their salary and later hand them back the money if they win something.”
He then turned to two theses often used to justify French performance: The Tour is too demanding and the French do not use illegal performance-enhancing drugs, unlike riders from many other countries.
“The Tour is not too hard,” Hinault insisted. “It is necessary to stop complaining. Cycling is a hard profession, but it’s better than going to the factory. If you really want to win, you fight until your last breath.”
As for doping, he added, “The French have taken as much as the others.” Fabien Cancellara, a Swiss, won the Tour of Switzerland on Sunday. Italians win the Giro d’Italia, Spaniards win the Vuelta a España. Riders from Luxembourg, Denmark and Germany win their national races. What is the French problem in the Tour? Partly it is a lack of talent. No French riders are in the top 20 based on performance this year and they consistently fail in major races at home and abroad. Their best young riders are unimpressive. The explanation that the French race clean was dismantled in the big Cofidis scandal of 2004, which involved extensive doping by the French team. A major part of the explanation seems to be attitude. The French shrug off their mediocrity and tend to set their goals low. In the judgment of many critics, they rarely respond to challenges.
Just before the Dauphiné Libéré weeklong race this month, the Cofidis sponsor unexpectedly announced that it would continue to fund the team next year rather than withdraw as planned. Reprieved, the team yawned. The riders had just spent a hard week training for the Tour, explained their manager, Eric Boyer, and so “don’t expect too much from them” in the Dauphiné. In that major French race, the highest Cofidis rider, David Moncoutié, won a mountain stage but ended a humble 11th and his next-closest teammate was 28th. In 2002, Sandy Casar, then 23, finished second in Paris-Nice and was acclaimed as a coming French star. After a few lackluster years, he was reacclaimed when he finished sixth in the 2006 Giro d’Italia.
His overall record shows five victories, one in a stage of the 2007 Tour and one in the minor Route du Sud. Last year, he was the top Frenchman in the Tour, clocking in at 14th place. The public is paying attention. In a poll by l’Équipe of fans last weekend, only two cyclists figured among the top 40 favorite athletes.

By SAMUEL ABT Photo: Bernard Hinault

RI Note: Årets Tour de France startar lördagen den 4 juli i MC. Hörde precis att Armstrong börjar finna formen efter en strålande seger i Nevada City Classic. Detta var första gången på 19 år som han körde tävlingen. Samt att president Sarkozy själv utmanat Lance då det är på tiden att en fransman vinner. Enligt källor "har Armstrong, inte en chans!" Ja, vi får väl se. Det finns nog ett antal grabbar och stall som har den vinsten in tankarna!

Lasse Anrell i Morgonzoo dissar - och jag, ja håller med!

2009-06-22T09:51:00.006+02:00

Plötsligt fångade han mitt intresse. Rösten lät bekant, och då han i egenskap av sitt outtömliga ordförråd började ge sin mening i detta med marknadsföring och pengar i sportrelaterade sammanhang, hörde jag att Rix FM morgonens gäst var, Lasse Anrell och frågan hissad eller dissad var just - varför ett stort bolag som Volvo i dessa ekonomiska finanskriser sponsrar en världsomfattande segeltävling med x-antal miljoner kronor - tyckte precis att han sa 600 - kan det stämma? och kan verkligen siffran "700 000 åskådare på plats" vara rätt?. Enorma pengar pumpas dagligen ut från, ibland, outtömliga marknadsföringskonton och vi som betraktare och debatterare förbluffas. Är det verkligen värt det och kommer jag som konsument att köpa just den produkten, associerat med just det varumärket för att det syns? Kanske. Läste för ett tag sen en intressant artikel med Lance Armstrong, ni vet, han den sjufaldige vinnaren av Tour de France, som iår vid 38-års ålder gör comback och driver sitt "företag" "Planet Armstrong - Live strong"! Där ,målet är att samla in pengar till cancerforskning. Det finns ett syfte. För, menar Armstrong, att han annars satt där med ett visst varumärke på skjortärm eller keps egentligen bara skapar ett motstånd och en undran till hur mycket han egentligen blivit betalad till att ha det på sig. Jag förstår hans point. Iår har RI drivit mycket gällande CSR - Corporate Social Resposibility där bla Skandias Sponsringschef utalade sig om sitt engagemang: "Ett starkt varumärke med en CSR-profil kan vara något som gör skillnad när privatpersoner eller företag ska göra sina val". Jag håller med om det. Nog för att segling kan vara sommarfräscht och en underbar sport, men påverkar det mig och mina val? Nej, inte mycket. Fortfarande står mina två toyota väl förankrade på gårdsplanen - inte en volvo så långt ögat når!

Hamilton accepts 8-year ban

2009-06-17T11:12:00.000+02:00

Former Rock Racing rider Tyler Hamilton has accepted an eight-year suspension from sport after a positive doping test earlier this year, his second violation since 2004Hamilton could have faced a lifetime ban due to his 2004 suspension for homologous blood doping, a violation first noted by anti-doping officials at that year’s Olympic Games.
Hamilton tested positive for testosterone or its precursors in February. He later acknowledged the positive test, declined to ask for further confirmation of the result and announced publicly that he had taken DHEA as self-medication for depression.Hamilton’s public admission may have contributed to a lesser penalty, but nevertheless the suspension ensures that he will never again compete at the top levels of the sport.
“In the sport of cycling, eight years' ineligibility for a 38-year old athlete is effectively a lifetime ban, and an assurance that he is penalized for what would have been the remainder of his competitive cycling career,” said U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart.

By Charles Pelkey
Published: Jun. 16, 2009

Chambers could be invited to Paris Golden League

2009-06-17T11:08:00.001+02:00

PARIS, June 16 (Reuters) - British sprinter Dwain Chambers could take part in next month's Paris Golden League meeting despite his doping-tainted past, organisers said on Tuesday.
"I abide by the (International federation) IAAF rules, which allow an athlete coming back from a suspension to race," meeting organiser Laurent Boquillet told French sports daily L'Equipe.
"If, one week before (the meeting), his performances justify an invitation because he is fast, I will invite him. Right now, he is just on a list of probable (participants)."
Chambers, 31, completed a two-year doping ban in 2006 after failing a test for the steroid THG in 2003. He was left out of the Rome and Berlin Golden League meetings.
The Paris Golden League meeting will be held at the Stade de France on July 17. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by John O'Brien)

Reuters, Tuesday June 16 2009

Donati says link exists between doping and coke use

2009-06-13T20:54:00.001+02:00

Italian anti-doping expert Sandro Donati has challenged the notion that there is no direct correlation between recreational cocaine use and the abuse of performance enhancing drugs, saying this week that the two are often linked.
Under the WADA Code, an athlete cannot be punished for testing positive for the substance in out of competition tests. However, Donati indicated at the Play The Game conference in Coventry that he is sceptical about separating the two.
"I don't understand when, every time an athlete is positive for cocaine, that the sporting institutions immediately explain that it is not for performance, it is only for personal use," he said.
"This is an incredible explanation. I was a coach and I know very well the mental balance of the athlete. It is impossible for someone who uses cocaine for his personal life to have a good balance...because the role of the athlete is very complex.
"It means that someone involved in the use of cocaine is not a normal athlete. It means that the using is only a compensation for other using [of drugs]...the cocaine is only the tip of the iceberg."
As justification for his stance, Donati referred to his work as a consultant for a prosecutor in doping cases. "I know very well the connection in using [of both types]," he said, explaining that the substance is used by some in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
It is utilised "mainly to compensate for the slump in mood and aggressiveness during the suspension of anabolic steroids or testosterone," he explained. "There is the consequence of becoming addicted to both categories of substances."
Former Tour de France winner Marco Pantani died of a cocaine overdose in 2004. There have been several high-profile cases of cyclists testing positive for the drug.
While Donati did not name any particular athletes - and therefore didn't make specific accusations of doping against any one individual - it is clear that he would vouch for a rethink of the WADA Code in this area.
He is a former Head of Research for the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and now works as Consultant of the Minister of Social Affairs in Italy.

By Shane Stokes

Fignon suffering from cancer

2009-06-13T20:51:00.000+02:00

Cycling legend Laurent Fignon made public the news that he is suffering from an advanced form of intestinal cancer on Thursday. The Frenchman who won the Tour de France twice, and had the dubious honour of being the rider to finish second to Greg LeMond in the closest Tour in history in 1989, has already begun treatment for the disease .
"I am undergoing chemotherapy already and have been for 15 days," he said in a radio interview with the Europe 1 show "7 à 8". "I did the second session a few days ago. Things are going pretty well, I feel good. Right now, I don’t know more than you. Everything is going well."
"They've detected cancer in my digestive tract, but it's not clear where exactly. It is bad news," said Fignon, 48.
"My cancer is an advanced cancer, and since it has already spread, it is almost certainly involving the pancreas. Therefore I do not know how long I have to live. One cannot say what will happen, but I am optimistic. I'm going to fight, and I will succeed in winning this fight."
Fignon's diagnosis comes on the eve of the release of his book, "Nous étions jeunes et insouciants" (We were young and carefree) in which he reveals the use of performance-enhancing drugs during his career. He admitted to taking amphetamines and cortisone, but said that his cancer was not caused by his past doping.
"I candidly explained (to my doctors) what I had done in my career, and they said it can not be that. It would be too simple."

“That guy has got no conscience”

2009-06-11T07:58:00.002+02:00

“The worst things happen in cycling”Greg Lemond spoke to Play the Game about the “disease that is killing cycling”. Namely, the use of performance-enhancing drugs. In professional cycling, he said, the worst-case doping scenarios often come true
Lemond, who won the Tour de France in 1986, 1989 and 1990, is the sport’s highest-profile doping critic. In recent years, he has had highly publicized fallouts with Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis and the Trek cycle manufacturer over his blunt comments. Currently involved in ongoing litigation with Trek, Lemond admitted that he is “in a battle to keep [his] reputation and businesses”.
Although he enjoys a reputation of cycling’s “Mr Clean”, Lemond admitted that it was partly due to luck that he did not use performance-enhancers during his career. “I was fortunate to get into cycling when I did,” he said. “If I had turned professional in 1993 or 1994, I don’t know what I would have done. This system corrupts everyone - even the good people”
Despite much vaunted reforms designed to catch drug cheats, he said, cycling is still on a “slow death march”. Doping remains commonplace, and as a result, there will soon be little money left in the sport. He called for radical solutions to halt the trend, including the criminalisation of doping for riders, coaches and doctors. Cyclists, he pointed out, are often used as ”lab rats” for doctors, and over a hundred have died from doping and related causes.
Lemond also criticized the International Cycling Union (UCI), which, he said, operated a policy of “punishing honesty and rewarding dishonesty” when it came to dope cheats. He advocated an independent drug testing agency, separate from the UCI, to test riders competing in the Tour de France.
Riders who come clean and admit their drug use should be welcomed back into the fold, he said. Bjarne Riis, the 1996 Tour de France winner who gave back his yellow jersey, is a good illustration of someone who should remain connected to the sport, he added.
However, citing Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton as prime examples, he stated that he had little sympathy for “those who refuse to admit to their guilt, despite mounting evidence”.
“I know the sport, and I doubt that there is anyone who has wrongly tested positive when they are negative” he said. “There could be, but I doubt it. Standards must be really high to ensure that athletes are not wrongly accused”.
Lemond also criticized the high-profile campaigns waged by certain cyclists to clear their names, despite what he saw as overwhelming circumstantial evidence pointing to their guilt.
“When you have enough circumstantial evidence, and enough witnesses, you don’t need a smoking gun”, he said
Unless another major initiative is announced to clean up the sport, Lemond said, he has opted to walk away from professional cycling. “I still enjoy it as recreation, but as regards following it at competition level, I’m done” he said. “I would not like my kids to go into professional cycling today”.
Finally, Lemond was asked if he thought Lance Armstrong would ever admit to taking performance-enhancing drugs.
“No way”. Lemond concluded. “That guy has got no conscience”

09 June 2009 //By: Marcus Hoy
Foto: Greg LeMond i den gula ledartröjan på sista sträckan av Tour de France 1990.

Colom suspended for EPO positive

2009-06-10T08:11:00.002+02:00

Team Katusha's Antonio Colom has been provisionally suspended by the UCI following a positive test for recombinant EPO. The sport's governing body announced Tuesday that Colom returned the positive test following an out-of-competition control on April 2, 209. He was targeted for additional controls using information from his blood profile and his race schedule, the UCI said.
Team director Serge Parsani was surprised at the news. "This is the first I heard of this. If it is on the UCI's website at least they could inform the team," he told Cyclingnews.
Colom is the second rider from the team to test positive. Austrian Christian Pfannberger wasdeclared positive on May 6 this year. The UCI later confirmed that he was found positive for EPO.
Colom is allowed to request the counter-analysis of his B-sample, and his suspension will remain provisional until the Spanish Cycling Federation decides whether he has violated the anti-doping rules.

Cycling News Flash, June 9, 2009
Edited by Laura Weislo

Dwain Chambers' presence would tarnish the Golden League

2009-06-10T08:04:00.001+02:00

The Paris meeting's organiser is ready to break ranks and invite the disgraced sprinter to compete
The Olympic Stadium in Berlin is the unusual opening venue for this season's Golden League at the weekend. Normally acting as the show closer, it has been repositioned as the curtain raiser because the bright blue track will host this summer's world championships.
While most eyes will be focused on the meeting between the athletes inside the arena, others will be keenly trained on another get-together taking place away from the track which threatens to be the headline grabber. The major European meeting promoters are once again being asked to revisit their stated policy of not inviting athletes who have been found guilty of a serious doping violation. Laurent Boquillet, the organiser of the Paris Golden League, due to be held on 17 July, is preparing to break a gentleman's agreement with his fellow promoters by extending an invitation to Dwain Chambers to compete.
Boquillet thinks Chambers, as the current top-ranked European 100m runner, would be sadly missed from his line-up. As disappointing as this stance naturally appears, it lacks even a semblance of truth, in that the Paris meet has traditionally been notoriously difficult for British athletes to gain entry to, and his pro-European leanings are a remarkably recent development. Had Boquillet been equally concerned about Europe's top 400m runner or 5,000m athlete, then his argument may have carried some sway. But the truth of the fact is that he is much more interested in Chambers' notoriety than his rehabilitation, or indeed the sport's long-term interests.
Now, before all of the Dwain brigade get on my case about victimisation, let's get one or two things straight. The policy agreed on by Europe's top meets was never designed as a reaction to, or to be exclusive to, Chambers. High-profile athletes such as Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin, Tim Montgomery and others have taken a lot of money from these meets in recent years with little chance of any of it ever being recouped. The major promoters, quite rightly, decided that they owed nobody a living on their possible return and that they also carried a significant responsibility to try to offer a real financial deterrent to those thinking of using drugs. If it is to have any impact then it is essential that all of the meets uphold policy and don't break ranks just to gain a few more column inches or media minutes.
Of course by writing these words I'm offering Boquillet exactly what he set out to achieve, but I sincerely hope that come the weekend his colleagues ensure this is the last time.
The Paris promoter has said he will travel to Montreuil on Thursday to meet Chambers and in his words get "a better idea of the man". He will find him personable and agreeably contrite but that's not the point. With the help of the World Anti-Doping Agency, and a more aggressive approach from the IAAF, there is a real sense of some ground being gained on the cheats in the past 12 months and as a sport athletics must be seen to be supporting that progress. Whether it be Chambers, Rashid Ramzi or anyone else, it would be a real step backwards if they were able to cash in on their notoriety. It's a sad situation anyway when celebrity culture rewards those who flout the rules by which others try to succeed. The least that Boquillet could do is offer that lane to a young sprinter who is just a couple of hundredths slower than Chambers so far this season. That would be a genuine attempt to incentivise and reward European talent rather than a poorly disguised publicity stunt.
This is supposed to be the last year of the Golden League, which is to be replaced next season by the new Diamond League. The plans announced earlier this year are ambitious and their success will depend primarily on an inordinate amount of unity being displayed by the 12 meetings concerned. There are already rumours that the Diamond League may not get off the ground but they would certainly not be doing their case any good if they allow Paris to break ranks on this important issue.
Just when the sport has a world superstar to promote in the shape of Usain Bolt it should look forward not back. Bolt is scheduled to compete in Paris so why the added distraction?

By Steve Cram
Photographs by Colin Patterson

"In allowing Armstrong to come back to the Tour, will be coming back also the ghosts of the past: doping, scheming, bribery...

2009-06-05T08:01:00.005+02:00

The authors of "LA Confidentiel", a book published in 2004 alleging that Lance Armstrong used performance-enhancing substances, have hit out at the cyclist once again. In their latest book, "Le Sale Tour" ["The dirty Tour" - ed.], Pierre Ballester and David Walsh write about the return to competition of the seven-time Tour de France winner and his apparent ambition to enter US politics.
The former journalist of L'Equipe and his colleague working for The Sunday Times allege that Armstrong's comeback to the sport after three years of absence is not to promote his Livestrong foundation against cancer, but that his real reasons for it are those of a businessman. According to Ballester and Walsh, Armstrong, after unsuccessfully bidding for shares of the company holding the Tour de France, came back to cycling to increase his personal wealth.
"Since last summer, his [non-profit] Livestrong foundation has a lucrative segment," said Ballester. "And when Armstrong receives 200,000 Euro to host a conference, he puts it into his pocket - unlike the leading cancer experts, who will donate the money."
The authors also claim that Armstrong has a political objective: become the governor of Texas in 2014. In the second half of the Book, Walsh and Ballester ask sports politicians about Armstrong's return, with former French sports secretary Jean-François Lamour saying, "This comeback is not a very good sign. It's even a kind of a masquerade."
Moreover, Ballester accused the organisers of the Tour de France, ASO, to privilege their business over the sports aspect at theGrande Boucle. "ASO's new strategy is more turned towards business than the credibility of the sport," said Walsh. "In allowing Armstrong to come back to the Tour, will be coming back also the ghosts of the past: doping, scheming, bribery... They must have weighed pros and cons, more important and less important, and decided in favour of Armstrong's return."

Armstrong's comeback reasons reviewed by Walsh/Ballester
Latest Cycling News, June 4, 2009
Edited by Hedwig Kröner

... Men visste du att RI's ambassadörer testas mest i världen?

2009-06-04T13:54:00.007+02:00

... Det handlar nämligen inte bara om ett ställningstagande. Dopingtesterna är en utmärkt garant för tävlingsarrangörer, managers och sponsorer. Vi på Ren Idrott hyllar fler internationella initiativ för en dopingfri sport! Kolla nedan...

AUGUSTA, GA - Every time she lines up in the starting blocks, you can see a white rubber wristband around Dee Dee Trotter’s right wrist bearing the words, “Test Me, I’m Clean!” in bold black letters.
The wristband represents a message that many of today’s athletes claim to support, but few actually do anything to promote.
The Olympic track and field gold medalist’s non-profit organization, “Test Me, I’m Clean” works to steer young athletes away from steroid use. Trotter and other members of the organization speak to athletes of all ages across the country about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and the benefits of natural performance enhancement. The organization promotes three principles: hard work, honesty and honor.
On Saturday, June 13, Trotter will bring her message to Lucy Laney stadium for the AAU Track and Field District Meet. She will sign autographs and talk to the young athletes participating in the meet from 8 a.m. until noon.
Trotter’s public campaign to keep young athletes from using PEDs is unprecedented. Many athletes are quick to dissociate themselves with steroids, but very few have even thought about keeping other athletes away from them. Trotter put together “Test Me, I’m Clean” in 2006 with $10,000 of her own money. She gives out wristbands and T-shirts to support her cause.
All of this seems even more remarkable when you think about the fact that she probably doesn’t make one-tenth of the amount of money that big time sports stars like Terrell Owens or Alex Rodriguez make.
A lot of today’s superstar athletes will only do enough community service to ensure that they have a good public image, or simply throw a wad of money at a charity in an effort to do as little work as possible. Trotter has single-handedly backed a cause that desperately needed attention from somewhere other than commissioners and court hearings.
For more information on “Test Me, I’m Clean,” visit the Web site at testmeimclean.org. The AAU Track and Field District Meet will be held from June 11-1

BY JASON LIND

Unga tjejer dopar sig i form!

2009-05-26T12:42:00.004+02:00

Inför strandsäsongen ökar aktiviteten på de sajter som saluför olagliga dopingpreparat.
– Många tjejer intresserar sig för efedrin i bantningssyfte. De vill ha den här smala Calvin Klein-kroppen med synliga muskler, säger Cecilia Fant på rikskriminalen.
Polisen och tullens beslag av dopingklassade preparat har ökat. En tydlig trend är att användarna blir allt yngre. Och sedan några år finns en ny grupp missbrukare: unga tjejer som snabbt vill fixa formen.
– Man ser på nätet att intresset bland tjejer ökar. De frågar om vilka medel de ska ta för att snabbt gå ner i vikt. Och jag tror det kommer att öka mer under sommarsäsongen. Dessutom ser man att steroider ökar bland kvinnor i USA och då brukar det bli så här, säger Cecilia Fant på rikskriminalen.
Biverkningarna kommer fort
Även Dopingjouren upplever ett ökat allmänt tryck inför sommaren. I april börjar telefonerna ringa.
– Biverkningarna kommer fort hos kvinnor, de börjar byta kön och far väldigt illa av missbruk av anabola androgena steroider. Redan efter ett par, tre veckor kan biverkningarna komma, säger Ann-Mari Thurelius på Dopingjouren.
Hon säger att det fortfarande är en majoritet män som hör av sig till dem. Men 2004 skedde en tydlig förändring med fler samtal från kvinnor som fått problem av dopingmissbruk.
– Bland tjejerna är det vanligare att ta medel som efedrin och clenbuterol, säger Ann-Mari Thurelius.
Förbjudna i Sverige
Clenbuterol och efedrin klassas som läkemedel och är, liksom anabola androgena steroider (AAS), förbjudna att köpa och sälja i Sverige. Efedrin finns i vissa receptbelagda astma- och hostmediciner och är ett centralstimulerande medel som dämpar känslor av hunger och trötthet. Clenbuterol, som är helt förbjudet sedan 1992fördelar om fettet och spränger in det i musklerna.
Cecilia Fant tror att det är kroppsfixeringen som gör att många inte kan motstå den farliga genvägen.
– Det är ett sånt ideal nu, Calvin Klein-kroppen som är lite större än en friidrottare och med deffade muskler som man kan se. Få kan få det på naturlig väg. Och då finns det de som vill ta genvägar, säger Cecilia Fant.
Två grupper av missbrukare
Enligt henne finns det två huvudgrupper av dopingmissbrukare. I den ena gruppen finns personer som ofta är kända av polisen sedan tidigare, ofta för narkotikabrott. Den andra gruppen är ofta yngre personer som tidigare inte begått brott. Många av dem tränar och äter rätt – men kan inte motstå genvägen till den perfekta kroppen och fastnar i en spiral av droger.
– De tar efedrin som bantningmedel, steroider för att få snygga muskler och viagra för att de får problem med potensen. För så är det med steroider, efter ett tag får man ofta problem med lusten, säger Cecilia Fant.
Förutom alla fysiska biverkningar drabbas många som dopar sig av svåra psykiska problem. De blir avtrubbade, ofta med misshandel och våldsbrott som följd.
– För mig är det klart att det finns ett samband mellan steroider och våldsbrott.
Köper på nätet
Dopingpreparaten köps och säljs på nätet. Ofta står servern utomlands och den illegala handeln är svår att komma åt. På olika forum utbyts tips om vilka preparat man ska välja.
– Jag tycker personligen att dopingbrott är lika allvarligt som narkotikabrott. Så jag hoppas att lagen ska ändrat så att maxstraffet blir åtta års fängelse, precis som det är för narkotikabrott, säger Cecilia Fant.

Publicerad: 2009-05-25 Aftonbladet/Vendela --Helena Utter
Foto: Calvin Klein-kroppen – ett ideal för många.

One powerful man who does seem to be on top of things

2009-05-25T12:20:00.002+02:00

ATHLETICS: THERE IS nothing worse than meeting a man with a big reputation who fails to live up to it. Especially when that reputation includes being a deluded, stiff-collared bureaucrat who talks only in disconnected gibberish. It’s a terrible reminder that you can’t always believe what you read in the papers.
But even sitting in a plush bar at the Shelbourne Hotel this week, Jacques Rogge appeared far from stiff, and certainly not deluded. Rogge may not be the most powerful man in world sport, but he can’t be far off. As president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), he’s effectively in charge of the biggest sporting event on the planet, even if that comes round only every four years.
Rogge took charge in July 2001, succeeding Juan Antonio Samaranch – a man with a big reputation of his own. Since then he has, more or less, managed to avoid any of the Olympic controversies that crippled his predecessors, with the exception of those semi-staged protests that ambushed the run-up to Beijing. But then Usain Bolt went and ran 9.69 seconds for the 100 metres – dancing, hysterical, oblivious – and Rogge walked himself right into controversy.
“That’s not the way we perceive being a champion,” he said of Bolt’s celebratory antics. “I think he should show more respect for his competitors.”Ouch – and every sportswriter went to town, labelling Rogge as being so aloof and so far out of touch with the sport that he must be still basing his Olympic ideals on Chariots of Fire, complete with some draconian code of ethics.
Bolt’s showmanship in Beijing wasn’t just what athletics wanted: it was what it needed. The sport, particularly sprinting, was on life support after the damning impact of Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin, Dwain Chambers and company – not that we ever believed in them – and if no one in Beijing had come to the rescue they may as well have called in the local priest.
What Bolt did for athletics in Beijing was like what The Beatles did for music in the 1960s. He didn’t break any rules, because he didn’t see any rules to be broken. He was just being himself, even if that meant clowning around before the start of the 100 metres, winning the thing easing up, before single-handedly turning the Bird’s Nest into one giant dance floor.
If there were any lingering doubts about the Jamaican’s superstar status then he answered them in Manchester last Sunday. Two weeks and four days after he flipped his BMW M3 on the main highway into Kingston (where, with trademark coolness, his only injury resulted from stepping on thorns while gracefully exiting the wreckage) Bolt showed up for a circus event on Manchester’s main street. They laid down a 150-metre track, and figured Bolt could set the thing alight.
What Bolt did in Manchester last Sunday was the most exciting 15 seconds of athletics this year. Or 14.35 seconds, to be exact, as that was how long it took him to cover the 150 metres, and erase the record of 14.80 which had stood to Italy’s Pietro Mennea since 1983. If you haven’t seen it, definitely look it up on YouTube.
Part of that excitement was anticipating how fast Bolt could run this summer. He declared himself “only 70 per cent fit” arriving in Manchester, yet ran the first 100 metres in 9.90 seconds, while the second 100 metres, from 50 to 150 metres, was clocked in an astonishing 8.72 seconds. You do the math, but when Bolt says he can run 9.4 for the 100 metres this summer then perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised when he does.
Is Rogge actually that far out of touch with sport that he still feels Bolt needs to tone down this attitude? “Of course not,” he told me, with a vaguely roguish appearance of an old Hollywood movie star. Rogge was in Dublin on Wednesday to unveil a bust of another of his predecessors, Lord Killanin, outside the Olympic Council of Ireland office, and not only did he seem in touch with sport, he seemed right on top of it.
“Maybe there was a little bit of a misunderstanding. I was reacting to the fact that he made certain gestures during the race in Beijing (and Rogge lowers his arms) like, you know, ‘catch me if you can’ or something like that.
“What he does before or after the race I have no problem with. I just thought that his gesticulation during the race was maybe a little disrespectful. But I understand as well that he’s a young athlete, and that he will evolve. But I also know Usain disagrees with me, says he wasn’t showing disrespect. That closes the matter for me.
“There is always a great buzz around the 100 metres. It’s visual, it’s explosive. And you need heroes, idols, for any sport to be popular. Just like Brian O’Driscoll in rugby.”
See – he’s even in touch with Irish rugby. Rogge simply says it as he sees it, and, if that sounds a little old-fashioned at times, what harm? He actually opened a debate on drugs, and whether the IOC are winning that war.
“There have been many innuendos, about Bolt, and about Michael Phelps as well. Both have been retested again. And both are totally clean.
“We did find some positive results after retesting of samples from Beijing. It’s another battle we have won. Will we win the war? Of course not. We’re not under any illusions here. We live in the real world. We don’t live in a utopia.
“Doping is to sport what criminality is to society. Criminality will never disappear, and nor will doping. We will always need police, judges and so forth, to reduce criminality to the lowest possible level, and our duty is to reduce doping to the lowest possible level. And I think we are making inroads into doing that.”
Rogge was also realistic enough to admit we can never be sure of the authenticity of those who make it onto the Olympic podium: “It’s always sad when the legitimate athlete doesn’t get to stand on the podium, have the national anthem played, and all the emotion around that. But talk to the athletes who have got medals because the doping offenders were caught. I have talked to them. They are damn happy that this is happening, because it’s better than being cheated for the rest of your life.”
If, as we agreed, Bolt keeps going the way he’s going all the way to London 2012, then the sport couldn’t be in better hands. Not even a deluded, stiff-collared bureaucrat could deny that.

© 2009 The Irish Times
IAN O'RIORDAN
Sat, May 23, 2009

Scientist vs. scientist: the good guys try to root out the doper’s bad guys

2009-05-20T08:59:00.003+02:00

The European Union’s Anti-Doping Conference in Athens brought together the major players in the realm of the fight against drug cheating in sports, including academics, politicians, scientists and the key stakeholders, including representatives of sports governmental authorities. It was the idea of a Greek Member of the European Parliament, Manolis Mavrommatis. Others at the two-day event in Athens included national anti-doping organisations of EU countries, accredited laboratories, athlete trade unions, and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as well as the World Association of Anti-Doping Scientists (WAADS,) which is based in Germany.
The conference was part of the European Commission’s plan to fight doping in sports and followed implementation of the so-called Pierre de Coubertin (founder of the modern Olympic games) Action Plan which is contained in the 2007 White Paper on Sport prepared by Mavrommatis. There were three key workshops where ideas were exchanged, sometimes with a sharp degree of debate, as WADA wants unannounced tests of athletes, which many EU countries are fighting because they said it violates the athlete’s right to privacy, putting anti-doping agencies at odds with governments trying to protect their athletes.
The workshop included one on data protection, which pitted those forces against each other, cooperation between anti-doping groups and pharmaceutical companies, and a laboratory workshop. Foremost in the fight are the scientists of WAADS who find themselves trying to stay one step ahead of drug cheats and athletes who use rogue scientists to devise undetectable drugs. WAADS President Costas Georgakopoulos stopped to talk to NEtv’s Andy Dabilis about his group’s role in the fight.
Greece is especially attuned to the problem of doping in Athletics, having seen even gold medalistsbeing stripped. Do you feel the fight is being won or lost, because people become more sophisticated in the desire to cheat?
This is true, because technology is improving and that means classical doping agents are more easily detected now. And this makes, creates the need for cheaters to move for the more sophisticated drugs like new drugs, illegal drugs that are synthesised in an illegal laboratories and from the laboratory bench directly go to the athlete’s body. And this creates new needs to the laboratory in order to have more wide detection methods that mean not to detect only the known substances but at least have some information that in the samples are included substances that are not detected.
You mentioned synthetic; is the problem that because people able to devise artificial drugs? Is it more difficult than finding naturally-occuring substances?
Both are important problems because a substance effected in the body, can be changed in lot of sides in the molecule in order to become either more effective or just to become different from an equally effective molecule that’s known and the target of this change, the last change is only that the substance becomes undetected because it becomes unknown to the laboratory. So it’s kind of a cat-mouse game. You detect, they find a new drug, you detect, they find a new drug… Unfortunately, we are in this circle now. And the other point that you raised is also that important that the athletes know that when they are taking exogenously endogenous substances than the laboratories sometimes are in front of difficulty to detect if this high level of endogenous substances coming from exogenous application or they’re naturally endogenous for this particular athlete. That’s why, WAADS and important media-sensitive international federations like the Cycling Federation have, are now in the procedure of introducing the … passport, which is a new tool and new, let’s say technology.
Other undetectable drugs, is it just a matter of time until you find them?
Yes, should be, should exist undetectable drugs…
There are undetectable drugs?
Yes, should exist, of course… undetectable, you mean when the test is performed?
No, are the drugs undetectable, so that there are indeed the athletes who will be using drugs, who will never be caught and will have tainted medals, or tainted achievements?
You know that, undetectable practice that is like the … blood transfusion, blood transfusion that is based on the blood of the athletes itself. So, this unfortunately, this method cannot be directly be detected, but indirectly through the athlete’s passport can be detected. So, this is one point that in future the anti-doping system should invest time and effort and funds and the infrastructure in order to create individual profiles; starting to detect steroids abuse, starting to detect blood parameters that are connected with undetected blood doping, like … blood transfusion or in the future probably to detect gin doping, which is not reality now, but it’s something that is coming in the next 10 or 15 years.

Interview with: Costas Georgakopoulos, President World Association of Anti-Doping Scientists 18 May 2009 - Issue : 834
Picture:The World Association of Anti-Doping Scientists President Costas Georgakopoulos (L) stopped to talk to NEtv at the first EU Conference on Anti-Doping, in Athens, May 13

Kohl, Rasmussen Allegedly Helped Others Dope

2009-05-18T20:25:00.004+02:00

VIENNA (AP) -- Prosecutors in Austria are investigating whether banned cyclists Bernhard Kohl of Austria and Michael Rasmussen of Denmark helped other athletes with blood doping.
Kohl and Rasmussen allegedly possessed a centrifuge for blood enrichment.
If they lent the equipment to other athletes, they could face criminal charges under Austria's anti-doping laws and prison terms of up to five years.
Police found the centrifuge earlier this year at the house of Kohl's former manager, Stefan Matschiner.
Vienna State prosecution spokesman Gerhard Jarosch said Monday authorities are investigating everyone involved in purchasing the equipment.
Rasmussen and Kohl have each been banned for two years for doping offenses at the Tour de France in 2007 and 2008.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - Filed at 9:23 a.m. ET

Dopingheadlines in short!

2009-05-18T11:16:00.002+02:00

Boonen ready to challenge Tour exclusion in court
The Tour de France doesn't want Tom Boonen, but the Quick Step rider is willing to go to court to force the race to accept him. The team, however, has said that it assumes Boonen would not start in the Tour. Boonen recently tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition control.

Olympic ski champion allegedly used blood doping
Prosecutors in Austria are investigating possible blood doping by 2002 Olympic cross-country ski champion Christian Hoffmann. Austrian Criminal Intelligence Service spokesman Gerald Tatzgern told the Austria Press Agency on Sunday that prosecutors have "reasonable suspicion" that the 34-year-old Hoffmann was involved in illegal blood enrichment. Hoffmann won gold in the 30-kilometer race at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

MORE than 7,500 drug tests were carried out on Britain's top sport stars in the past year, the latest figures have revealed. About 62 per cent of the 7,545 tests were conducted out of competition and there were 32 doping test failures in the year to March, UK Sport said.

EU, WADA to intensify talks on data protection
Officials from the EU and World Anti-Doping Agency promised Friday to intensify talks on privacy disputes, warning that continued disagreement could hurt global cooperation in catching drug cheats.
"We're never going to have full peace. There will always be something that will be discussed. But we don't have a conflict ... whereas two weeks ago I would say that we had conflict," WADA director general David Howman said in an interview

The Clean Sport Initiative is providing a forum to discuss accidental doping in sport at the Nepean Sportsplex in Ottawa, May 26, 2009. As Liliana Begg of the Clean Sport Initiative says, “Honest, hard-working athletes who would never knowingly take a banned substance have ended up testing positive because they took a nutritional supplement that was accidentally contaminated. The fear of this happening to them stalks all athletes who have devoted their lives to their sport and their dreams of becoming world champions.”

Gatlin ready to release beast inside!

2009-05-13T15:27:00.001+02:00

U.S. sprinter Justin Gatlin was once the top sprinter in the world. He was the 2004 Olympic 100m gold medalist and the 2005 world champion in the 100m and 200m. He also tied Asafa Powell’s 9.77 100m world record on May 12, 2006.
Today, Gatlin is living in the Atlanta, Ga. area and works as a speed training specialist while he serves a four-year suspension from competition after testing positive for a testosterone or its precursors on April 22, 2006. He announced earlier this year that he plans to return to competition when his suspension ends July 25, 2010.
Universal Sports Senior Editor Dave Ungrady recently met with Gatlin and his coach Trevor Graham in exclusive and extended interviews and has compiled a series of stories about the runner’s fall from glory. Ungrady reviewed hundreds of pages of hearings transcripts, court documents and police reports and reviewed hours of secretly recorded phone calls. He also interviewed dozens of coaches, agents, athletes, marketing representatives and attorneys.
At the beginning of a dinner amid the cozy surroundings inside an Italian chain restaurant in suburban Atlanta, Ga. in February, in a move that did not surprise his mother, exiled American sprinter Justin Gatlin let down his defenses.
Minutes after Gatlin sat down to start talking about the last two and a half years of his life, a German woman in her early 20s approached as our waitress as we prepared for dinner. We greeted her with “Wie gehts”, which in German means ‘how are you?’ “Ah, gut,” she replied. An exotic, mixed-race beauty reflected her Somalian heritage and accented a pleasant smile. An emboldened Gatlin then commented, “Ich liebe dich,” which means ‘I love you’.
“Ah”, she said with grace and a smile and perplexed about how to further respond.
Gatlin smiled back, seemingly content with his retort. Jeannette Gatlin, Justin’s mother, reacted to the story with maternal bewilderment when told about it a few days later.
“That’s Justin,” she says of her son during a phone interview. “Justin has no defense mechanism. He takes people at face value. I told him in high school, ‘how many times does somebody have to steal your wallet out of the locker room to know that people steal? His answer was, ‘well, I wouldn’t do it. Why should anybody else?’ ”
In the minds of Gatlin and his mother, the sprinter’s lack of defenses helped contribute to his current quandary as a track and field drug offender hoping to revive what was once a utopian career.
During the dinner, Gatlin explained his congenial communication with the waitress. “I’m sociable, I’m approachable. If I meet you, I’m like, ‘hey man, let’s grab a drink’,” says Gatlin, flashing a shy smile. “But ever since all this happened to me, I’ve been kind of reluctant for a lot of reasons to be sociable to strangers. You can’t be cool with everybody. They have their intentions. Ever since [the positive test], I thought, ‘I don’t have a defense mechanism’. I tried so hard for everybody to love me and like me. Look where it got me.”
It’s placed Gatlin from the glorious days of track and field sprint dominance in a new town embarking on fresh and unexpected ventures. It has also created in Gatlin a vengeful drive to return to the sport once his suspension ends in July 2010.
“I always wanted to come back,” he says. “I feel like there’s a beast inside me waiting to come out. I’m ready to run, ready to upset the track world. I want to turn track and field upside down and win races. I’m going to go out there and target every top athlete there is and pick them off one by one. There are a lot of people who don’t want to see me run, don’t want to see me do good.”
Many wonder how Gatlin will recover from his forced running retreat. He steadfastly maintains his innocence from the second offense that led to his current four-year suspension, claiming that the banned substance was placed in his body without his knowledge.
For now, Gatlin lives simply and patiently awaits a return to competition. He resides in a three-bedroom apartment in Duluth, Ga, a northeast Atlanta suburb. He is a business partner with the company Global Sports Performance, concentrating on speed training young athletes in football, baseball, soccer and track and field, and works out of a small facility not far from his apartment.
“I teach kids about biomechanics, drive phase, transition, acceleration, wasted movement,” Gatlin says. “I’ve always had the love for working with kids.”
He hosts a youth track and field meet in Pensacola, Fl., where he grew up. It was at that meet earlier this year when Gatlin announced his intentions to return to competition in 2010. He trains almost daily, including track sessions several times a week.
Gatlin has resumed school, taking online sociology classes and needs to complete 12 credit hours to graduate. Further, his off-the-track interests have evolved. He says he’s been writing a script for a TV pilot that would tell the story of a music mogul’s rise from adversity and he’s wrote a treatment for a reality show about his life outside of track and field.
Curiosities surround Gatlin’s positive test. Before 2006, Gatlin was promoted as a visible spokesperson for winning with integrity, which included speaking out against doping and taking responsibility for his actions.
Not knowing about the source of the steroid shows an uncharacteristic lack of awareness by Gatlin, who practiced meticulous methods to ensure no illegal substances entered his body.
“From 2003 I’ve taken the same supplements from the same vitamin shop,” he says. “Nothing was air mailed to me, nothing was packaged. Nothing was dropped to my door. I got all that stuff myself. “
Jeff Hartwig, a two-time U.S. Olympic pole-vaulter who retired from competition last year at age 41, is a staunch supporter of strict anti-doping rules and has served on USA Track and Field athlete’s advisory committee. His reaction of shock to the news about Gatlin’s positive test was common in the track and field community.
“Of all the people who ever tested positive, Justin was never a name that came up prior to testing positive,” he says. “He was not a typically flamboyant sprinter as some of those guys can be. He was a very nice, humble guy. That was a quality that made him very likeable on the international circuit. It really caught a lot of people off guard.”
Two-time U.S. Olympian Darvis Patton, who ran in the 100-meter final at the 2008 Beijing Games at the age of 30, says he thought news of Gatlin testing positive was a rumor. “Guys that tested positive in the past were kind of prima donnas,” Patton says. “When they tested positive, it was like, ‘whatever.’ But when Justin tested positive, it was, ‘ah, no, not Gat’ ”.
U.S. runner Moushoumi Robinson, a gold medalist in the 4x400-meter relay at the 2004 Athens Olympics, was a training partner with Gatlin under coach Trevor Graham at the Sprint Capitol Track Club and called Gatlin a great friend who she “loves dearly”. She says it’s still hard to believe that Gatlin tested positive for a banned substance.
“I remember a conversation that Justin and I had after it happened,” she says. “I asked him straight up, ‘what happened?’ He absolutely said, ‘I have no idea.’ I was shocked.”
It hasn’t helped Gatlin that he chose to stay with a Graham after the coach admitted sending a drug-tainted syringe to federal authorities in 2003, triggering the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO) investigation, and after several of Graham’s athletes were linked to BALCO.
Many of Graham’s former athletes, including former Olympic sprint champion Marion Jones, claim Graham supplied them with banned performance enhancing substances. Graham denies culpability for his athletes’ testing positive and was later found guilty of lying to federal authorities investigating BALCO.
A person who has worked with some of Graham’s athletes and knows the coach well says Graham’s claims of innocence lack credibility. “There’s not another coach out there with that many athletes who tested positive and all of them are lying and you’re just a victim? That doesn’t add up,” he says. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Gatlin did not feel suspicious of Graham. “I felt that he wasn’t giving me anything and I wasn’t taking anything for him,” he says. "He wasn’t putting his hands on me. And early in the 2005 season we sat down together as a team. He was saying 'I’m not wrapped up in that stuff.' It was reassuring. A lot of us were so focused on running."
Asafa Powell set the 100-meter world record in June 2005, 10 months before Gatlin tested positive. At the time of the positive test, Jamaican Asafa Powell was the world record holder in the 100 meters whiel Gatlin held the world title and Olympic gold.
Was the temptation to be the undeniable king of the sprints enough for Gatlin to use drugs, even unknowingly? Is Gatlin a victim of convoluted circumstances that were out of his control? Or is he a uniquely gifted con man who has fooled us with his appealing personality and impassioned claim of innocence?
One thing is certain. He headlines a cast of characters that comprise a mysteriously compelling, confusing and complex track and field drama.

Mon May 11, 2009 By Dave Ungrady/Universal Sports

CAMPBELL-BROWN: DRUG TESTING GOES WITH THE TERRITORY

2009-05-08T11:54:00.002+02:00

DESPITE complaints by many global sports stars and some federations about the invasiveness of the latest whereabouts rule of World Anti-doping Agency (WADA), Jamaica's current most successful female athlete Veronica Campbell-Brown is unperturbed.Campbell-Brown, who has amassed 10 global medals - five in the Olympics and five at the World Championship level - says dope-testing comes with the territory of her job.
"Even If I don't agree, there's nothing I can do, I just have to comply," Campbell told the Observer.
Only Merlene Ottey with 22 global medals - eight at the Olympics and 14 in the World Championships - has won more silverware than Campbell-Brown.
The sprinter, who will celebrate her 27th birthday on May 15, was recently in Jamaica as part of the IAAF's 'Day in the Life' programme, which involved eight journalists from France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain and the Bahamas getting a rare glimpse into the athlete's background and upbringing.
The stringent WADA rules stipulate that professional athletes in most sports including track and field and football, give three months' notice of their location for one hour each day - seven days a week - between 6:00 am and 11:00 pm, to undergo out-of-competition drug testing. The information is registered online and can be updated by e-mail or text message.
"I give my one-hour in the mornings before I go to training," explained Campbell-Brown, who lives in Claremont, Florida.
"So whenever I'm being drug-tested it's before I go on the track, so the testers normally come to my home in that one-hour window early in the morning," added the Lance Brauman-coached sprinter.
Campbell-Brown, who has two silver medals from the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games, disclosed that she had been tested six times prior to sustaining a toe injury, which kept her out of action for four weeks up to May 30.
"At the beginning of the year, I had one-week where they came three times in a row, so I've been tested maybe six times (this year)," she said.
Her agent, Claude Bryan of On Track Management, told the Observer that his charge fully understands that doping control goes hand-in-hand with professional sport.
"Veronica understands also that if you put on your spikes, there are rules. You must understand that you will be tested (and) it may be blood test and we have no problem with that," Bryan said, indicating that athletes in track and field and other sports need to fall in line or find other professions.
Last month, the European Union faced increased calls to force WADA into softening its out-of-competition drug-testing rules following a report criticising the latter for alleged privacy violations.
The Associated Press reported that: "An independent EU advisory panel said that anti-doping controllers in the 27-nation EU must 'disregard' the WADA code when its rules contradict domestic law."
In march, FIFA president Joseph Blatter was strident in opposition to WADA's out-of-competition testing rules saying that federations were jointly combating doping, but this should not turn into a "witch hunt".

BY KAYON RAYNOR, Senior staff reporter raynork@jamaicaobserver.com
Friday, May 08, 2009
(Photo: Getty Images)

Ramirez avstängd 50 matcher - Ramirez själv hävdar att det handlar om ett missförstånd

2009-05-08T11:50:00.001+02:00

En av basebollvärldens allra största stjärnor, Manny Ramirez, stängs av 50 matcher för dopning. Ramirez som tillhör Los Angeles Dodgers i Major league baseball (MLB) stängs av med omedelbar verkan och blir borta från spel fram till 3 juli.
– Han gav mig en medicin, inte steroider, vilken han trodde var ok. Olyckligt nog omfattades medicinen av vår nya drogpolicy. Jag har blivit tillsagd att jag inte ska säga mer nu men jag vill tillägga att jag tagit – och klarat – 15 tester de senaste fem säsongerna, sade Ramirez enligt ESPN.
Ramirez som fyller 37 år i juni är Dodgers största stjärna och högst delaktig i att klubben vunnit 13 raka matcher på hemmaplan och har haft bäst säsongsinledning av alla i MLB.Ramirez blir nu den tredje spelaren i MLB i år som stängs av sedam ligan infört en ny drogpolicy.

Publicerat 2009-05-07 19:14
TT

More on Beijing dopers

2009-04-30T09:06:00.000+02:00

Five down, one to go.
The German cycling federation announced Stefan Schumacher was among those caught. No surprise, because he tested positive for CERA in samples taken during the Tour de France, when he won two time trial stages.
Croation 800 meter runner Vanja Persic also is on the list, a source confirmed. Persic did not advance past the first round in Beijing.
And Greek race walker Athania Tsoumeleka had admitted four months ago she was a CERA positive from Beijing, where she was 9th in the 20k race walk. Tsoumeleka had won that event in the 2004 Olympics. She already was banned by the international track federation after being caught in its retest program.
The International Olympic Committee said six athletes were caught in its Beijing testing. Gold medalist Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain (1,500 meters) and cycling silver medalist Davide Rebellin of Italy (road race) also are known to be among them.
According to the Associated Press, Rebellin told Italian TV the result was ``a mistake.''

By Philip Hersh

Doping in Sports Headlines

2009-04-27T13:27:00.005+02:00

American Lance Armstrong has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) over a random test conducted last month, the AFLD said in a statement.
"The AFLD has decided to take into account the athlete's written explanations and, consequently, not to open a disciplinary action against him," the statement read.

German cyclists Andreas Kloeden and Matthias Kessler have been implicated in illegal blood transfusions, according to a report in Der Spiegel news magazine, which cites the findings of an independent commission investigating doping.
The commission spent two years looking into doping allegations against two doctors, who allegedly put into place at Freiburg University Clinic a systematic doping system between 1995 and 2006 for the former Team Telekom, later known as T-Mobile.
Hans Joachim Schaefer, a lawyer who heads the commission, declined to comment Sunday.
"I have sworn to myself that I won't say a word," he said.
Kloeden now rides for Astana and has always denied doping. Kessler is serving a doping ban.

Australian swimmers have welcomed the decision to allow D'Arcy to return to competitive swimming after the world championships in Rome in July.
"I am pleased that I can now focus on my swimming training without any further uncertainty and am looking forward to making my return to competitive swimming at the Australian short course championships," D'Arcy said.

A new study has found that people with conduct disorder, body image disorder, or both are more prone to become dependent on anabolic steroids, according to Harrison G. Pope ’69, a Harvard Medical School professor of psychiatry and lead author of the study. Conduct disorder is the juvenile version of antisocial disorder, and body image disorder is an unhealthy obsession with the size and appearance of one’s body. These two factors were found by interviewing and examining the medical histories of 134 weight lifters, who were categorized into three groups—non-steroid users, steroid users with no dependence, and steroid users that had developed dependence.

Marion Jones talks of her fall and 'new beginning'
Jones, 33, and pregnant with her third child, was relaxed and upbeat throughout the session, part of the center's Race and Sports Lecture Series. As difficult as her prison experience was, she said, it also was, in an odd way, liberating.
"People realize I messed up," she said. "I stood up to it. I took what came because of it and now I'm certainly not hiding in a case somewhere. I'm not a hermit. But I certainly don't plan to do a tell-all that's going to rip people up like you see some athletes do. That's not the message I want to share. That's not the message I want to be remembered by.
"My message is positive. Yes, mistakes were made. But how can those mistakes help you?"

The Trouble With Telling Tales At School

2009-04-23T08:19:00.002+02:00

Well, here's a tale of woe from Italy that does not involve suits of the kind you wear. In short, Loris Facci, the breaststroker who touched first at European championships in 2006 but was disqualified, was invited to chat about swimming to some school kids; he did so, and in so doing mentioned the fact that he had once, a while back, been approached with an offer of doping to enhance his performance; he said "no". Good for him. Good lesson for the kids.
The story was reported by Gazzetta dello Sport. Good for them. A lesson for kids everywhere, in the public domain. Which is when the anti-doping prosecutor from CONI, the Olympic committee for Italy, stepped in and asked Facci to attend a hearing and deliver the name of the drug pusher. Which is where Facci lost the plot. Perhaps it was fear. Perhaps there's a swimming mafia out there ready to roll over Facci if he breathes a word. Perhaps not. Perhaps it was all something of his own invention. Perhaps Facci had no idea who the alleged pusher was. Who knows. We're unlikely ever to know who knows what and what really happened and who was there when Facci was allegedly offered doping.
Facci had no intention of naming anyone. He blamed the media: he had said what he said purely to deliver an ethical message to the kids. He had no name to give. A legal case was mounted against him.
Time to stand and be counted. Facci didn't want to be counted, said he had no proof, no name, and, lucky for him, the case was closed in Rome yesterday. The file was handed to FIN, the Italian federation, which will now decide whether Facci can race at a meet next month that will count to making it to a home world championships in Rome this summer.
The federation is likely to do nothing but let Facci swim (how could it not, especially given the events of 2000, when nothing was done about something far more serious, the case of CONI and the HGH count, a case that also got dropped in time, not before certain athletes were named, we recall).
Selectors may well be hoping, however, that the breaststroke specialist misses the grade for Rome, given his slippery grasp on things. Imagine the scene in the shiny new suit-checking ready room in morning heats:

Official: "Sorry, you're going to have to leave".
Swimmer: "Why? What's up?"
Official: "You can't swim in a jacket".
Swimmer: "Coach said I have to."
Coach, at the door: "No Loris, No! I said Jaked!".

(Yes, I know - he'd be speaking Italian ... ).

Craig Lord, Apr 22, 2009

Spain passes decree to prevent night-time doping controls

2009-04-22T10:52:00.001+02:00

Madrid - Spain's government has approved a royal decree allowing the nation's athletes to refuse anti-doping controls in the country between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. The decree also applies to foreign athletes training in Spain or resident in the country, El Pais daily reported Tuesday. The ruling is in contravention of a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code which stipulates that athletes must in principle be available for doping controls 24 hours a day. The Spanish decree, which is expected to come into effect in a few weeks' time, will apply to all controls, whether ordered by a national sports federation or an international body.
Any sportsman or sportswoman would be entitled to refuse to be tested during the night hours without fear of being subject to possible sanctions, according to the decree. The ruling has followed complaints by several leading athletes that the new WADA code is too restrictive. Spain's Rafael Nadal, the world's top-ranked men's tennis player, said earlier this year the rule forcing sportsmen and women to say where they are going to be for an hour each day, 365 days a year "shows a lack of respect for privacy."
The WADA code says athletes identified by their international federations should inform the organization of their daily whereabouts every three months. If a sportsperson cannot be found where they said they would be three times in an 18-month period, he or she is considered to have violated anti-doping regulations and is liable for sanctions. WADA and football's world governing body FIFA earlier this month reached agreement in a dispute over drug testing rules for top footballers.
The agreement will limit the number of players in football and other team sports who will be required to detail their whereabouts every day during the off-season. The controls will now focus on testing players defined as "at risk" - such as those recovering from injury or who previously used a banned substance.

Posted on : 2009-04-21 | Author : DPA
News Category : Sports

Ebba Nyberg är tillbaka efter två års dopningsavstängning:

2009-04-20T12:28:00.002+02:00

”Fysiskt håller jag. Mentalt vet jag inte”. Elitsimmaren Ebba Nyberg åt kosttillskott och fick i sig ett otillåtet ämne. Straffet: Två års avstängning för dopning. Nu har hon gjort comeback.
– För mig har det varit en personlig katastrof. Men det har fört något gott med sig, säger Nyberg, som siktar på att ta sig tillbaka till toppen.
Ebba Nyberg har vunnit betydligt viktigare tävlingar än Mora Cup för några veckor sedan. Men den 26-åriga stockholmaren har aldrig haft så stora känslor efter ett lopp.
– När det var över kändes det mest skönt. Det har hänt så mycket de senaste ett och ett halvt åren, säger Nyberg.
Comebacken var ett nytt kapitel i den långa följetongen som tog fart i december 2006.Det var då hon åkte fast för dopning. Hennes prov visade spår av det förbjudna ämnet androstriendion.
Neptunsimmaren – som bara några dagar efter testet var med och satte nytt svenskt rekord på 4x50 m medley – hävdade att hon måste ha fått i sig substansen genom ett kosttillskott. Simförbundet dömde henne till sex månaders avstängning, som förlängdes till två år av Riksidrottsnämnden (RIN).
Fallet fick stor uppmärksamhet eftersom det var första gången en svensk simmare åkte fast för dopning.
– För mig var det en personlig katastrof att bli avstängd. Jag fick inte göra det jag tycker mest om. Det blev ett stort tomrum och jag bytte liv helt – utbildade mig till kostrådgivare och personlig tränare.
Ebba Nyberg började också att hålla föreläsningar hos idrottsklubbar om riskerna med kosttillskott. Budskapet: Gör inte om mitt misstag.
– Det finns alldeles för lite information om vad som är tillåtet och inte. Jag kände en stor maktlöshet, säger Nyberg, som inte noterat någon tydlig attitydförändring till kosttillskott bland simmarna.
– Uppmärksamheten runt mig varade i för kort tid för att det skulle påverka. Jag har sett folk som har fortsatt att äta kosttillskott och det blir jag chockad över. Det är jättetråkigt. Redan när avstängningen kom bestämde Ebba Nyberg att den inte skulle innebära slutet för hennes simkarriär. Hon fick inte träna med sin klubb, utan åkte runt bland olika simhallar i Stockholmsområdet.
Inför comebacken tränade hon upp till 15 pass i veckan.
– Jag vill inte sätta för stor press på mig själv, men jag hoppas kunna komma upp på elitnivå igen. Mitt första mål är SM i sommar. Fysiskt är det ingen tvekan om att jag håller. Om jag orkar mentalt är en annan sak.
Hur har reaktionerna varit över att du är tillbaka?– Jättebra. Jag har haft bra kontakt med flera av mina gamla tränare. Många blev chockade när jag sade att jag skulle fortsätta, men de har bara uppmuntrat mig. Jag har aldrig känt mig som en fuskare och de som känner mig vet att jag aldrig skulle dopa mig.

Petter Nilsson
Publicerat i DN Sport 20090420 10:04

Hamilton retires from cycling after positive test

2009-04-20T11:08:00.002+02:00

Olympic champion Tyler Hamilton, once touted as the next great American cyclist and an heir to Lance Armstrong's throne atop the sport, ended his doping-tarnished career Friday by saying he tested positive for a banned substance and would retire.
Hamilton admitted taking an herbal product for two days in February to combat depression, knowing it included a steroid.
"There's nothing to fight about," the 38-year-old Hamilton told The Associated Press. "I took a banned substance. I accept the consequences. You make mistakes in your life and I accept the penalty like a man."
Hamilton will likely receive a ban from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that may range from eight years to life, a sentence that would have ended his racing days anyway.
"He has had a cloud over his career for a while now and the sport is better off without him," said Pat McQuaid, president of the International Cycling Union.
Hamilton's win at the 2004 Athens Games was overshadowed by a blood doping scandal. He tested positive for doping a second time later that year, served a two-year suspension and returned to racing early in 2007 — never revealing that he was fighting depression, which he said runs in his family. Going through a divorce and seeing his mother fight breast cancer made things worse in recent months, Hamilton said. Seeking relief, he took something called Mitamins Advanced Formula, billed as a "natural depression treatment with vitamins, herbs and supplements."
"Obviously, that was a mistake," Hamilton said.
In a statement, USADA said it will continue going through the process of issuing a sanction. "Although Mr. Hamilton has now retired from the sport of cycling and has publicly accepted responsibility, this is a pending matter and USADA will make an announcement of the final outcome and imposition of the exact sanction in accordance with the rules when the process is complete, which should be in the coming months," the statement said. The Mitamins product contains common things such as vitamins D, B-6 and B-12, along with thiamin, riboflavin and calcium. Each serving also contains 20 milligrams of a steroid called Dehydroepiandrosterone — DHEA, as it's known.
"Clinical research has suggested that taking DHEA orally might improve the symptoms of depression," reads the company's Web site.
Hamilton said the amount of the steroid found in his system was "so, so low" and that subsequent tests, including ones later that same week before the Tour of California, all came back negative.
"I took it to help my mental state," Hamilton said. "I did not, 100 percent, take it for any performance enhancement."
Hamilton said he was taking a prescription antidepressant called Celexa, and was feeling so badly a few months ago that he decided to double up on the dosage. After seeing no significant change in his mental state, Hamilton stopped taking the drug entirely.
He tried the Mitamins product, he said, on Feb. 6 and 7. USADA testers knocked on his door the next day.
"I was thinking everything would be fine," Hamilton said. "It might sound a little crazy, but I wasn't really worried. I wasn't really stressing about it. Maybe it's because of everything else I was going through. I don't know why."
About five weeks later, he learned everything was not fine.
Citing bronchitis, Hamilton did not ride in the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon in Spain — the race where Armstrong fell and broke his collarbone. And he was expected to be the leader of Rock Racing's team for a race in Portugal earlier this month, but was replaced on the roster shortly before that event.
At the time, few knew why.
"This is, for me personally, a really tough day," said Rock Racing owner Michael Ball. "My personality is to always fight for what I feel is right."
Others around Hamilton also encouraged him to fight the latest positive test. Hamilton's attorney, Chris Manderson, said they were mapping "several different strategies" including one to file a federal suit against USADA over the testing.
"Tyler has decided he does not want to pursue that route," Manderson said. "He wants to focus on the reasons why he did what he did and he wants to focus on getting better and getting on with his life."
Hamilton won the road time trial at the Athens Olympics, capping one of the finest days USA Cycling had known.
Americans won three medals that day on a road along the Saronic Gulf, with Hamilton's gold and Bobby Julich taking the bronze in the time trial and Dede Barry winning silver in the women's time trial.
Soon after, Hamilton's first positive test for blood doping came back, but he was ultimately allowed to keep the gold medal because his 'B' sample collected in Athens could not be properly tested. A month later, he tested positive again.
Hamilton has long denied participating in blood doping, the transfusion of extra blood that can increase endurance because more red blood cells are available to deliver oxygen to muscles.
For this latest positive test, he denied nothing.
"I knew it was banned," Hamilton said.
Hamilton briefly considered himself retired last year, then returned to compete in several races, plus won USA Cycling's road race national championship by less than one one-hundreth of a second.
He doesn't know what he'll do next, other than focusing on his health and family.
"This isn't about a test. It's a bigger issue," Hamilton said. "It's a disease that I'm going through, that my family has gone through, that I need to take care of. Cycling is just a sport, racing your bike from Point A to Point B. What I'm going through is so much bigger."

By TIM REYNOLDS, AP Sports Writer
Friday, April 17, 2009

Photo: Associated Press

"Som att läsa på toaletten, ungefär..."

2009-04-16T10:23:00.011+02:00

Visst är stadier i livet ibland oerhört markant och visst kan förehavanden ibland förvåna dig själv. Ta bara detta med att läsa på toaletten. Detta för mig en oerhört absurd aktivitet när min ambition i detta rum alltid varit att gå in, göra det nödvändiga och sen get out. Så visst blev jag lite tagen på säng för en stund sedan då jag plötsligt satt där och mitt högra öga fick syn på en intressant headline: Prudhomme Exclusive: "Cycling is winning the war on doping". Helt klart fjolårets upplaga av en förlegad och förläst Procycling magazine min make "glömt" kvar men skadan var skedd. "Anyone cheating now is a dead man walking". Jag var fast. Flera minuter går, ja säkert 5! men fångad av Tour bossen Christian Prudhommes tankar och övertygelse om cykelsportens numera renhet hindrar mig att "gå vidare". Det känns riktigt bekvämt faktiskt. Frågan gäller Tour 2008. "There's a fundamental diffrence this year. I'm convinced of that, for the first time, cykling is going to get thorugh this. Why? Because the French Anti-doping Agency's testwork. And I am not saying that because they're a French organisation, but because they're independant". Och visst har han rätt, Prudhomme. Man bör kunna lita på en oberoende organisation. En försäkring för neutral hantering. Men, vi glömmer lätt de rigorösa krav och utbildningar som krävs för regelrätt hantering och utförande av dopingtester. Vem är ansvarig för att denna kunskap finns? Hos kontrollant och hos Chaperones. Här måste tid och resurser läggas. "Yes, there are people that cheats, as there are in every walk of life, but in cycling we now have the means to eliminate them"... ja, om det ändå vore så enkelt. Kombinationer av tradition och kultur, känsla och kunskap kvarstår och oberoende av sitt oberoende krävs alla dessa komponenter. Visst har cykelvärlden kommit långt och vi kan inte annat än beundra och ha enorm respekt för det antidopingarbete som görs i sporten. Men, det är som en en blick till höger och ett förehavande man aldrig förespråkat eller trott man skulle göra. Man plockar upp och man är fast. - Som att läsa på toaletten, ungefär...

Photo: Christian Prudhomme
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