POSTED: October 12th 2010
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JOHN GOODBODY: Spain also-rans when it comes to fight against doping
THE JOHN GOODBODY COLUMN / An authoritative and exclusive series from Sports Features Communications
LONDON, Oct 11: The struggle to combat doping abuse in the Olympic sports is difficult enough at the best of times. There is the increasing introduction of ‘designer’ drugs, the refusal of many competitors and officials to tell the truth, the lack of funds in a large number of countries, legal obstacles as well as the feeling that the good guys are always one step behind the bad guys.
However, what is even more frustrating for the international authorities is the failure to get the co-operation of leading countries when evidence of doping is obtained.
When the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was set up in Lausanne in 1999, the principle was not only to get the backing of the international governing bodies but also the countries themselves. However, the failure of Spain to have co-operated fully with WADA has been little short of scandalous.
In May 2006 the Madrid clinic of Dr Eufemiano Fuentes was raided in what became known as Operación Puerto. The clinic had been giving illicit help to many leading competitors in a variety of sports and, when some of the names began to seep out, cycling, to its credit, acted swiftly.
Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich were just two leading riders who were banned from the Tour de France that year.
Fuentes has said that cyclists were only some of his clients and they have been among those, who have been most frequently sanctioned subsequently as a result of the investigation. One of the most recent was Alejandro Valverde, 2nd in the 2006 Tour of Spain, whose two year ban was confirmed in May 2010 by the Court for Arbitration in Sport.
Dr Fuentes has claimed that he had clients in other activities such as football and tennis but the machinery to get suspensions in such sports has been stalled. Now comes the news that the blood bags of Dr Fuentes’ clients, impounded when the laboratory was originally raided, may be destroyed.
John Fahey, the Australian president of WADA, says that he is “very frustrated” by the cumbersome machinery of the Spanish legal system and addS: "We continue to emphasise that the evidence gathered by law enforcement during the investigation needs to be preserved for sharing with sport and anti-doping authorities.”
It is appalling that, well over four years since the original seizure, more has not been done to discover the identity of other clients of Fuentes, some of whom may well be household names and playing top-class sport today.
Ultimately the blame must be taken by the Spanish Government. For many years, there has been a belief that Spain (unlike Italy) has not shown the determination to root out doping in its country.
Given Spain’s prominence this year in many sports, winners of the FIFA World Cup, Rafael Nadal’s domination of men's tennis and Alberto Contador’s victory in the Tour de France - although he, of course, is under suspicion for doping - it is essental that Spain be seen as leaders in the fight against drug-taking. However, the country has signally failed to do this.
** JOHN GOODBODY covered the 2008 Olympics for The Sunday Times, his 11th successive Summer Games and is the author of the audio book A History of the Olympics, read by Barry Davies, the BBC commentator. He was Sports News Correspondent of The Times 1986-2007, for whom he received journalistic awards in all three decades on the paper, including Sports Reporter of The Year in 2001
Keywords · John Goodbody · Spain · WADA · Fuentes · cycling
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