POSTED: October 17th 2009
NewsUpdate
WADA targets more than just the dope-cheat athletes
KEIR RADNEDGE / Sports Features Communications
ZURICH, Oct 17: Sports should pursue not only the athletes guilty of taking performance-enhancing drugs but the agents, coaches and even family members who pressure, persuade and supply them to break the rules.
David Howman, secretary-general of the World Anti-Doping Agency, urged on a FIFA medical conference a wider vision of the ongoing war on drug cheats.
The fact that Howman had even been invited to address the conference marked a significant step forward in the often fractious relationship between WADA and the world football federation.
FIFA has adopted the 2009 WADA code but disagreements remain over the football’s implementation of the revised, tighter ‘whereabouts’ regulations. A step towards a resolution may be achieved in a fortnight’s team when FIFA meets Howman and WADA president John Fahey.
In the meantime, Howman told 400 delegates from around 200 national football associations that the fight against dope cheats was now being refined to concentate on “quality not quantity.”
Better detection
He reported that, in Australia, the amount of dope-test sampling had been reduced by 50 per cent but the number of cheats uncovered had been doubled. He said: “This has been achieved through the better detection of those buying substances through internet and other illicit means and with an improved co-operation with customs and police departments.”
The power WADA possessed in this field was far beyond that of any sports authority because, as Howman underlined, WADA is a hybrid body supported half-and-half by both sport and by government.
He said: “This means we have a tool to engage enforcement agencies to help us find evidence of those who are cheating. We’ve signed a memorandum of understanding with Interpol in that regard.
“We should remember that the influence on athletes is huge from a great number of people in their entourages but it is only the athlete who exposed, shamed and sanctioned.
“That’s wrong. What about the person who gave the athlete the drugs, the person who persuaded the athlete to take the drugs and others who are part of the persuasion component? What are we doing about them?”
Howman’s message, in effect, was that co-operation with WADA was essential in anti-doping work because of its access to law-enforecement agencies.
He said: “Sport itself may not be able to do much because it does not have the jurisdiction but WADA may have it through our governmental arm.”
Keywords · WADA · FIFA · dope-testing · drugs · Howman
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