Catching Drugs Cheats, Drug Testing & The Doping Debate

[Socapro]

http://www.insidethegames.biz/latest/15064-analytical-findings-may-understate-the-real-prevalence-of-doping-warns-wada-chief

Analytical findings may understate the real prevalence of doping, warns WADA chief
Friday, 02 December 2011
By David Owen

December 2 - Science alone is no longer enough to catch all drug cheats, a leading figure in the fight against doping in sport has admitted.
 
In a sobering resume of the balance of forces in this high-profile battle in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games, David Howman, director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) told the Partnership for Clean Competition Conference in New York: "We all should know by now that the fight against doping in sport has reached the stage where science alone will not eradicate cheating or often even detect it.

"Sample collection and analysis is getting more expensive.

"The rules appear to some to be getting more complicated.

"Laboratory directors and scientists in general continue to be conservative.

"Indeed, it may be suggested that some err in favour of not returning adverse results for fear of the legal process and the time required to give evidence under attack."

Scientists, he argued, in general did not enjoy "the adversarial approach of lawyers".

Meanwhile, the "clever cheating athlete" was becoming "better at cheating, more sophisticated and funded extensively".

That athlete, he said, "might now be confidently of the view that he or she will avoid detection under the historical approach".

He went on: "From micro dosing to manipulation, the clever doper, aided, abetted and considerably financed by clever entourage members, continues to evade detection through the analytical process.

"And we continue to be haunted by the impunity with which, for example, many treat human growth hormone."

Howman asserted that cost was being used as "an excuse" by those responsible for anti-doping programmes not to undertake the best possible approach.

"For example, not all samples are analysed for erythropoietin (EPO).

"With only 36 positive cases for EPO being found in 2010, from 258,000 samples surely indicates that."

The sport industry, he said, was now estimated to be a $800 billion (£510 billion/€594 billion) a year business.

"Spending $300 million (£191 million/€223 million) to protect the integrity of such a business does not seem to be an awful amount of money."

What, he asked rhetorically, was the real prevalence of doping?

"Analytical findings suggest about 1-2 per cent, but recent studies suggest double digits," he said.

To deal with the current situation, Howman argued, investigations needed to form "an integral part" of any effective anti-doping programme.

He disclosed that a new document had now been sent to all anti-doping organisations worldwide including "good, practical, sensible suggestions" on how to go about working with law enforcement, customs, immigration and other officials "in order to properly and appropriately share information".

He also urged his audience to "realise that, in most cases, it is not athletes acting alone who defeat everything for which they should stand.

"They are assisted, counselled, sometimes tricked and occasionally forced into the downward spiral of cheating."

He acknowledged that "we still do not really have an appropriate and consistent way of ensuring that the athlete entourage, when responsible for aiding and abetting, persuading and supplying, can be sanctioned.

"We must continue to search for ways and means of globally achieving this."

The full text of the speech can be accessed here.

Contact the writer of this story at david.owen@insidethegames.biz

[Ray Agostini]

I don't know if there will ever be a solution to this. Doping/drug-taking in sport is as prevalent as bacteria that eventually overcomes anti-bacteria "immunisation". The cheats will always be one step ahead of the "dope police". As soon as they find a "cure", or detection method, the cheats will find a way to circumvent it. That's how evolution works too.

[STMB]

Meanwhile back at the ranch....
Too bad he is trying to make 2 wrongs a right, though history will not vilify Carl as he continues to be.

Bitter Johnson hits out at Carl Lewis

May 16 2012 at 12:59pm
By SAPA
Comment on this story

AFP
Canada's Ben Johnson has revealed simmering anger over his Seoul 1988 drugs scandal and hit out at rival Carl Lewis,right, more than two decades after one of the Olympics' most infamous incidents.
Singapore – Canada's Ben Johnson has revealed simmering anger over his Seoul 1988 drugs scandal and hit out at rival Carl Lewis, more than two decades after one of the Olympics' most infamous incidents.

Speaking during a visit to Singapore, Johnson said it was unfair he was stripped of 100 metres gold, allowing Lewis to claim the title, when it was later revealed the American had failed drugs tests.

Johnson was brought to Singapore to launch a sports academy for children, but in a sign of his enduring notoriety, four schools rejected an offer for him to speak to their students, according to the Straits Times.

“My coach gave me the stuff, which he didn't think was illegal because everyone was doing it at the time,” Johnson, 50, told the newspaper, which said he became emotional when discussing the issue.

“But they only banned me, while the Americans covered up for Carl because they knew they had no one else to take on Ben Johnson.”

Lewis tested positive for banned substances before the 1988 Games but was allowed to compete when American authorities accepted his explanation of inadvertent use.

He took the 100 metres gold medal when Johnson was sensationally disqualified following his win in 9.79 seconds, then the fastest on record, at Seoul's Olympic Stadium.

“That's not right – I lose gold and Carl takes it. Where's the fairness in that?” Johnson told the Straits Times, adding that he believed financial incentives were behind the events.

“What happened to me in Seoul was I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, it was more like a financial gain for companies so they pick on me,” he said in a separate interview with the Today newspaper.

“I regret (Seoul 1988) to a certain extent, but that was my destiny,” he added.

“I think that a lot of things happen in sport because of financial gain, because certain people didn't get paid properly and so they decide to let out certain secrets.”

Johnson also gave his backing to drug-tainted sprinter Dwain Chambers, who is eligible for the London 2012 Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned his lifetime doping ban by British authorities.

“I'm happy that this young man can go on and finish his career in a good way,” said Johnson.

“Most of those people over there pointing fingers at this poor guy, and with everybody that also do the same thing, never get caught, going on to make a good living.

“I mean how do you run a three-minute mile, by doing what? So you have to ask yourself these questions... It's a dirty sport.”

The schools' rejection of Johnson as a speaker was confirmed by the Ministry of Education, although no reason was given, the Straits Times said. – Sapa-AFP

[Socapro]

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/25/sport/olympics-iaaf-doping-tobias/index.html

Nine athletes banned for doping offenses
July 26, 2012 -- Updated 0113 GMT (0913 HKT)

(CNN) -- A total of nine athletes, including Olympic bronze medalist Nataliya Tobias, have tested positive for "sophisticated doping" offenses, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has confirmed.

Six of those athletes were caught using a new "biological passport" method, which builds up a profile of each individual over a prolonged period of time.

The remaining three, including Tobias who came third in the women's 1500 meters in Beijing four years ago, were suspended after further analysis of samples they gave at the World Championships in Daegu last year.

"Today's announcements underline the IAAF's continued and unwavering campaign against doping in athletics," IAAF President Lamine Diack said in a statement on their official website.

"They demonstrate the IAAF's commitment to use advanced methods to detect doping and to enforce increased sanctions when justified.

"We will not stint in our resolve to do everything in our power to eradicate cheating."

The IAAF said they had been collecting samples from various athletes in the build up to the Olympics and would conduct 200 more biological passports during the Games.

That method accounted for six bans, for Morocco's Abderrahim Goumri, Greece's Irini Kokkinariou, Turkey's Meryem Erdogan, and three Russians -- Svetlana Klyuka, Nailiya Yulamanova and Yevgenina Zinurova, the 2011 European Indoors 800m champion.

Along with Tobias, fellow Ukrainian Antonina Yefremova was charged after synthetic testosterone was found in their systems, while Bulgaria's Inna Eftimova tested positive for a synthetic growth hormone.

All three athletes admitted the offense and waived their right to a "B" sample, meaning their four-year bans were halved.

The six caught via the "biological passport" method were flagged as suspicious in 2009 and were found to have persistently used banned substances over a long period, the IAAF said.

Four of the six -- Erdogan, Klyuka, Yulamanova and Zinurova -- admitted their offense and waived their right to a "B" sample, meaning their original four-year bans were cut in half.

The IAAF said Goumri had recently received a four-year ban by the Moroccan Athletic Federation, but was permitted to appeal as the decision had not yet been ratified by the IAAF.

Kokkinariou has been banned for two years by the Greek Athletic Federation but the IAAF said they were appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have it doubled on the grounds of "aggravating circumstances."

It was not immediately clear whether any of the nine athletes were part of Olympic teams set to participate in London 2012.

[Socapro]

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/IAAF_crack_down_on_9-163807356.html

IAAF crack down on 9
Story Created: Jul 26, 2012 at 12:00 AM ECT

lLONDON

Nine track and field athletes have been handed lengthy bans for doping violations in a crackdown on the use of prohibited substances in the lead up to the London Olympics, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said yesterday.
 
The athletes, including leading marathon runner Abderrahim Goumri, were all caught with the aid of the Athlete Biological Passport programme, which will be used at an Olympics for the first time in London.
 
"Today's announcements underline the IAAF's continued and unwavering campaign against doping in athletics," IAAF President Lamine Diack said in a statement.
 
"They demonstrate the IAAF's commitment to use advanced methods to detect doping and to enforce increased sanctions when justified.
 
We will not stint in our resolve to do everything in our power to eradicate cheating."
 
Three of the offences dated back to the world championships held in Daegu, South Korea last year.
 
Inna Eftimova of Bulgaria tested positive for synthetic growth hormone, while the samples of Ukrainians Nataliya Tobias and Antonina Yefremova both contained traces of synthetic testosterone. All three were banned for two years.
 
Moroccan Goumri, who finished third in the London marathon and second in the New York marathon in 2008, was among the six athletes who were monitored after irregularities showed up in their "biological passports".
 
The others were Russians Svetlana Klyuka, who finished fourth in the 800m at the Beijing Olympics, 2011 European indoor 800m champion Yevgenina Zinurova and Nailiya Yulamanova, along with long distance runners Irini Kokkinariou of Greece and Turkey's Meryem Erdogan.
 
The three Russians and Erdogan admitted their guilt and were given two-year bans. Goumri was handed a four-year ban by the Moroccan athletics federation, while the IAAF is looking to enforce a ban of four years on Kokkinariou.
 
The IAAF's announcement came after the Moroccan favourite for the women's 1,500 metres, Mariem Alaoui Selsouli, was confirmed to have tested positive for a banned diuretic.
 
Selsouli, a silver medallist at the world indoor championships this year, has already served a two-year suspension for doping and now faces a lifetime ban under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules.
 
WADA said on Tuesday that more than 100 athletes were caught doping and sanctioned in the months leading up to the London Olympics in a drive to eliminate cheats before they reach the Games.
 
There will be around 6,250 samples analysed at the Games, more than any other Olympics. There were 20 proven cases of doping at the Beijing Games four years ago, including six horses, down from 26 cases in Athens in 2004.

[D.H.W]

Stueps these people are a disgrace to the sport

[Socapro]

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/Greek_athlete_tests_positive-163969436.html

Greek athlete tests positive
... for 'Ben Johnson drug'
Story Created: Jul 26, 2012 at 11:39 PM ECT

l LONDON

Greece's world indoor high jump champion Dimitris Chondrokoukis withdrew from the London Olympics yesterday after testing positive for the drug Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson used before the 1988 Seoul Games.
 
Johnson was sent home in disgrace after metabolites of the anabolic steroid stanozolol were found in his urine sample following his victory over Carl Lewis in the 100 metres final in world record time.
 
Chondrokoukis' father and coach Kyriakos said the athlete would seek a retest after a positive test for stanozolol.
 
"I will fight—we will fight—to respond and see exactly what happened," a statement from Kryiakos Chondrokoukis said.
 
Johnson's fall from grace is still the biggest doping scandal in the history of the Games. After serving a two-year suspension he returned to competition but was banned for life after a positive test for excessive levels of the male sex hormone testosterone.
 
Hungarian discus thrower Zoltan Kovago, a silver medallist at the 2004 Athens Games, will also miss the Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport said he had failed to provide a sample when requested. Kovago denied doping and said he had provided three samples within a four-day period around the time in question.
 
Another medallist from this year's world indoor championships, Moroccan 1,500 metres silver medallist Mariem Alaoui, will miss the Games after a positive test for a banned diuretic.
 
On Wednesday the world athletics governing body also announced that nine track and field athletes had been banned for doping violations.
 
Also on Thursday, International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer announced that Saudi Arabia's female judo competitor will fight at the London Olympics without a hijab.
 
Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani, one of the first two female athletes sent to the Olympics by the conservative Muslim kingdom, will not be wearing the Islamic headscarf when competing in the women's heavyweight tournament next Friday.
 
Female participation in sports is a controversial issue in Saudi Arabia, where powerful clerics denounce women for exercising.
 
The fallout from Wednesday's diplomatic blunder when the North Korean women's team left the field before their match with Colombia at Glasgow's Hampden Park becauase the South Korean flag had been displayed continued with an angry response from North Korea's Olympic representative Ung Chang.
 
"Of course the people are angry," International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Chang told Reuters television. "If your athlete got a gold medal and put the flag probably of some other country, what happens?"
 
North and South Korea have been bitter enemies since their 1950-53 war. They have also been drawn against each other in the first round of the men's table tennis.
 
British Prime Minister David Cameron called the incident an honest mistake and said he was sure there would be no repetition at the Games, which have cost the British taxpayer more than nine billion pounds at a time of economic downturn.
 
Earlier, in response to a question from Chang on the final day of the IOC session, president Jacques Rogge said there had been no "political connotation".
 
"The organising committee has taken corrective action and there will be no repeat. It was a simple human mistake," he said.
 
Speaking to reporters at the Olympic Park, Cameron said the government's priority was to ensure a safe and secure Olympics, with more than 9,000 extra police walking the streets and 17,000 troops called in to cover a shortfall left by private security group G4S.
 
Security has been an overriding concern for the government and Games' organisers. The day after the British capital was awarded its third Olympics in 2005, four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters in London.
 
G4S caused a scandal by failing to meet its target for the number of guards it could provide, and on Tuesday said that it had deployed around 5,800 security personnel, still short of its revised objective of 7,000.
 
"This is the biggest security operation in our peacetime history, bar none, and we are leaving nothing to chance," Cameron said.
 
"Obviously the biggest concern has always got to be a safe and secure Games. That matters more than anything else."
 
Londoners took to the streets on another sun-drenched day to watch the penultimate day of the torch relay which passed some of the city's most famous landmarks on its way to Downing Street, official residence of the prime minister, and Buckingham Palace, the central London home of Britain's Queen Elizabeth.
 
"It's amazing, look, people are hanging out of the windows to watch," said 61-year-old sales assistant Ulla Davis. "The country has always been enthusiastic, it's just the newspapers that have been against it."
 
Excitement over the Games has been visibly building, partially dampening down criticism that the huge costs and transport woes are not worth the trouble. Britain's capital will be the first city to host the Summer Olympics three times.
 
After the opening ceremony today, attention will focus on the sport, with the progress of swimmer Michael Phelps, looking bedraggled and scruffy when he appeared in front of the media three days before he enters his final Olympics, dominating the first week of the competition as he battles US teammate Ryan Lochte for supremacy in the pool.
 
Phelps, who won a record eight gold medals in Beijing, will attempt seven events before he retires.

[D.H.W]

Lord

[Socapro]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/27/us-oly-dop-rogge-day-idUSBRE86Q0H020120727?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=sportsNews&rpc=401

Doping crackdown is working: IOC's Rogge
By Karolos Grohmann
Fri Jul 27, 2012 6:50am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - The crackdown on doping offenders in the run-up to the London Olympics has been a success after testers caught more than a 100 athletes using performance-enhancing drugs in recent months, IOC President Jacques Rogge said on Friday.

Hours before the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Games, Rogge said the International Olympic Committee's efforts for a clean Olympics were bearing fruit.

On Wednesday nine track and field athletes were handed lengthy bans by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for doping violations.

Separately, women's 1,500 meters medal contender Mariem Alaoui Selsouli of Morocco and Greece's world indoor high jump champion Dimitris Chondrokoukis were also confirmed to have tested positive this week before arriving in London.

"This is a good sign for the fight against doping," Rogge told reporters. "This is proof that the system is working and is effective."

The nine athletes, including leading marathon runner Moroccan Abderrahim Goumri, were all caught by the IAAF with the aid of the Athlete Biological Passport programme which tracks athletes' blood data over time to note any abnormalities.

Rogge said while not all sports could immediately benefit from this system due to their nature, he would like the programme to be extended.

"It is a fact that there is no blood passport in all sports. It is also true, however, that blood profile is a powerful tool that has to expand and reach more countries," said Rogge, an advocate of zero tolerance for doping offenders.

"I am happy that the blood profile has led to positive tests. It is a powerful deterrent."

There will be around 6,250 samples analyzed at the Games, more than any other Olympics, while U.K. Anti-Doping has also been mandated to test in pre-competition training camps.

There were 20 proven cases of doping at the Beijing Games four years ago, including six horses, down from 26 cases in Athens in 2004.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Mark Meadows)

[Socapro]

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/Uzbek_gymnast_kicked_out-164223576.html

Uzbek gymnast kicked out
Story Created: Jul 29, 2012 at 11:54 PM ECT

A female gymnast from Uzbekistan was provisionally suspended from the London Olympics yesterday after failing a drug test, the second doping case of the games.
 
The International Olympic Committee said Luiza Galiulina — a lesser-known name with no medal hopes — tested positive for the banned diuretic furosemide in a pre-games urine control in London yesterday.
 
After attending a hearing on Saturday night, the 20-year-old athlete was suspended pending the testing of her backup "B sample Sunday afternoon. Galiulina had been due to compete in women's qualifying on Sunday.
 
On Saturday, the IOC expelled Albanian weightlifter Hysen Pulaku from the games after he tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol on July 23.
 
Galiulina won bronze on balance beam at the 2010 Asian Games. This is her second Olympics after finishing 60th in 2008.
 
She appeared at an IOC hearing Saturday night along with the team coach, her personal coach and two Uzbek officials.
 
The IOC said Galiulina contended she did not take furosemide and did not know how the substance entered her system. She claimed she had been treated by her mother when she was ill at home last month, had taken medication for a heart condition this month and used "numerous other products and natural herbs" to help her sleep and relax.
 
The IOC said it found "no corroborating evidence" to support her defense that she had not intended to enhance her performance or mask the use of a banned substance.
 
The IOC is conducting more than 5,000 urine and blood tests during the Olympics, both in and out of competition. All medalists are being tested.

[Socapro]

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/St_Kitts_Nevis__Williams_sent_home-164223566.html

St Kitts/Nevis' Williams sent home
Story Created: Jul 29, 2012 at 11:54 PM ECT

l LONDON

St. Kitts & Nevis sprinter Tameka Williams has been sent home from the London Olympics by her team for a potential drug violation.
 
Williams had been using a substance which was "clearly oyesteron Sunday.

Knight said Williams had not tested positive, but the team acted after consulting with the World Anti-Doping Agency "to find out about the product."
 
"In discussions with our team management, she volunteered to them that she had been using a particular substance which, when we did our own investigations, we considered to be outside the accepted medical code," Knight said.
 
Williams told team officials about using the substance — which the team has not disclosed — in a pre-Olympics training camp.
 
"It was a matter of the management of the team doing their due diligence," Knight said.
 
The 22-year-old Williams had qualified for the 100 and 200 metres, and gave samples for anti-doping tests at national Olympic trials last month.
 
"It was not based on any positive drug test. She turned up a clean test," Knight said.
 
Williams marched at the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday as the only woman in a seven-member team from the Caribbean islands, who are all track sprinters. The best known is five-time Olympian Kim Collins.
 
Knight said St Kitts team officials sought expert advice in London before acting.
 
"We wanted to consult with the anti-doping fraternity," he said. "We are a very tiny country with limited knowledge of these things."

[Socapro]

http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2012-07-29/hope-solo-use-drugs

Hope solo in the use of drugs
Published: Monday, July 30, 2012
Alvin Corneal

The use of drugs is forbidden for all. Or so it appeared after all the new items referring to a zero tolerance for the use of any substance prohibited by the Olympic Committee responsible for drug testing. Can I simply ask the sporting world as to how the US goalkeeper Hope Solo satisfied the authorities about the use of a drug which was prescribed for the control of her menstrual periods, but had a prohibitive substance, unknowing to the star keeper? She is still with the US women’s team in London. Although retaining incidents over the years could easily be forgotten as things happen so quickly, I distinctly recall the year 1994 during the preliminary round of the FIFA World Cup, the universal football genius of that era Diego Armando Maradona was banned instantly when he followed his doctor’s orders and took a prescribed medicine, not knowing that the medicine contained a banned substance. Instantly, the Argentine was banned without too much explanation and took away his ultimate glory just after he produced a brilliant goal against Greece. Surprisingly, no one was alarmed about same, because Maradona was already branded as a user of illegal drugs. I am in favour of the use of illicit drugs and will always be, hence the reason why I cannot understand the difference between the two incidents.
 
A reactionary response to this action by the Olympic Committee can easily bring into question the respect which they have shown to one and not the other. Hope Solo is an American idol, whether it is Dancing With the Stars or stopping balls from entering the goalnet, she has been chosen to protect. Maradona, despite being arguably the greatest footballer of all time, may only have been forgiven if the said incident had occurred amidst his home fans in Buenos Aires. However, there was much more to enjoy in London, especially by the American fans.  Ryan Lochte may have pleased his family, close friends and supporters by reducing the attention given to Michael Phelps. The pain of defeat is clear, especially after four years of recognition as the major success in the pool moving to repeat the feat and write indelibly into the record books. Lochte had other ideas and will now try to keep his teammate in the limelight for the other races. While the early events have brought the Games to an alltime high, thanks to China’s  performances off the diving board, and Serena Williams smooth passage past a high ranking Serbian Jelena Jankovic, the performances at other sporting disciplines have not yet reached maximum quality, maybe because its just early days.
 
Our own George Bovell 111 seemed comfortable and confident in his opening race. It must have brought a thumbs up from his friend and coach, Minister of Sports, Honourable Anil Roberts. But we all know that the path to a final in swimming is more difficult than most other events, where each event calls for maximum effort and the swimmer’s best time. Bovell has had the experience in two previous Games since Athens 2004. However, his failure to make the final 16 is indicative of the vast improvement which swimmers across the world have made within the last decade. We now have to hope that he is still able to keep within the final eight for his pet distance. The British athletes seem to be having difficulty in understanding why many of the stadia for certain events are not filled to capacity. Some blame it on the business sector who have purchased tickets and did not give them to their employees. What they do not realise is that the only sports which are followed by the maximum number of fans are soccer, track and field, boxing, and more recently, cycling. Those who cherish the boats along the river Thames will get their share of fun by sitting at various points and watch their county’s team battle for medals.
 
Soccer has been getting reasonable crowds, but the majority of tickets for the semifinal and final are sold out. No surprise there!. Their second problem stems from the fact that their contingent of athletes have been in Portugal putting the finishes on their readiness for the track and field events. However, the latest report is that eight of their athletes are injured with different levels of injuries. The management of the team is disappointed over the number of injuries. I will be the same if, in this day and age , trainers and coaches, assisted by physiotherapists, plus medical doctors,  have failed to keep these athletes off the massage table. They have but five days to their events and the British are faced with some uncertain performances from this group of athletes. After two days, only the Chinese and the Americans can smile and pat themselves on their backs for a medal haul of eleven for the Chinese and eight for the United States. Today may be better for some of the other countries.

[Dutty]

  Alvin smoke ah red ants before he write dat or wha?

One ramblin ass essay chock full ah blasted commas

[Socapro]

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/Doping_back_in_spotlight_with_new_cases__past_offenders-165034786.html

Doping back in spotlight with new cases, past offenders
Story Created: Aug 4, 2012 at 10:58 PM ECT

l LONDON

Doping moved back into the spotlight at the London Olympics yesterday with at least two more confirmed positive cases and a string of high-profile doping offenders returning to the world's biggest sports stage in search of restitution.
 
On the day when athletics, the flagship sport of the Games, took centre stage with its big names starting their quest for gold, Colombian 400 metres runner Diego Palomeque Echevarria became the latest athlete to be banned following a positive first test for performance-boosting testosterone.
 
Scheduled to run on Saturday morning, he was temporarily suspended pending a B sample test, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Saturday.
 
He joined Russian cyclist Victoria Baranova, who was sent home for failing a test for testosterone, to bring the tally of athletes suspended by the IOC to four since the start of the Olympic period on July 16.
 
Several other athletes, including Brazilian rower Kissya Cataldo da Costa who was expelled on Saturday for failing a dope test for EPO, have been sent home by their own federations.
 
"I do not think this changes where we are at all," IOC spokesman Mark Adams told reporters, when asked whether the latest positive tests were showing a wider use of banned substances at the Games than expected.
 
"Cheats are being caught and ejected," he said. "At this stage it is a pretty low number."
 
Ironically, it was also the day when former big name doping offenders Justin Gatlin, Dwain Chambers and LaShawn Merritt made their Games comebacks in front of an enthusiastic 80,000 crowd.
 
"I would clearly rather have that these competitors are not here," Games chief Sebastian Coe told Reuters.
 
"The federation says they are eligible to compete, the IOC says they are eligible to compete so we give them as much courtesy as all the other athletes.
 
"The answer is that that is the world we live in," said Coe who said he wanted to have a four-year ban for first time offenders rather than the current two years.
 
"I am sorry my sport has moved from four to two years," the former two-time Olympic 1,500 metres champion said. "I don't think that this is a sufficient deterrent."
 
Briton Chambers, once the face of doping, needed to overrule a British lifetime ban for drugs offenders to win a spot in the Games.
 
While his comeback after suspension a few years ago was greeted by jeers and boos, he received a raucous welcome from a home crowd.
 
"More than anything, it's just a great feeling to know that when you've had upsets in your life, if you still remain focused and believe in yourself anything can happen," he said after winning his heat in style.
 
Gatlin, the 2004 Games 100 metre gold medallist, and back for his first Games after serving a four-year doping ban, was even more dazzling with 9.97 seconds in the second heat of the first round.
 
"I had a couple of tears before I got on the track," he said. "It's good to be back."
 
Merritt, the 2008 Olympics champion in the 400 metres, also made his comeback. He was less lucky, though, dropping out of his title defence after only a few seconds due to a hamstring injury picked up last month.
 
He served a 21-month drugs suspension for using an over-the-counter male enhancement product in 2010 that contained the banned substance dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and pregnenolone.
 
There was no intention to dope and nor to gain a competitive advantage, an international panel found.

[Socapro]

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/Ostapchuk_stripped__of_gold_for_doping-166066846.html

Ostapchuk stripped of gold for doping
Story Created: Aug 13, 2012 at 10:59 PM ECT

l LONDON

Olympic women's shot put champion Nadezhda Ostapchuk has been stripped of the gold medal she won at the London Games a week ago after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid.
 
Two urine samples taken from the Belarussian before and after her win last week Monday tested positive for metenolone, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said in a statement yesterday, the day after the Games ended.
 
"Ostapchuk...is disqualified from the women's shot put event, where she had placed first (and) is excluded from the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London in 2012," the statement said.
 
Belarus had been ordered to return Ostapchuk's gold medal which would now be awarded to New Zealand's Valerie Adams, who also won in 2008, it added.
 
Russian Evgeniia Kolodko would move up to silver and China's Gong Lijiao would get bronze.
 
Ostapchuk, who had won the gold with a throw of 21.36 metres, was world champion in 2005 and European champion two years ago. In July, at a meeting in Minsk, she threw 21.58, the best outdoor distance in the world since 1998.
 
Yesterday, Ostapchuk denied any wrongdoing, saying she would fight to clear her name.
 
"To be honest I don't know all the details because I just got this information myself from the internet," the 31-year-old told local media in Minsk.
 
"It's a complete shock to me because I was tested on July 30 (before going to London). It showed I was clean," she said, adding that she would wait for the Belarussian delegation to return from London before deciding what to do next.
 
"In total, I've been tested 16 times since April. You must be a complete idiot to take doping just before the competition especially such an outdated drug as a steroid, knowing you're going to be tested not once but probably several times."
 
Ostapchuk also accused Olympic organisers of prejudice against the Belarussian athletes.
 
"You all know how we had been treated there, just ask Ivan Tsikhan," she said, referring to the Belarussian hammer thrower, who was prevented from competing in London following a request from the sport's world governing body (IAAF).
 
"We must fight for our rights. If we remain silent and accept the punishment, then they will continue to humiliate us."
 
Tsikhan won the bronze in Beijing four years ago but was stripped of the medal after tests showed his testosterone levels were above acceptable limits.
 
Tsikhan and his teammate Vadim Devyatovskiy, who won silver in Beijing and also had his medal taken away, successfully appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in 2010 against their sanctions.
 
"From the start our athletes had to fight against either judging bias or something else," Ostapchuk said.
 
"I was closely watched by Olympic drug testers, especially after what had happened to Tsikan. I was tested twice more in London but I don't have any idea how this thing ended up in my body. I'm going to fight this allegation because it can't be possible," she added.
 
Adams said she was delighted to be promoted to gold.

"I am speechless with this news. It is taking me some time to take this in," she said in a statement."
 
By the start of Sunday's final day of the Games, 11 other athletes had been excluded after testing positive for banned drugs.
 
They included US judoka Nick Delpopolo, who tested positive for marijuana which he blamed on unwittingly eating a hash brownie, as well as Russian cyclist Victoria Baranova and Colombian runner Diego Palomeque Echevarria, who both tested positive for testosterone.
 
Officials said urine and blood samples taken from competitors in London would be stored for up to eight years.

[Socapro]

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/This_ugly_Olympic__joke_-166210916.html

This ugly Olympic 'joke'
Story Created: Aug 14, 2012 at 10:56 PM ECT

WHAT had initially surfaced and was treated as a "joke", then later confirmed as "suspicion", is now engaging official attention as a "wicked" attempt to tarnish the reputation of Caribbean athletes and specifically "a vicious attack" on Jamaica.
 
Yesterday I received an e-mail message that originated out of London stating that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had acknowledged investigating "suspicious items" found in the rooms of "many athletes" who had participated in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
 
It would seem that while the nations of the world are saluting Usain Bolt's spectacular achievements as the fastest runner on planet earth—buttressed by the outstanding performances of his national teammates in together bagging a dozen gold, bronze and silver medals—there are officials of the IOC yet to come to terms with the Caribbean's magnificent record of 32 medals at the London Olympics (including 12 also by Cuba).
 
Consequently, while Caricom governments and people are enthusiastically celebrating the marvellous feats of "Team Caribbean''—including a gold each by Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and The Bahamas—the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) is locked in a duel of words with the IOC and specifically its anti-doping representative, Dick Pound.
 
JADCO's chairman, Prof Winston Davidson, emerged from a board meeting on Monday to deem as "blatantly false" the claim by IOC's Pound that the international body had "difficulties testing Jamaican athletes" for the London Olympics.
 
But even as the conflict was widening between Jamaica and the IOC, US President Barack Obama was further elevating the stature of Jamaica's international super hero Bolt in his election campaign for a second term in the White House.
 
Obama was reported as telling supporters at a fund-raising event on Monday that he was "no Usain Bolt" and, therefore, his campaign would be "a fight all the way to the finish line, not an easy victory…"
 


Meanwhile, an evidently angry JADCO chairman in Kingston remains focused on exposing the mischievous attempt by the IOC's spokesman, Pound, to support with evidence, allegations of having had a "tough time" in testing Jamaican athletes.
 
Pound had told Reuters Television last Saturday that Jamaican athletes "belong to one of the groups that are hard to test… It is hard to get in and find them, and so forth..."
 
But JADCO's Davidson was ready to dismiss what Pound said as being "blatantly false". He emphasised that all investigations had failed to turn up any evidence about the claimed "difficulties" encountered by the IOC to test the athletes.
 
"We don't think they would do this to America and other bigger countries. It is a vicious attack on a small country.
 
Well, what was first treated as a joke when the IOC's Pound came forward with the unsubstantiated insinuation of likely doping on the part of Jamaican athletes— perhaps thinking their natural performances were just too good to be true—was to prove most laughable with the production of alleged "photo evidence" circulated with email messages yesterday:
 


Mr Pound had claimed that they were "investigating suspicious items found in the rooms of many Caribbean athletes…we have opened an inquiry and have asked various Olympic Committees (not mentioned by name) of those island nations for an explanation…
 
"Samples of the items found have been seized and will be retained for testing. Photo evidence of the items found has been passed to the chairmen of those Olympic Committees for their review and to evaluate any further steps to be taken," according to the IOC's statement.
 
Well, readers may be interested and amused to learn that what the "photo evidence" shows is a pile of carefully placed vegetables (what some call "ground provisions") including cassava, eddoes, yams and plantains.
 
What a joke! What a messy, mischievous attempt to cast doubts on the integrity of the Caribbean athletes (copies of the so-called "photo evidence" have been sent to all Olympic committees of the Caribbean).
 
Perhaps, therefore, Trinidad and Tobago's 19-year-old javelin "gold hero'' Keshorn Walcott, may be asked by the local Olympic committee which, if any, of the vegetables he consumed before winning the gold medal which has made him a national hero with many millions at his disposal!
 
Yuh think it easy!

[Socapro]

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/JADCo_labels_former_WADA_chief_claims_as__vicious_attack_-166211016.html

JADCo labels former WADA chief claims as 'vicious attack'
Story Created: Aug 14, 2012 at 10:56 PM ECT

lKINGSTON

The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCo) has strongly dismissed a claim by International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Dick Pound who stated that it is difficult to test Jamaican athletes because they are hard to find.
 
Following a marathon meeting of the board of JADCo on Monday, chairman Professor Winston Davidson described Pound's claims, as "a vicious attack on a small country".
 
"What Mr (Dick) Pound said was blatantly false. We knew it was spurious, but we spent the whole day trying to find evidence of it…we don't think they would do this to America and other bigger countries. It is a vicious attack on a small country," Davidson said.
 
On Saturday, Pound, who is also a former chief of the World Anti-Doping Committee, told Reuters Television that Jamaican athletes belong to "one of the groups that are hard to test".
 
"It is hard to get in and find them, and so forth," Pound was quoted as saying.

In a release late Monday, JADCo said it has never received any complaints regarding the athletes not being found for testing.
 
"This is confirmed by the fact that the WADA database (Anti-Doping Administration and Management System--ADAMS) holding such information of all tests and missed tests does not confirm his allegation," the commission said.
 
"In addition, JADCo has never received any complaints regarding the athletes not being found for testing."
 
JADCo was also concerned after former American sprinter Carl Lewis questioned Jamaica's testing system, following Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce's successful defence of their 100 metres titles .
 
Jamaica's athletes dominated the sprint events for the second successive Olympic Games. —CMC

[Deeks]

Cleopatra has been elevated to 12th place with the suspension of the gold medalist. So according to the IOC. She made the final 12. Good, but overall sad!. See you in Rio Cleo!!!!

http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2012-08-15/borel-added-list-olympic-finalists

[Socapro]

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/Jamaica_defends_anti-doping_programme-166616926.html

Jamaica defends anti-doping programme
Story Created: Aug 17, 2012 at 11:01 PM ECT

l KINGSTON

The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) has rejected claims by Dick Pound, former chief of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), suggesting that the country's athletes are not being properly tested for drugs.
 
JADCO has strongly defended Jamaica's anti-doping programme after Pound said on an international television station that Jamaican athletes belonged to a group that was difficult to test.
 
The international spotlight has fallen directly on Jamaican athletes after they dominated the sprint events at the London Olympics.
 
"There is no way that anyone could dare talk about JADCO being a third world organisation versus a first world organisation," declared Professor Winston Davidson, vice-chairman JADCO.
 
"As far as I am concerned we adhere to the same international standards and are as good or even better than those who call themselves first world."
 
Usain Bolt stormed to victory in both the 100 and 200 metres, with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce snatching gold in the women's 100 as the Caribbean island consolidated its domination
 
Pound, now a member of the International Olympic Committee, said Jamaican athletes should now expect more visits by drug testers.
 
However, Davidson has insisted that nothing is wrong with JADCO's anti-doping programme.
 
"...and as such everything must be done that's transparent and that can stand any kind of scrutiny or any rigor from any quarter at home and abroad."
 
Jamaica won a clean sweep in the men's 200 with Yohan Blake and Warren Weir winning silver and bronze behind Bolt.
 
"No, they are one of the groups that are hard to test, it is (hard) to get in and find them and so forth," Pound told Reuters Television when asked whether he was happy with the way Jamaica tested its athletes.
 
"I think they can expect, with the extraordinary results that they have had, that they will be on everybody's radar."
 
More than 100 athletes were caught using banned substances in the months leading up to the Games following increased testing by national and international anti-doping agencies
 
Meantime, WADA has indicated it has no concerns about the operations of Jamaica's anti-doping authorities.
 
WADA said the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission was deemed compliant in the compliance report passed by WADA's foundation board last November.
 
"In order to achieve compliance, an anti-doping organisation needs to satisfy a number of criteria with regard to its anti-doping programme, including having an element of out-of-competition testing," WADA said in a statement sent to the RJR Communications Group.
 
"It must also have in place anti-doping regulations that allow the programme to function effectively."
 
WADA said many Jamaican track-and-field athletes are part of the IAAF's registered testing pool and are, therefore, also tested independently of their national anti-doping programme.
 
"WADA has visited Jamaica several times in the last couple of years to provide guidance and advice to JADCO," the international agency said. "We expect an invitation to return again this year as a result of the appointment of a new CEO at JADCO."
 
WADA also noted that JADCO is mandated to deliver a report every year to its stakeholders which identifies any anti-doping rules violations and that WADA had received the report.
 
"As with all signatories, WADA will continue to monitor and offer assistance where needed to make anti-doping efforts as robust as possible," the agency said. —CMC

[giggsy11]

Great sports documentary.
Long before the cases of Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds and Marion Jones engendered public indifference about performance-enhancing drugs, steroids were a dirty little secret of the sports world. Suspicions were prevalent in Olympic circles, but rarely discussed above a whisper. That changed in 1988 when Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was busted for the anabolic steroid stanozolol days after winning the gold medal and setting a world record in the 100-meter dash at the Seoul Olympics. His spectacular rise to the top of his sport and his cataclysmic fall are chronicled in 9.79*, this week's entry in ESPN's Emmy-nominated documentary series 30 for 30.

 Next showing of the extended version on now on ESPN2 and then Sunday at 9:00pm on Espn

[Andre]

espn 30 for 30 last night was on the 1988 olympic 100m final (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1988_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men's_100_metres). they call it the most tainted race ever.

very well done. repeating whole week.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/zREy7y7iqAM" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/zREy7y7iqAM</a>

[giggsy11]

espn 30 for 30 last night was on the 1988 olympic 100m final (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1988_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men's_100_metres). they call it the most tainted race ever.

very well done. repeating whole week.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/zREy7y7iqAM" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/zREy7y7iqAM</a>

Yes it was. Carl Lewis still look like an egotistical arsehole, who acted like his shite doesn't stink but appeared tuh be in cohots tuh expose Ben. Ben Johnson came off like a likable saddest, who denied and denied until the mark buss! 

[D.H.W]

Carl was a butthurt drug cheat. Ben was just more talented and probably had the best juice. Amazing how Ben used to literally jump out the blocks

[giggsy11]

Carl was a butthurt drug cheat. Ben was just more talented and probably had the best juice. Amazing how Ben used to literally jump out the blocks

Ben was funny how he treated Carl with such distain. Carl couldn't handle it or losin tuh him, he was so use tuh people kissin his arse and Ben treated him like the phony he was/is.
They made a point about the increased number of runners who started wearing bracers and that was a by product of them doping. Who they showed wearing bracers but Carl. I was looking at his present picture tuh see if his damn teeth actually straightened.

[D.H.W]

You know after I watch them documentary and another one about kelli white. I really wonder how much of track legit.

Practically all the women from Berlin world championship that medal get caught with drugs soon after. Kelli White, Torri Edwards. Marion Jones and a few other big names later on. It rell rampant. Makes me sad cause somebody get denied that fame.

[futbolfan]

It was amazing to know  Ben was juicing and at same time, the US contingent/Carl Lewis sent a man to befriend Ben and consistently spike his beer with roids.

[Andre]

i might get cuss for this but i feel this generation of jamaicans on something. look how small the trini sprinter is in front of them.

they too big and too fast. must be find a good masking agent.

[D.H.W]

Lol. Bolt was always a prodigy from young so I can't question his talent. Then again I learn my lesson putting my head on a block for sport men.

[gawd on pitch]

i might get cuss for this but i feel this generation of jamaicans on something. look how small the trini sprinter is in front of them.

they too big and too fast. must be find a good masking agent.

Its mostly Trini on here.. So yuh might not get cuss.

But if any evidence was to come out that suggested that ANYONE in the JA team was dirty... This will be a huge disappointment. Not only for Jamaicans, but also the Caribbean.

Personally, I think the Jamaicans are clean. I dont think the Trini athletes are that much "smaller" than the Jamaicans. Not sure if you seen Marc Burns in person.

But too add to your argument, people have a short memory. Blake and Fraser-Pryce both got caught with using something before...  In the end, I think they are clean now.

[D.H.W]

The company changed the ingredients in the supplements they were taking. It was proven. They didn't know. At least that is the story for Blake