A consultant physician who was medical officer to the Irish team at the 1996 Olympics has said that Beijing Olympics would play host to the cleanest Olympics in living memory.

Dr Conor O’Brien, Ireland’s leading expert on drugs in sport, said, “There is well-founded optimism that we will no longer have the spectre of the last 20 years, with almost every sprint champion being exposed as a cheat.”

From Independent.ie:

On his return from Atlanta , the Dubliner launched the Irish Anti-Doping Committee of which he was also the inaugural chairman for six years. And after retiring from this post in 2005, he was appointed by the Government to represent Ireland on the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA). Having stepped down recently from that post too, he feels free to express his views on a subject critical to the future of all sport.

“When you consider the idea of a man of 6ft 5ins competing against an opponent possibly a foot smaller, it is fanciful to think of sport as being fair,” he said. “But where drugs are concerned, our objective must be to make it safe. Drugs like cocaine, anabolic steroids, growth hormone (hGH) and erythropoietin (EPO) kill people, by damaging the heart, causing tumours and bringing about a whole variety of conditions which shorten people’s lives.”

Dr O’Brien also said, “So, not only can testers pick up an illegal substance, they pick up such important changes as the ratio of testosterone to epi-testosterone in an athlete’s system. If you suddenly find the ratio is abnormal, then there is either something wrong with your system, or you’re getting it from an outside source.

“For the cheat, it’s no longer a matter of masking the drug: the effect the drug is having on the system is also being monitored. Changes in a person are observed. If, for instance, a person’s blood-count is normally x and it suddenly goes to y, suspicions are raised.”

Tags: anabolic steroids, Beijing Olympics, drugs in sport, EPO, erythropoietin, growth hormone, HGH, testosterone

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Liza Hunter-Galvan, the marathon runner from New Zealand, has been handed over a ban for two years by the New Zealand Sports Tribunal after testing positive for the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO).

The Tribunal said in a statement that the runner tested positive for the banned substance at an out-of-competition test conducted at her home in the United States in March 2009.

From Guardian.co.uk:

“Ms Hunter-Galvan admitted taking the EPO to the Tribunal,” read the statement. “The Tribunal imposed the mandatory sanction of two years ineligibility on Ms Hunter-Galvan, which commences from the date of her provisional suspension, 29 May 2009.”

Hunter-Galvan represented New Zealand at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, finishing 51st. She was left off the team for last year’s Beijing Olympics after Athletics New Zealand selectors thought she had little hope of finishing in the top 16 based on her previous results. She won an appeal allowing her to compete and came 35th.

“For whatever reason, some athletes will be tempted and we are extremely disappointed with Liza. This certainly serves as a reminder that cheats are highly likely to be caught,” said Athletics New Zealand chief executive officer, Scott Newman.

Newman also said, “Liza has not only let herself and her sport down, she has let down those who have supported her throughout her career, including some of New Zealand’s athletics icons.”

Tags: Beijing Olympics, EPO, erythropoietin

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Double Olympian Liza Hunter-Galvan would not try to qualify for the London Olympics despite an international court ruling clearing the way for those who have served doping bans.

“I’m not sure if I have good or bad feelings about the ruling, because I don’t care any more,” the marathon runner said.

From Nzherald.co.nz:

The 42-year-old won the Christchurch Marathon in June after a two-year ban for taking the blood-booster erythropoietin (EPO) in 2009 but suspects she would not be welcome if she did qualify.

“In a nutshell how do you chase a spot that isn’t there?” Hunter-Galvan said. “Whether the ban was lifted or not I realise that the biggest hurdle I face is not my age, desire, commitment, injuries, qualifying standard, financial burden, or [the] poor choice I made. Rather it lies in being accepted.

“I have no interest in going through another legal battle, they take a toll on your soul,” the runner said, a reference to the Beijing Olympics where she placed 35th after appealing her earlier non-selection to the Sports Tribunal.

Hunter-Galvan is the only New Zealander to have tested positive to EPO, which is abused in sport for stimulating the production of red blood cells that boosts the amount of oxygen delivered to the muscles.

Tags: Beijing Olympics, EPO, erythropoietin, London Olympics

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More than 30 athletes have been prevented from competing at the Vancouver Olympics for breaking anti-doping rules, according to a confirmation by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

John Fahey, the World Anti-Doping Agency president, remarked that Olympic drug cheats are now more likely to be caught than ever before.

From Guardian.co.uk:

The World Anti-Doping Agency has confirmed that more than 30 athletes have been prevented from competing at the Vancouver Olympics for breaking anti-doping rules.

Wada’s president, John Fahey, has refused to give details of the athletes involved. He told a news conference yesterday that the sports or national federations were handling the cases that have emerged in recent months.

He says athletes trying to cheat in Vancouver are more likely to be caught “than in any other Games in our history”.

Fahey says more than 70 athletes were prevented from competing at the Beijing Olympics for violating anti-doping rules in a similar period leading into the 2008 summer Games.

The World Anti-Doping Agency, however, refused to name the athletes and cases against the athletes will be handled by the National Federations.

Tags: Beijing Olympics, doping, Olympic drug cheats, Vancouver Olympics

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The Jamaican 400m runner, Bobby-Gaye Wilkins, has been handed over a ban of two years for using performance enhancing drugs by the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association.

Wilkins will be barred from competition until April 2012, according to Warren Blake of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association.

From Guardian.co.uk:

The Jamaican 400m runner Bobby-Gaye Wilkins has been banned for two years for using a performance-enhancing substance.

Warren Blake of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association says the athlete will be barred from competition until April 2012.

Wilkins tested positive for the banned substance andranine at the world indoor championships in Doha, Qatar, in March.

She was a member of the Jamaican 4x400m relay team who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

It is worth noting here that Wilkins won the Olympic bronze in 4x400m relay team.

Tags: andranine, Beijing Olympics, Performance enhancing drugs

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A leading sports ministry official has said that China should make it a criminal offence to provide banned performance-enhancing substances to athletes and jail those found guilty.

The Chinese sports ministry cracked down on the use of drugs after fearing embarrassment at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

From in.reuters.com:

Most positive tests in recent years have been at provincial level or below, including the unearthing of 450 doses of EPO, testosterone and steroids during a raid on a Liaoning athletics school’s training camp in 2006.

Jiang Zhixue, director of the science and education department at the sports ministry, said there was insufficient deterrent for coaches and officials who administer drugs to athletes.

“We are confined to punishing them technically, giving them bans or fines but nothing more,” Jiang was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

“The (current) regulations have certain connection with the criminal law but the criminal law doesn’t have specific terms regarding this area.”

However, if it was made a criminal offence one of the punishments could be imprisonment.

Jiang said the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency had conducted 14,042 tests in 2009 — 13,336 urine tests and 706 blood tests, more than 6,000 of which were random — and 25 gave positive results.

It is worthwhile to note here that Chinese athletes were at the centre of a string of doping scandals in the 1990s and early years of this century.

Tags: Beijing Olympics, doping, EPO, steroids, testosterone

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Nathan Allen, one of the fastest men in Australia who appeared bound for the Beijing Olympics, pleaded guilty to one count of importing steroids and was convicted and fined $2000 for his crime.

The Queenslander admitted he was “stupid” to import 6 vials of anabolic steroids from Thailand for helping him recover from a groin injury that was hampering his selection for the Olympic team.

From Theaustralian.com.au:

Allen had the bottles – labelled bath oil – sent to a post-office box in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs that was registered to him. Police were alerted when the postmaster became suspicious of the package.

He was then sensationally arrested by police on March 19 during a packed press conference promoting this year’s Stawell Gift as the event’s defending champion. Allen’s lawyer, Peter Wilkins, told the court his client’s reputation had been “shot” by his arrest; he had quit athletics, had significant debts and was working at A-Mart, a Queensland sports store.

Magistrate Ian Von Einem told Allen his reputation would have been tarnished by his crime. “You have paid a fairly heavy price for what you did,” he said. “I just hope whatever you decide to do, you don’t involve yourself in drugs because it’s a sad end to your career.”

This incident again highlighted the growing relationship between steroids and sports, which has been on a rampant high for the last many decades.

Tags: anabolic steroids, athletics, Beijing Olympics, Nathan Allen, steroids, steroids and sports

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Dwain Chambers, who missed out on the Beijing Olympics, after his lifetime ban was upheld by the BOA said he would have had to struggle with his conscience had he become an Olympic champion while using drugs.

The 30-year-old Chambers missed out at the Beijing Olympics after he tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid Tetrahydrogestrinone that cost him a two-year suspension from the sport.

From Guardian.co.uk:

Chambers trained with Bolt when he first returned to the sport two years ago at the end of his drugs suspension. It was why he was not surprised by Bolt’s performances in Beijing, where he broke the world record in the 100m and 200m.

“I had the privilege of training with him [Bolt] in 2006 and I always knew he was going to run as fast as he did,” said Chambers. “It was thrilling to watch and he has raised the bar to a new level. I am thoroughly looking forward to competing against him next year.”

Chambers said he will watch with interest as the Beijing organisers now retest 5,000 drug samples for traces of the previously undetectable EPO Cera. He said: “It’s going to be interesting and also disappointing because of all those performances we thought were clean but are now going to be exposed. It shows the testing procedure getting more stringent and it puts out a strong message that we are closely behind you and it is something I am supporting. I am curious to see the outcome of [it] and hopefully we can start working towards a clean sport for 2012.”

The Dutchman Charles van Commenee, the new head coach of UK Athletics, has said that he will greet the return of Chambers.

Tags: anabolic steroid, Beijing Olympics, Dwain Chambers, Tetrahydrogestrinone

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The Paralympics at the Beijing Olympics were rocked by its first drug scandal but things went on the right track after “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius created headlines with a thrilling 100m track win.

Pistorius was able to cross the line in 11.17sec at the Bird’s Nest National Stadium on a wet night and Marlon Shirley failing to materialize by collapsing two-thirds into the race.

From Foxsports.com.au:

Earlier a shadow was cast over the Games when it was revealed that Pakistani power lifter Naveed Ahmed Butt, 37, had been given a two-year ban for steroid use.

In the first drugs scandal of the Paralympics, he tested positive for the steroid methandienone metabolites on September 4, two days before the opening ceremony, the International Paralympic Committee said.

“In accordance with the IPC anti-doping code, and after a hearing of the IPC anti-doping committee, the IPC ratified the decision to disqualify Butt,” the committee said in a statement.

A total of 356 tests have been carried out at the Games, both in and out of competition, according to IPC figures until the end of Monday.

At the Athens Games in 2004, 680 doping tests were conducted, resulting in 10 anti-doping rule violations, according to the IPC.

In other news Heath Francis pulled off Australia’s first gold medal in the 200m sprint, winning in world record time in his T46 class.

The one-armed runner finished well clear of the field in a time of 21.74sec over Cyprus silver medallist Antonis Aresti and Cuba’s Ettiam Calderon in third.

Pakistani power lifter Naveed Ahmed Butt was disqualified by the International Paralympic Committee in accordance with the IPC anti-doping code, and after a hearing of the IPC anti-doping committee.

Tags: Beijing Olympics, doping, drug scandal, methandienone, Oscar Pistorius, steroid, steroid use

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Indian weightlifter Monika Devi was sentenced a two-year ban after she was found positive in a doping test on Friday. According to a report of Press Trust of India test of Devi’s backup “B”‘ sample confirmed that she had taken an unidentified banned steroid.

When asked about the scandal, Devi claimed that she was framed by officials. In her claim context, the government ordered an investigation by retired bureaucrat T.S. Krishnamoorthy, who said that the weightlifter’s sample will be tested at a World Anti-Doping Authority-accredited laboratory in Tokyo. Though, Indian weightlifting officials refused to give any comment regarding Devi’s alleged doping violation. A legal case involving her in another doping scandal is still pending in the Delhi High Court.

Last summer, the government-run Sports Authority of India (SAI) blocked Devi’s participation entry in Beijing Olympics after an initial test, done by an Indian laboratory, of her “A” sample reported positive. The current case is second in a row involving her.

Recently, Indian weightlifting has been badly hit by doping scandals as three lifters got suspension since May. Repeated violations of banned substance rules had also caused India two-times ban from international competition since the 2004 Athens Olympics.

From CNN:

Indian weightlifter Monika Devi faces a two-year ban after testing positive for a doping substance, media reports said Friday.

Press Trust of India reported that Devi’s backup “B”‘ sample confirmed she had consumed an unidentified banned steroid.

Last summer, the government-run Sports Authority of India (SAI) stopped Devi from competing at the Beijing Olympics after an initial test by an Indian laboratory reported a positive finding on Devi’s “A” sample.

Devi claimed she was framed by officials and the government ordered an investigation by retired bureaucrat T.S. Krishnamoorthy. He asked that the weightlifter’s “B” sample be tested at a World Anti-Doping Authority-accredited laboratory in Tokyo.

Indian weightlifting officials refused to comment on Devi’s alleged doping violation as a legal case is pending in the Delhi High Court.

Tags: Beijing Olympics, Monika Devi, Sports Authority of India, steroid, weightlifting, World Anti-Doping Authority

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