DOPING NEWS 2005, Part 1 (January-June 2005)

News on all aspects of doping science, doping usage, anti doping control, and anti-doping code appearing in lay and business press are vitally important. The Doping Journal fulfills its obligation to inform interested scientists, athletes, funding agencies, regulatory bodies and legislators about the news stories on doping.

Legal notice: 'Doping News' page of the Doping Journal is provided for educational purpose only. A reference for news at length of this page is not an endorsement or approval of a news article content. The list below does not make a claim to being comprehensive; It is no substitute for your own research, and should not be relied upon for any purpose. Further info is available at the Doping Journal disclaimer statement. Please note that Doping Journal may inadvertently omit certain national/international news stories due to the lack of information. If you notice an omission please let us know. Each citation may include URL links to related articles.

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Chimera on a Bike?
Credit: Stein W
Science (24 June 2005) 308(5730): 1864b
[PubMed] [Related Doping J News: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 ] [Authors contact]

Excerpt: "...Last September, Olympian Tyler Hamilton, 34, of Boulder, Colorado, was accused of taking a blood transfusion to boost his performance after a newly developed test showed he had two different types of red blood cells. Hamilton denied the charge, and with the help of geneticist David Housman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, he has been arguing that he might be a chimera: an organism with a mix of genetically distinct cells. Human chimeras are not all that rare, Housman told a board arbitrating the case in March. Mothers and fetuses often exchange blood-producing stem cells, and fetuses can also get foreign cells from sharing the womb with a "vanishing twin," he said. But the arbitrators didn't bite, voting 2 to 1 to uphold a 2-year suspension and stating that blood doping was "the only reasonable conclusion." Encouraged by the split decision, however, Hamilton is again appealing, this time to a sport arbitration court in Switzerland... Mother-fetus chimerism is unlikely to produce foreign cells at the levels found in Hamilton's blood - about 2% - says geneticist Wendy Robinson of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. But Housman predicts that more athletes who are actually chimeras will show up as suspected blood dopers. And, wrote Hamilton this month in his online journal, "If we've accomplished nothing else in this case, we have put a spotlight on the vanishing twin phenomenon.""

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Governing Doped Bodies: The World Anti-Doping Agency and the Global Culture of Surveillance
Jin-Kyung Park
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies (2005) 5(2): 174-188
[PubMed] [Authors contact]

Abstract: "This essay examines the governing practices of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), an organization established in 1999 to cope with the crisis of illicit performance-enhancing drug use in international sport. The background, structure, and policies of WADA are analyzed while reflecting upon recent cultural studies debates on governmentality. In doing so, it is shown how WADA policies fundamentally work to police athletic bodies. Also demonstrated is that WADA embodies a First World, technology-driven governance of doping. Key Words: governmentality, surveillance, body, doping, globalization."

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The world anti-doping code 2003 - consequences for physicians associated with elite athletes
Striegel H, Rossner D, Simon P, and Niess AM
Medical Clinic and Policlinic, Department of Sports Medicine, University of Tubingen, Silcherstrasse 5, 72076 Tubingen, Germany
Int J Sports Med (1 April 2005) 26(3): 238
[PubMed] [Authors contact]

Abstract: "The purpose of the World Anti-Doping Code 2003 and the 2004 Prohibited List is to create a universal international standard to fight doping in competitive sports. The result of this is a whole series of changes for doctors with regard to their work with competitive athletes. The revised definition of doping now includes physicians in the group of persons who can fulfil the elements of a doping offence. Moreover, the mere possession of substances appearing on the Prohibited List represents a violation of anti-doping regulations. The 2004 Prohibited List includes several changes to the Olympic Movement List from 2003. Caffeine, for example, was removed from the list. Cannabinoids, on the other hand, are now prohibited in competition for all sports. The same is true for all forms of glucocorticosteroids. Therapeutic use exemptions in an abbreviated process are possible for the administration of glucocorticosteroids by non-systemic routes, as well as inhalative therapy with the beta-2-agonists formoterol, salbutamol, salmeterol, and termbutalin. In other cases, a therapeutic use exemption is possible using a standard application process. Further changes will become effective in the 2005 Prohibited List. In 2005, it is essential that beta-2-agonists are prohibited in and out of competition. HCG and LH are prohibited for all athletes. Dermatological preparations of glucocorticosteroids are no longer prohibited, and intravenous infusions will be a prohibited method in 2005, except as a legitimate acute medical treatment. In cases of violations of anti-doping regulations where it is permissible for the affected person to furnish proof of exoneration, the burden of proof is not higher than that required to prove the violation. The sanctions provided for in the World Anti-Doping Code follow a principle of rules and exceptions which at first glance seems difficult to understand. In the case of doping violations by physicians, the anti-doping code provides - as a general rule - for exclusion from sports associations for at least four years. Since several of the changes are questionable under constitutional aspects, it remains to be seen whether the World Anti-Doping Code 2003 will allow the achievement of a universal standard to combat doping."

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Jones Doesn't Address Doping Allegations
Los Angeles Times - CA, USA (9 June 2005)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Excerpt: "MONTERREY, Mexico - Marion Jones said Thursday that boyfriend Tim Montgomery had a "long week" during an anti-doping hearing in California, but she didn't address allegations against herself. The three-time Olympic champion answered a list of scripted questions during a quick news conference before Saturday's Galatletica competition, but didn't address doping allegations against her based on grand jury transcripts leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle. Montgomery, who set the 100-meter world record in 2002, never has tested positive for a banned substance. Still, the United States Anti-Doping Agency is seeking to bar him from competition based on secret documents the Senate obtained last year. Montgomery was at a hearing in San Francisco this week challenging a potential lifetime ban that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency recommended for his alleged use of banned substances. "He's had a long week out in California," Jones said. "And I'm just looking forward to having a good competition." Besides Jones, Saturday's competition will feature Montgomery, the world's fastest man, and Mexican star Ana Guevara. Jones said she wants to use the event to tune up for U.S. nationals. "It's time to put it all out there," she said."

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Congress investigates steroid use among teen girls
Las Vegas Sun - Las Vegas, NV, USA (14 June 2005)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Excerpt: "The congressional committee that interrogated Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco will turn its focus Wednesday to steroid use by teenage girls. The House Committee on Government Reform will hold its fourth hearing on steroids in response to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that anabolic steroid use by young girls is rising. The report indicated that girls not only take steroids to enhance athletic ability, but also to control weight and lose body fat."

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WTC spawns entity to administer rules, doping policy at Ironman events: Ironman races will no longer be USAT sanctioned
Inside Triathlon Interactive, USA (12 June 2005)
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Excerpt: "In an effort to improve existing standards and race-related guidelines, the World Triathlon Corporation (the parent company that owns the Ironman Triathlon) is launching Global Tri Group Inc. (GTG). The Global Tri Group was formed to standardize rules/regulations, provide insurance assistance, and design programs to implement drug-testing worldwide. Members of the GTG Advisory Board include Steve Meckfessel, Greg Welch, Jim Riccitello and Paula Newby-Fraser. "We have been listening to our athletes and believe this will address their needs as well as contribute to the overall health and growth of triathlon," says Welch, a former Ironman and ITU World Champion. GTG will develop programs to initiate in-competition and out-of-competition drug testing for athletes, all in compliance with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Additionally, GTG will revamp the officiating system, including the method in which penalties are assessed. A complete set of competitive rules is available here. Athletes who hold a current annual membership with USA Triathlon as of June 12, 2005 will not incur additional insurance fees at upcoming 2005 U.S. Ironman events in which they are participating. Athletes who do not hold an annual membership will be required to purchase a one-day GTG membership ($9USD) for insurance at the Ironman event in which they are participating. Through the GTG, Philadelphia Insurance Companies will be the insurance provider. The $9 fee will encompass race day insurance, officiating and costs related to drug-testing. The 2005 Ironman Coeur d'Alene Triathlon will be the first event officially endorsed by Global Tri Group."

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U.S. weightlifter accepts suspension for doping violation
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) - Press release (16 June 2005)
[FullText] [Author contact]

"COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 16, 2005) The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced today that Amanda Hubbard of Marietta, Ga., an athlete in the sport of weightlifting, tested positive for a prohibited substance and accepted a suspension for her first doping offense.

Hubbard, 23, tested positive for metabolites of cannabis or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) at the U.S. Weightlifting National Championships in Cleveland, Ohio on May 6, 2005.  Cannabinoids are listed as “specified substances” and are prohibited under the USADA Protocol and the rules of the International Weightlifting Federation, both of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code and the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) Prohibited List.  Cannabinoids are listed as “specified substances” because they are less likely to be abused as doping agents.

Hubbard accepted a three-month period of ineligibility.  As part of her sanction, she agreed to participate in an anti-doping educational program. Upon completion of the program, she received a three-month period of deferment, allowing for a return to competition immediately.

As a result of the doping violation, Hubbard has been disqualified from the 2005 U.S. Weightlifting National Championships and forfeits her third place finish in the Women’s 58 Kilograms event. USA Weightlifting, the national governing body for the sport in the United States, will carry out the sanction.

USADA is responsible for managing the testing and results management process for athletes in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement.  USADA is equally dedicated to preserving the integrity of sport through research initiatives and educational programs.

CONTACT: Nirva Milord, Communications & Public Affairs Director, (719) 785-2009"

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755 Hits, Inc., Partners with the World Anti-Doping Agency to Promote Ethics in Sports
www.PR.com/press-release (15 June 2005)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Excerpt: "Tampa, FL (15 June 2005) 755 Hits, Inc., a non-profit organization that advocates zero tolerance policies for substances used to enhance athletic performance, has affiliated with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Led by the International Olympic Committee, WADA was created to support fundamental values in sporting events. “Their (WADA’s) ideas and values are very much aligned with ours,” says Ed Titen, president of 755 Hits, Inc. “We only accept athletic accomplishments and records established through honesty. Substance abuse not only compromises integrity in sports, it often endangers children and young adults who participate in them.” Established in 2005, 755 Hits, Inc., gets its name from the all-time home run record set by Henry "Hank" Aaron. The non-profit organization donates proceeds to various sporting organizations, promoting honesty, integrity and truth in sports. “Organizations like ours are teaming up to rally more support for ethics in sports. It’s up to us to determine what kind of message we send our children,” says Titen. Contact: Ed Titen, President"

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Fastest man says he can go quicker
Scotsman - Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (16 June 2005)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Excerpt: "ASAFA Powell, the softly spoken son of a preacher, has snatched the world 100 metres record away from a man who might have lost it anyway after being charged with serious doping offences, writes John Mehaffey. The 22-year-old Jamaican clocked 9.77sec at Athens' Olympic stadium on Tuesday, 0.01sec under the mark set by American Tim Montgomery at the Stade de France in 2002. The Court of Arbitration for Sport will announce in the next few weeks whether Montgomery should be banned for life and lose his time and earnings from the Paris meeting, but Powell erased all doubts surrounding the record when he confirmed his excellent early-season form with a finishing time of 9.78, rounded down by 0.01sec to ensure he took sole possession of the world mark. Powell admits more records will now be on his mind - even the possibility of taking the time down to 9.6sec. He said: "I don't know if that is possible - but I know I can run faster. If you ask what I can do more this year, you will just have to wait until the end of this season to see." First on Powell's agenda, though, must be the Helsinki world championships in August. Two years ago he was disqualified in the quarter-finals in Paris. Last year he was unbeaten, apart from the only race which really mattered when he finished fifth in the Olympic final. Powell is only the fourth non-American to hold the world 100 metres record since 1912 and the first since Jamaican-born Canadian Donovan Bailey clocked 9.84 sec in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic final. He also provides full vindication of a scheme set up in Jamaica by former hurdler Brigitte Foster to ensure young athletes do not feel impelled to move to the United States or Europe for economic reasons. The Caribbean has been a fertile environment for world-class sprinters but, since Hasely Crawford won the 1976 Olympic 100m final for Trinidad, they have won the highest honours for their adopted countries. Ben Johnson, disqualified for doping after winning the 1988 Seoul Olympic final in 9.79sec, was born in Jamaica, as was Linford Christie, who won the 1992 Olympic gold for Britain. Powell, whose relaxed, laidback demeanour makes a pleasant contrast to the extrovert Americans, is clearly as talented as any sprinter in history and could reduce the record further when the European summer really hots up."

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Racing: Purdon to face charges over blue magic doping
New Zealand Herald - Auckland, New Zealand (16 June 2005)
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Excerpt: "Top harness racing trainer Mark Purdon will next month face charges related to the blue magic drugs affair. Harness Racing New Zealand (HRNZ) announced yesterday that the hearing would be held in Christchurch, commencing on Monday, July 25, although an earlier date would have been preferred. "While disappointed that this case could not be heard earlier, Harness Racing New Zealand is pleased that a date has been confirmed and that this matter can now be resolved through the judicial process," HRNZ general manager Edward Rennell said. Purdon is charged with the use of propantheline bromide, an ingredient in the substance commonly known as blue magic. Purdon's hearing will follow that of fellow Canterbury trainer Nigel McGrath, who has an appeal against a three-year disqualification set down for June 23 and 24. McGrath was disqualified in September of last year by the judicial control authority for the use of propantheline bromide but has continued to work as a trainer under a stay of proceedings. McGrath had intended taking his case to the High Court but last month decided against that course of action.

The blue magic affair first surfaced in New Zealand harness racing in May last year. In the interim two people connected to the case have died. They were former Canterbury trainer Robert Asquith, 47, who died last July at his home near Rangiora in North Canterbury, two days before he was to appear in court for the supply of propantheline bromide. The other was millionaire horse owner John Seaton of Christchurch. He was found dead at his home last November. Seaton, 55, had days earlier been charged with a being a party to - or attempted use of - propantheline bromide."

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Columnist Peter Benton: Doping the U.S. Open field
Las Vegas Sun - Las Vegas, NV, USA (15 June 2005)
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Excerpt: "The 105th U.S. Open gets under way this week over the 7,214-yard, par-70, Pinehurst No. 2 course in Pinehurst, N.C. Like most Open venues, this layout will penalize those who fail to find the fairway, so (a) accuracy off the tee is a must; and (b) because the majority of greens are similar to inverted saucers, an excellent short game is also mandatory. To complete this equation, (c) the players with the aforementioned qualities along with the ability to successfully putt on the sloping and no doubt ultra-fast greens will have a huge advantage... As all golfers are aware, any Tour player on any given week can break through with a victory. Remember Ben Curtis in the 2003 British Open and Shaun Micheel in '03 PGA Championship? In essence, anybody in this year's U.S. Open field could win. So, who do you like?."

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Two-year doping ban for Ayhan: Turk bannned for two years
FOX SPORTS - Australia (16 June 2005)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Excerpt: "TURKISH sporting authorities have once again raised to two years a ban imposed on runner Sureyya Ayhan for violating anti-doping rules, a government official said. The decision follows a warning by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that a one-year reduction granted to the European 1500m champion earlier this year was in breach of anti-doping rules. "Ayhan will be now be banned until October 1, 2006," the official said. A sports disciplinary board suspended Ayhan for two years in February for violating anti-doping rules, but later reduced the ban to one year. The runner was accused of shying away from a doping test and trying to submit someone else's urine sample ahead of the 2004 Athens Olympics. She and her coach and husband Yucel Kop rejected the charges, but admitted to a serious dispute with doping inspectors over how the sample should be taken. Ayhan withdrew from the Olympics, citing a hamstring injury, but the Turkish media reported that the real reason for her pullout was the doping scandal. The IAAF last month filed an appeal against Turkey's decision to reduce her ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the world's top sports court. "The CAS may now decide that the required penalty has been given and drop the case," the Turkish official said."

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Kenteris testifies in doping case
Calcutta Telegraph - Calcutta,India - Reuters (16 June 2005)
[FullText] [Related ABC News report of June 6] [Author contact]

Excerpt: "Athens: Greek sprinter Costas Kenteris told a magistrate on Wednesday he was innocent of charges that he deliberately missed a doping test on the eve of the Athens Olympics and staged a motorcycle accident to avoid being tested. Kenteris, fellow sprinter Katerina Thanou and their coach at the time, Christos Tzekos, face charges of avoiding three doping tests including the one in Athens in August 2004 and faking the accident that put the two athletes in hospital for four days. “This country gave birth to the Olympics but also to this nightmare,” Kenteris’s lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos told reporters after the testimony. “There is not the slightest evidence that he is guilty of the charges laid against him.” A court source said that the former Olympic champion, who appeared in court wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses, had repeated his claim of innocence. “He calmly repeated to the magistrate that he is innocent and has done nothing wrong,” the source said."

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East German doping victims seek damages from drug maker
Reuters.co.uk - UK (28 April 2005)
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Excerpt: "East German athletes stopped taking mandatory performance-enhancing drugs with the fall of the Berlin Wall 16 years ago. For many, though, the devastating effects on their health are only just beginning. "We are not just talking about complaints which can be fixed by an operation. We are talking about heart disease, liver failure, cancer," explained former shot putter Birgit Boese, who was pumped full of drugs from the age of 11 in the belief that they were vitamins. Now victims of the state-controlled doping programme, intended to produce Olympic gold medallists, are to fight for compensation from Jenapharm, the drugs company which produced their steroids.

Lawyer Michael Lehner says he planned a lawsuit against Jenapharm for 3.2 million euros (2.2 million pounds) compensation and Berlin-based lawyer Sven Leistikow says he will bring a test case against the firm by the European summer, probably involving a female former Olympian. Former athletes face spiralling medical costs to fund pain relief and osteopath bills and in many cases have no state medical insurance because they have been too ill to work. Oral-Turinabol, a steroid produced by Jenapharm which also made oral contraceptives and sex hormones, was the most common drug. The firm was privatised in 1991 and is now owned by drugmaker giant Schering.

LEGALLY APPROVED. "Jenapharm was part of the state doping system. It researched and produced doping substances and was involved in their distribution," said Lehner, who represents some 160 former athletes. Jenapharm says as Oral-Turinabol was legal in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) it did nothing wrong. "This substance was legally approved in the GDR and available on the market, but was misused by sports physicians and trainers," Jenapharm said in a statement. The firm has refused requests for talks with lawyers seeking an out-of-court settlement and now faces the test cases. Lehner says research from files left behind by East Germany's notorious Stasi secret police shows Jenapharm also passed non-approved substances to trainers and withheld information about the side-effects, thereby breaking the law.

"Oral Turinabol may have been legal but other medicines were not. It was also against the law not to inform athletes about the considerable side-effects to which they were exposed when they were forced to take these pills," he said. Former swimmer Catherine Menschner, 40, who has had seven miscarriages, found after research in Stasi files that she formed part of a secret guinea-pig class for steroid trials. Menschner told Germany's ARD television she needed to take pain killers constantly.

IDEOLOGICAL VICTORY. Jenapharm asserts that those responsible were: "The heads of the Socialist Party and the government who wanted to demonstrate the abilities of the GDR by achieving success in sporting events, and on the other hand the sports physicians and trainers who used the doping substances on the athletes." State-endorsed doping began with the Cold War when every eastern bloc gold was an ideological victory. From 1974, Manfred Ewald, the head of the GDR's sports federation, imposed blanket doping. At the 1968 Mexico City Olympicas, the country of 17 million collected nine gold medals. Four years later the total was 20 and in 1976 it doubled again to 40. In 2000 Ewald was convicted of causing bodily harm and given a 22-month suspended sentence. The few trainers and doctors ever charged were given moderate fines or suspended sentences.

"Under German law Ewald received a relatively severe punishment. The problem is bodily harm is not considered a particularly serious offence in this country," Lehner said. "It is just like after the Nazi era -- with everyone saying it is not me, it was not my fault," said Boese. Victims of the doping regime have been bitterly disappointed at the lack of results.

Up to 2,000 former sportsmen and women are seriously ill. Some have died, others are waiting to see what health problems their children may have inherited, said Boese. "Many of those sports people worst affected need every last bit of strength just to stay alive," Boese said. She dismisses any suggestion that within the totalitarian GDR state, doctors and scientists had no choice but to comply. "Those responsible within Jenapharm had the opportunity to say 'we will not produce this because we know it will be misused in sport'. No one would have lost their lives for standing up."

Leistikow added: "I do not believe that the pressure in East Germany was such that they were unable to refuse. They knew it was crime. "I get the impression that they thought so long as this remains secret 'I will play along'. They also wanted the GDR to look good on the international stage and agreed to go to any lengths to ensure athletes' success." Rainer Hartwich, Stasi codename "Klinner", who worked as a clinical research doctor for Jenapharm, told German television he alerted the Stasi in 1988 to the dangers of steroids. "I believe there is a moral responsibility here, and that the victims must be supported. This is Jenapharm's responsibility and they should fulfill their duty," he said."

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Turkey to become doping center of UEFA
Xinhua - Beijing,China (27 April 2005)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Excerpt: "The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) will carry out doping tests in Turkey in the new season, semi-official Anatolia News Agency reported on Wednesday. Marc Vouillamoz, the head of UEFA Anti-Doping Unit, was quoted as saying that they wanted to work with Turkish Doping Control Center in Ankara as the official laboratory of UEFA in the season of 2005-2006. In a letter to the Center, Vouillamoz said thatthey aimed to sign an agreement in the beginning of the new season. UEFA has currently been carrying out doping tests in a center inNyon, Switzerland."

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Doping law: 'Zero tolerance'
News24 - Cape Town,South Africa (27 April 2005)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Excerpt: "Washington - US lawmakers will consider a "zero tolerance" bill for steroids in all levels of American sport "in the very near future", US House Government Reform Committee chair Tom Davis said on Wednesday. "Legislation, I think, will be introduced in that regard very shortly," Davis said before a hearing on steroids in the National Football League, a follow-up to March's 11-hour session on Major League Baseball's steroid woes. "We want a bill that goes across amateur and professional sports, basically a no-tolerance policy. I expect that in the very near future." But leagues would likely be left to decide their own punishments, Davis said, making it unlikely they would adopt the World Anti-Doping Agency standard of a two-year ban for a first steroid violation. The hearing comes a day after a US university study showed steroids are popular with pre-teen US girls who seek a more statuesque womanly form at a young age.

Girls using steroids. "Seven percent of middle-aged school girls are now using steroids to give their bodies tone, to make them look better. This is dangerous," Davis said. "These drugs are not only illegal, they are dangerous."

The NFL and US Anti-Doping Agency together established a doping laboratory near Salt Lake City to combat doping, but even NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue admits that genetic manipulation might soon turn television bionic myth into 21st Century reality. "The 'Six Million-Dollar Man' will no longer be a television fantasy but will instead become a near-term reality," Tagliabue said. "When that happens, the issues that our society is discussing today... will be as irrelevant as the blacksmith in the automobile age." The moves by Tagliabue come in the wake of revelations last month that members of the Carolina Panthers filled prescriptions for NFL-banned steroids before playing in the 2004 Super Bowl.

Davis said a steroid hearing with National Basketball Association officials is planned in the next month and a session with the National Hockey League is planned as lawmakers seek insight before imposing a federal sport steroid ban. "We do want to get involvement at the professional sports level. That's very important. Kids will emulate what they see the professional stars doing," said Davis. "We're targeting America's youth who are taking steroids in epidemic proportions. It has got to be zero tolerance.""

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Frans banned for two years
Ottawa Sun - Ottawa,Ontario,Canada (8 June 2005)
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Excerpt: "Canadian curler Joe Frans committed an anti-doping rule violation at the 2005 Brier in Edmonton, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport announced yesterday. Frans' urine sample on March 8 returned an adverse analytical finding for cocaine metabolite, a prohibited substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency list. An independent arbitrator found the 29-year-old Grimsby native violated an anti-doping rule and imposed a sanction of two years sport ineligibility and permanent ineligibility for federal sport funding. Frans played second on Wayne Middaugh's Ontario team at the Brier."

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Mondor skipping outdoor track season
Lori Ewing
SLAM! Sports - ON,Canada (9 June 2005)
[FullText][Author contact]

Excerpt: "Emilie Mondor came home from the Athens Olympics last summer disillusioned about her sport. The turning point came just before her 5,000-metre race, when she went to use the washroom in the Olympic Stadium warmup area. She found an empty vial on the floor beside the toilet, a discarded container probably from an illegal doping substance. "All that work, all that hard training, I thought, why bother?" Mondor said from her home in Mascouche, Que. "That was the thing that really mentally destroyed me, losing a bit of the illusion."

In her mind, the Canadian distance runner had lost her competitive fire. But it was her body that eventually forced the issue when she suffered a physical meltdown over the winter that kept her in bed for weeks. While Mondor says she's on the road to recovery and is excited about moving to her new training base in California, she's opted to skip this year's track circuit which means missing the world championships in Helsinki in August. She looks back on the last few months as a huge learning experience.

"I didn't really like my experience at the Games, especially when I saw so much more the reality of track and field," said Mondor, who finished 17th in Athens. "For the past year and a half, pretty much all the news about track and field was about doping. It's just so sad. "And when I read about EPO (banned hormone erythropoietin, which increases oxygen carrying capacity) and stuff like that, I know what it does, I know what it is, and it's very difficult for me to know that I'm running against cheaters. And that happened last year." After Athens, she turned her focus toward the road-racing and cross-country circuits. She raced to a Canadian road record of 15 minutes 16 seconds in a 5-K in October, and was looking forward to improving on her eighth-place finish at the world cross-country championships.

She was training hard - too hard. "Weirdly, my body really, really crashed in December," said Mondor. "I had a fever, my blood pressure fell... It was a depression kind of, like my nervous system just crashed." Mondor, who had thrived in the lonely world of the long distance runner and prided herself on never taking a day off, wound up flat on her back. "I was sleeping all day, I had no energy, it was very, very tough. My metabolism was so high, so I became weaker and weaker," she said. Mondor had pushed herself past her limit. She suffered a couple of injuries that were huge clues her spare five-foot-six body was breaking down - a rolled ankle and a stress fracture in her sacrum, the triangular bone at the base of the spine.

"My body is still very young, and I think sometimes I ask a little bit too much of it," Mondor said. "At some point, you realize you're just human." That point came in May, when she gathered with her parents, her agent and Athletics Canada officials. "We just said, why rush everything? I just turned 24 on April 29, which is still a baby for distance running," said Mondor. "And even Athletics Canada pushed me not to run. They are saying 'The important one is Beijing (Olympics) in 2008 and you are one of our top athletes and we want you to heal all those little issues with your body.'

"Making that decision, the stress just went down so much." Still, pulling back wasn't easy. Mondor had already been confirmed for such prestigious meets as the Gaz de France Golden League meet in Paris, and the Golden Gala in Rome. She'll be missed in Helsinki too, after finishing a respectable 12th in the 5,000 at the 2003 world championships in Paris. Mondor also left her coach Mike Lonergan. Lonergan is based in B.C. and had been coaching Mondor mostly long-distance, via e-mail and over the phone. The two agreed it wasn't working. Mondor is moving to California in August to train at the U.S. national endurance centre in Mammoth Mountain.

And she has a new outlook on her sport. She's decided the measure of her worth is not in world championship medals and the only person she needs to beat on the track is herself. "When I do road races, I see the single mom that is running maybe 50 minutes for 10K, and you know what, I respect her more than some world record-breaker that weirdly has more than triple the red blood cells than me (a sign of doping)," she said. "To be a world champion doesn't make you a better person. I had to make that adjustment in my head. Do I really want to be involved in a sport that is so dirty? Do I really need that to be happy with who I am? "I can do a lot of other things in my life. I'm not living to be Emilie Mondor the athlete. I have a lot to achieve running, and I decided, you know what, I may never be a world champion, but I will always keep that same mentality that I always had, to fight against myself and to try to go faster than myself."

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Montgomery at Doping Hearing
WashingtonPost.com (7 June 2005)
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Excerpt: "Tim Montgomery , the world record holder in the 100 meters, appeared yesterday at a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) doping hearing. Barry Bonds 's personal trainer has joined two other defendants in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative case and withdrawn his motion to suppress evidence gathered in the investigation. Greg Anderson withdrew his motion yesterday, the day before the evidentiary hearing had been scheduled, said Luke Macaulay , a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco. Two other defendants, BALCO founder Victor Conte and Vice President James Valente , dropped their challenge last Friday. The defendants had been contesting the legality of the police raid of BALCO and Anderson's house, both in Burlingame, Calif. In a related matter, sprinter Tim Montgomery arrived in San Francisco for the start of his arbitration hearing challenging a potential lifetime ban that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency recommended for his alleged use of banned substances. Montgomery is challenging USADA's recommendation before the Court of Arbitration for Sport during a closed-door hearing that is expected to last several days."

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Beijing 2008 web site Doping Info launched
Beijing 2008 (press release) - Beijing,China (9 June 2005)
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Beijing 2008 web site Doping Info launched. Presently, this page provides the following info: Doping Control, Adverse Analytical Finding, Anti-Doping Testing, In-Competition Testing, Independent Observer Programme, No Advance Notice, No Fault or Negligence, No Significant Fault or Negligence, Out of Competition Testing, Prohibited List, Prohibited Method, Prohibited Substance, Sample/Specimen, Specified Substances, Testing, Therapeutic Use Exemption, World Anti-Doping Agency, World Anti-Doping Code, Category: Generic." The subtitle is: "One word per day: Doping Control Contrôle du dopage. Doping Control relates to the planning, implementation and management of the process including test distribution planning, Sample collection and handling, laboratory analysis, results management, hearings and appeals. The OCOG may establish a functional area dealing with Doping Control aspects."

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Frans: I didn't knowingly take cocaine
Canadian Press (8 June 2005)
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Excerpt: "The curler suspended for two years for testing positive for cocaine at the national men's championship said he ''partied hard'' at the Tim Hortons Brier, but denied knowingly ingesting cocaine. Joe Frans, who played second for Wayne Middaugh's Ontario team at the Brier in March, has been banned for two years because he tested positive for a cocaine metabolite, a prohibited substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency list. When asked for an explanation by the Canadian Centre For Ethics in Sport, he responded with an e-mail on April 11.

''This is a complete shock. I don't believe it,'' Frans said in his reply, which was included in an arbitrator's ruling released Wednesday. ''I drink a lot - I'm a curler - but I don't do drugs. ''I partied hard at the Tim Hortons Brier, going to the patch (social event) every night. I did go to the smoke hole often because I like to smoke when drinking... I also went to many after-parties all week long. ''I don't remember seeing cocaine or anyone smoking it, but those are the only times I can possibly think of that I may have come into contact with drugs. I am at a loss. ''I would never do anything to jeopardize something that means so much to me and everyone around me. I don't know what I would do without curling.''

Cocaine as a performance-enhancer in curling seems incongruous because the sport requires a steady hand and nerves and a clear head to plot strategy, read the ice and make accurate shots, rather than aggression or high stimulation. Sweeping is probably the only area where it might give an advantage.

''I would think there's absolutely no way it could ever help you,'' two-time world champion Colleen Jones said Wednesday. ''I don't know what drug could help you in curling to play better. What I've read about cocaine and the rush it would give you, it would be the worst possible thing you could take for curling. I don't believe for a minute it was ever used for performance enhancement.'' She said Frans' performance at the Brier in Edmonton proved that. ''He played really badly at the Brier,'' Jones said.

Middaugh's team went 6-5 and finished just out of a playoff berth at the Brier. Frans tied for fourth in shooting percentage among seconds at the tournament. The World Anti-Doping Agency, which includes cocaine on its banned list of performance-enhancing substances, and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, which carries out the testing, does not distinguish between sports when it comes to doping.

If the substance is on the banned list, you're out. ''The code, in an attempt to be harmonized across sports and around the world, rarely differentiates by sport,'' CCES president Paul Melia said. ''It is possible that an athlete got caught up in the system who never intended to cheat by using performance-enhancing drugs, but the system does not differentiate.'' While considered more of a social or recreational drug, WADA says cocaine is a performance-enhancer because it stimulates the central nervous system like ephedrine, another banned substance, and increases energy and aggression.

While marijuana is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited list, it's classified as a ''specified substance'' because it's not used for performance enhancement. Sanctions for testing positive for marijuana can range from a reprimand to a one-year ban from the sport.

Frans, a 29-year-old native of Grimsby, Ont., exercised his right under the rules of the Canadian Anti-Doping Program to an arbitration hearing in that he didn't waive his right to a hearing. But he did not participate in it or provide an explanation in writing. Arbitrator Richard McLaren said in his written ruling that he closed the hearing ''due to his (Frans') lack of co-operation and willingness to participate'' and McLaren proceeded to determine that an anti-doping violation had taken place. Frans was one of four athletes randomly selected for testing at the Brier. He is the second curler to ever receive a doping violation.

American Mitchell Markes was suspended in January for two years for refusing to take an out-of-competition drug test. Drug testing has been performed at Canadian national curling events since it became an Olympic sport in 1998. While Jones, a six-time national champion, goes to the Scott Tournament of Hearts expecting to be tested, she says teams making their debut at a national championship often face drug testing for the first time.

''Perhaps you are a recreational drug user and suddenly you're going to be tested,'' she said. ''I almost think now there should posters at every single curling club in Canada, that you're a tested sport and the CCES allows for nothing, to make people aware that recreational drug use is tested for and if you're caught, you're suspended.''

Frans, however, had experience in national competitions as he competed at both the 2001 curling trials and the 2002 Brier as third for John Morris. Curlers cannot plead ignorance, said Warren Hansen, the Canadian Curling Association's manager of event operations and media relations, because information on banned substances and drug testing are included in a guide given to each athlete before the national championships. Also, teams are reminded at a meeting the day before the competition begins that there will be drug testing.

''When you have a large number of people participating from all different walks of life as to what people do and how they do it, it's pretty varied,'' Hansen said. ''I think basically what it says is that curling isn't any different than any other sport with regard to potential problems that athletes might have with drugs.''"

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Doping-Australian government to aid WADA over caffeine concern
Reuters.uk - UK (19 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "SYDNEY, May 19 (Reuters) - The Australian government will hand over any information it has on caffeine use to help the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) assess whether the drug should be banned. WADA announced it would consider putting caffeine tablets back on the banned substance list after several Australian athletes, including national rugby captain George Gregan, admitted taking them. "It is important the international watchdog on anti-doping in sport has access to the best available information on any matter, allowing it to make informed decisions," Australian sports minister Rod Kemp said in a statement. "Australia will be providing all the data it has available on caffeine to assist WADA in its consideration of this issue." Although there was no suggestion that anyone had broken the rules, Kemp said he was concerned that high-profile athletes were taking caffeine. "It is clear that inappropriate use of caffeine raises health issues and side effects, and it is important that athletes are well aware of these implications," he said. "There is also a role model issue. It is important that children are taught about good nutrition, skill development, and building their game knowledge. That is how kids can best improve their performance, not by taking caffeine." WADA said Australia was the only country that had shown an increase in caffeine use. Caffeine tablets were removed from the banned list early last year and while WADA believes they have little effect on performance, they are continuing to monitor their use for signs of possible abuse. Gregan admitted earlier this week that he and a number of his Wallabies team mates had taken caffeine tablets before big games. He claimed the pills boosted his performance by seven percent but doping experts have disputed this, saying caffeine was unlikely to have any impact on performance."

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Lawmakers push baseball union to adopt tougher doping
Xinhua - Beijing,China (19 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "WASHINGTON, May 18 (Xinhuanet) - Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Don Fehr was pressed by US lawmakers here Wednesday to adopt a tougher anti-doping program proposed by MLB commissioner Bud Selig. The lawmakers' message was simple - get tougher on dope cheats or we will impose tougher rules upon you, according to reports. Fehr defended baseball's new doping plan reached in collective bargaining in testimony before a House of Representatives Commerce subcommittee looking at imposing World Anti-Doping (WADA) rules upon all US sports leagues. But lawmakers were unhappy over steroid controversies surrounding current stars Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and retired sluggers Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco and they let Fehr know they were not satisfied with the current plan."

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Spartak President Denies Doping
Gennady Fyodorov
The Moscow Times - Moscow, Russia (19 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "Former Spartak Moscow president Andrei Chervichenko has denied allegations of widespread doping in the Moscow club in 2003. Russian media reported last month that Spartak was involved in systematic doping two years ago and that the country's soccer authorities knew about it and tried to conceal the problem..."

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White details doping abuse for WADA
AP - TSN.ca - Canada (18 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "PARIS (AP) - American sprinter Kelli White, serving a two-year suspension after admitting she used banned substances, says she was treated like a "guinea pig" to try out doping products. White testified about her drug use to the World Anti-Doping Agency executive committee in Montreal on Monday. The French sports daily L'Equipe, which said it was the only news organization inside the hearing, published a transcript Wednesday. White said she was asked to try out various performance-enhancing drugs, including the designer steroid THG, endurance-boosting hormone EPO and stimulant modafinil. She said she was never warned of potential side effects. "I was offered a lot of things and asked to test them to see if I responded better to certain products," she was quoted as saying. "I was like a guinea pig. I tried a lot of stimulants and modafinil suited me perfectly. The same for THG, which helped put on muscle very quickly." White tested positive for modafinil at the 2003 world championships in Paris and was stripped of her gold medals in the 100 and 200 metres. White was later implicated in the steroid investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. She acknowledged her use of the drugs when the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency confronted her with evidence it had gathered against her.

White was suspended for two years in 2004 and is cooperating with USADA. Her former coach, Remi Korchemny, is among four men indicted on federal charges in the BALCO case. After testing positive at the worlds, White claimed she had used modafinil to treat the sleeping disorder narcolepsy. She told WADA that was a cover story devised by BALCO founder Victor Conte and a doctor, Brian Goldman. "I never suffered from narcolepsy," she said. "I never even knew the word existed until a few hours after the announcement of my positive test." White's allegation about the cover story was reported in February by the San Francisco Chronicle. Goldman, who was an associate of Conte, hasn't been charged in the BALCO case. White told the WADA panel that she took a cocktail of drugs - including THG, EPO, a masking agent and a mix of stimulants - starting in March 2003 for at least four months, and said the results were "incredible." White said she passed 17 doping tests in 2003 before the world championships. "The tests didn't worry me," she said. "I was calm." But White said she suffered physical effects from the drugs. "My menstrual cycle was completely disturbed," she said. "I had acne and my voice changed incredibly. And probably the worst thing was my blood pressure shot up. It took a long time to stabilize." White said she's concerned that other athletes are still looking for an illegal edge. "The worst thing is that many athletes continue to talk to me about doping and want to know how to acquire these substances," she said. "It's troubling. "The fight against doping must be increased and the angles of attack must be increased," White added. "Other athletes are ready to talk and a lot of things are still going on today. Let's not forget the trainers, because they advise the athletes.""

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Cyclist appeals doping ban
Townsville Bulletin - Northern Australia,Australia (19 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "DISGRACED Australian cyclist Mark French will tomorrow appeal his two-year suspension for doping offences. The former junior world champion will go before a three-person Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel in a bid to have last year's finding overturned. The Melbourne hearing, which will be closed, is expected to go into Saturday and possibly Sunday. Several top Australian riders will be called as witnesses and former world champions Shane Kelly, Jobie Dajka and Sean Eadie are likely to be among them. The French case became the biggest drugs scandal in Australian sporting history and severely disrupted the track cycling team's preparations for the Athens Olympics. Days after French received his suspension, Labor senator John Faulkner made his notorious "shooting gallery" allegation in federal parliament. The senator said French's room at the then-Australian Institute of Sport lodgings in Adelaide were being used by riders to inject banned substances. It was later revealed French had named Kelly, Eadie, Dajka and Graeme Brown and Brett Lancaster during his hearing as riders who had injected unknown substances in the room. As a result of the original CAS finding, the Australian Olympic Committee handed French a lifetime ban from Games teams. The scandal led to a full-scale review of the case by retired Justice Robert Anderson. Dajka was kicked off the Athens Games team for lying to Anderson about injecting supplements in French's room, but he was not found guilty of any doping offences. As a result of customs investigations, Eadie had to return from a pre-Games training camp in Germany to successfully defend himself against allegations that he imported banned substances..."

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Jones not welcome at European meetings
Independent Online - Cape Town,South Africa (19 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "London - Organisers of many of Europe's most prestigious track meets don't want Marion Jones - whether or not she's guilty of doping. Those willing to have the three-time Olympic champion - including a June 1 meet in Milan, Italy, where she makes her first European appearance of the year - can get her at a bargain price. Jones has been shunned since being linked to the BALCO steroid scandal in the United States. "We will not invite her, or any other athlete under investigation, until the BALCO situation is cleared," said Svein Arne Hansen, director of the Bislett meet in Oslo, Norway. "We are not saying she is guilty, I just do not want our meet to be about doping." 'I just do not want our meet to be about doping' Hansen also heads the Euro Meetings group, an association representing Europe's top meets. It has recommended not inviting Jones to any events. Not all organisers are falling in line. "I'm definitely against doping and against the doping culture," said Franco Angelotti, head of the Regione Lombardia meet in Milan. "But I'm an organiser of athletic meets, not a judge. Until someone is found guilty, there is the presumption of innocence." ...The Weltklasse in Zurich, the world's most prestigious one-day meet, didn't invite Jones in 2004. And she's been overlooked again. "Our position in this matter was already taken last year when we decided before the Olympics," Weltklasse meet director Hansjoerg Wirz said. "Only a clear position in such matters brings the credibility back." Of Europe's six Golden League meets - Paris, Rome, Oslo, Zurich, Brussels and Berlin - Berlin seems the most open to inviting Jones. Rome also looks like a possibility. "I'm not in a position in Berlin to say if she's guilty or not guilty. I follow the IAAF rules, under the IAAF rules she can perform," Berlin meet director Gerhard Janetzky said. The International Association of Athletics Federations lets meet organisers pick their own fields. If Jones qualifies by placing among the top three in an event at the US championships, she can run in the world championships August 6-14 in Helsinki, Finland. "We have to be very clear about it," IAAF spokesperson Nick Davies said. "She hasn't been charged by anybody to our knowledge, so she is totally free to compete internationally. On the other hand, the meet directors are private businessmen and free to choose who they want."

...Jones, who turns 30 this year, has not been charged with any doping violations. She denies using performance-enhancing drugs, and has never failed a doping test. But she has been tied to Victor Conte, the head of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. In a December 3 television interview, Conte said he sat next to Jones in 2001 as she injected herself with drugs. He said he designed a drug programme for her that included the steroid THG, endurance-enhancing EPO, human growth hormone and insulin. Jones has denied Conte's allegations and filed a defamation suit against him in a US federal court in San Francisco. A judge ruled the suit will not be heard until Conte's trial is complete. Conte, along with three others, has pleaded innocent to charges of distributing steroids to top athletes. The trial is scheduled to begin in September. Jones's image has also been tarnished by ex-husband CJ Hunter - a former world shot put champion - and Tim Montgomery, the father of her 23-month-old son and the world-record holder at 100m. Hunter has alleged he personally injected Jones with banned substances and saw her inject herself. Hunter retired from the sport after testing positive for steroids four times in 2000. The US Anti-Doping Agency has accused Montgomery of doping violations. He has bypassed a USADA hearing, and has taken his case to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport. A hearing is set for June in San Francisco. If found guilty, he faces a lifetime ban. Like Jones, Montgomery has never failed a doping test. Jones and Montgomery were also briefly coached by Charlie Francis, the former coach of banned sprinter Ben Johnson. Fast Track, which runs three large meets this season in Britain, won't be inviting Jones..."

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Caborn to challenge FIFA
Mihir Bose
Telegraph.co.uk - London, England, UK (19 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "Richard Caborn, the sports minister, is to meet FIFA president Sepp Blatter at the Champions League final in Istanbul on Wednesday to sort out the problems that have arisen over football's failure to follow the code of the World Anti-Doping Agency. If the problems persist, football could be out of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the Football Association could face government sanctions. The WADA code dictates the minimum penalty for a doping offence should be two years unless there are exceptional circumstances. FIFA signed up for the code but has not changed its disciplinary code and maintains a first ban should be six months. The foundation board of WADA met in Montreal on Monday and warned FIFA it was not complying. Dick Pound, WADA chairman, said: "All other sports have changed their disciplinary code, FIFA is the only one that has not. "Every time we think we have an agreement we find we don't. This has got to stop. They have got until their congress in Marrakesh in September and if they don't we will declare them to be noncompliant and tell our stakeholders - the International Olympic Committee and the governments - and FIFA will have to live with the consequences." This could mean the IOC removing football from the Olympics and the government withdrawing funding from the FA. Caborn, who is on WADA's foundation board and attended the Montreal meeting, warned: "If one sport is exempt then other sports will want to be. Tennis has already said if football is allowed exemption they would want it and so would athletics. We can't have that."..."

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Malaysia To Convene International Conference On Anti-Doping Next Year
Bernama - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (17 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "KUALA LUMPUR, (Bernama) - Malaysia has been accorded the honour by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) to organise an international anti-doping conference next year in an effort to eliminate the use of drugs in sports in the Asian region. Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman said the conference, to be held in December 2006, would bring together anti-doping experts in the region with the purpose of enhancing and promoting anti-doping programmes in sports in the region. She said this in a statement issued by the ministry, here Tuesday. Azalina is now in Montreal, Canada, to attend her first meeting as a member of the Wada Foundation Board that began Monday. Following her nomination in April 2004, Azalina was elected to the board in December last year and will serve as one of four Asian representatives until December 2007. As a member of the board, Azalina wields the clout to move international experts and administrators to raise awareness on the use of drugs in sports among sports associations and related bodies. Azalina also spoke of the possibility of setting up an Anti-Doping Agency of Malaysia to replace the ad hoc committee comprising the Malaysian Association of Doping, the Olympic Council of Malaysia and the National Sports Council... Wada was established in November 1999 with the mission to promote and coordinate internationally the fight against doping in sports."

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Police seize medicines, hyperbaric tent at hotel of Giro teams
SLAM! Sports - ON,Canada (18 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "ROSSANO VENETO, Italy (AP) - Police seized a hyperbaric tent and medicines from the hotel of some Giro d'Italia teams in a doping raid Wednesday. The Italian news agency ANSA reported that the tent was found in a hotel hosting the Davitamon-Lotto team, whose captain Robbie McEwen won Wednesday's 10th stage of the Giro. Unidentified medicines and bottles for intravenous drips were also seized, ANSA reported. Allan Peiper, sport director of Davitamon-Lotto, said hyperbaric tents are not illegal under International Cycling Union and World Anti-Doping Agency rules. But the hyperbaric tent, a pressurized oxygen chamber, could infringe Italian anti-doping rules which forbid performance-enhancing medicines...."

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Doping positive dethrones heavyweight champion Toney
China Daily - China (12 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "Boxer James Toney has tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone and has been stripped of the victory that made him the World Boxing Association heavyweight champion... The New York State Athletic Commission ruled that Toney's unanimous 12-round decision over Puerto Rico's John Ruiz here on April 30 is now officially a "no decision" because of Toney's positive post-fight doping test. Toney was also fined 10,000 dollars and banned from fighting for 90 days. That could become a two-year ban once the WBA imposes its punishments, which also will include stripping Toney of the heavyweight crown and returning it to Ruiz, an unpopular champion for his plodding, hug-filled style of fighting. Toney denied that he has ever taken any performance-enhancing substance. "I've never used any illegal substances to prepare myself for a fight," Toney said. "Being accused of taking performance enchancing substances is an insult to me. I don't do drugs. Period." Dan Goossen, promoter for the 36-year-old American fighter, confirmed that Toney tested positive for nandrolone. Goossen said medications Toney took to treat injuries that wiped out two prior fights led to the positive test. "Toney received medical treatment for recovery from his biceps and triceps surgery last year," Goossen said. "His doctor has stated that the combination of medications used to control the inflammation and tissue growth caused the positive test result. "This is further supported since the body, in combination with the medications, naturally create the form of substance (nandrolone) reflected in the test results." Toney's steroid positive comes two weeks after US lawmakers conducted a hearing into steroids in American football and just days after they gave preliminary approval to forming an oversight committee to regulate boxing. New York state rules call for the fight to be declared no contest with any decision regarding possession of a title to be made by the sanctioning body. WBA rules require the title to revert to the original champion if a triumphant challenger fails of a doping test. So Ruiz - who retired after the fight but said two days ago he would fight again - is set to reclaim the WBA crown and a dubious place among hopefuls for a unified championship. "We are waiting for the WBA to immediately implement its rule," Ruiz lawyer Anthony Cardinale said. "We're glad the truth has come out and Johnny hasn't lost his championship." Toney looked overweight but not bulked up but became only the third former middleweight champion in boxing history to claim a heavyweight crown, following compatriot Roy Jones and 1890s fighter Bob Fitzsimmons. Toney would be eligible to appeal before a WBA committee in hopes of keeping his crown..."

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A case of doping or a 'vanishing twin'?
Gina Kolata The New York Times
International Herald Tribune - France (12 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "Last month, when the champion American cyclist Tyler Hamilton was accused of blood doping, or transfusing himself with another person's blood to increase his oxygen-carrying red cells, he offered a surprising defense: The small amount of different blood found mixed in with his own must have come from a "vanishing twin." In other words, his scientific expert argued, Hamilton had a twin that died in utero but, before dying, contributed some blood cells to him during fetal life. And those cells remained in his body, producing blood that matched the dead twin and not Hamilton. Or perhaps it was his mother's blood that got mixed in during fetal life. An arbitration panel did not believe those hypotheses and said there was a "negligible probability" that Hamilton was anything but guilty. The test, they concluded in a 2-1 decision, shows a blood transfusion and that meant that Hamilton was suspended from racing for two years; he is the first and only person in cycling convicted for that offense. At age 34, near the end of his career, it could mean his championship days are over. Hamilton has said he will appeal the decision. If he can prove the test was flawed, then not only might he return to cycling and his multimillion-dollar career, but other athletes could use the same defense. The new test, developed over two years by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, would be all but useless. Travis Tygart, the general counsel for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which prosecuted Hamilton, says the scientific evidence was against the cyclist. "Our interest is only justice," Tygart said. "We don't blindly bring doping cases."

...Whether Hamilton is guilty or innocent, his defense does refer to a real phenomenon. Researchers who have no involvement in Hamilton's case say it actually is possible for someone to have two types of blood in his body, without doping. They emphasize that they do not know whether this is the case with Hamilton. One route to this odd state, called chimerism, is the vanishing twin. Dr. Helain Landy of Georgetown University, who has no involvement in the Hamilton case, has found that 20 to 30 percent of pregnancies that start out as twins end up as single babies, with one twin being absorbed by the mother during the first trimester. Others researchers have found that in some cases, before the twin is absorbed, some of its cells enter the body of the other fetus and remain there for life. The cells can include bone marrow stem cells, the progenitors of blood cells. Another route to chimerism is through the cells that routinely pass from a mother to fetus and remain there for life. Dr. Ann Reed, chairwoman of rheumatology research at the Mayo Clinic, who uses sensitive DNA tests to look for chimerism, finds that about 50 percent to 70 percent of healthy people are chimeras. The more scientists look for chimerism, the more they find it. It seemed not to exist in the past, she said, because no one was looking for small amounts of foreign cells in people's bodies. "Some believe that if you look hard enough, you can find chimerism in anybody," said Reed, who also has not been involved in the Hamilton case. It is so common that she thinks there must be a biological reason for it. It also may cause problems, she and others say. Chimerism may be why bone marrow from a seemingly perfectly matched donor relentlessly attacks a patient who receives it in a transplant - the attackers may be a small percentage of cells in the marrow that come from someone else. It also may help explain autoimmune diseases, when the body's own immune cells attack. The attacking cells may be the foreign ones that arise from someone else. The Hamilton case involves a test developed by Dr. Margaret Nelson and her colleagues at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Australia. It was based on a simple idea: If an athlete got a transfusion, he would have to make sure the blood was the right match using the blood antigens A, B and O. But blood cells have other surface proteins, so-called minor antigens, that do not matter in blood typing for transfusions but can be used to distinguish one person's blood from another's. The investigators said they could use a sensitive test, flow cytometry, to search for small amounts of blood with minor antigens different from those in the athlete's own blood. It was an important advance, anti-doping agency officials said. They knew that athletes, including cyclists, had used blood transfusions in the past to boost their performance but had no test to prove it...."

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'No Euro snub' for Marion, Tim
News24 - Cape Town,South Africa (12 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "London - US sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery say they know nothing of a reported European snub of this summer's racing schedule. Promoters are reported to believe that Jones and 100 metres world record holder Montgomery are a liability for the image of athletics in Europe because of links to the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative. Balco founder Victor Conte is accused of supplying steroids, and he claims he gave Jones performance-enhancing drugs. But Jones' agent Charles Wells claims he is negotiating with European meet organisers. "It's news to me. I know nothing about that," he said of a snub. "All I know is that I have been talking to promoters in Europe all week about putting both of them in meets." It was understood that could include the Golden League meetings in Rome in July and Berlin in September. A decision by the Euro-Meetings Group to boycott the US stars has been taken without consultation with the recently established International Association of Athletics Managers who are eager to work closely with championship and all meeting directors.

Jones and Montgomery have both been active on the American circuit this season with Jones, 29, winning her first race of the season in the Caribbean. But Montgomery has been charged by the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) with serious doping violations. Usada has built its cases on verbal evidence given to the federal investigation into Balco rather than test results - neither Jones or Montgomery has ever failed a drugs test. Jones won five medals at the 2000 Olympics, where her ex-husband CJ Hunter - who tested positive for steroids four times before the Games - left the competition in disgrace. Jones has since launched a defamation lawsuit against Conte."

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Life bans on women weightlifters to be reduced
Times of India - New Delhi,India (11 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "NEW DELHI: Heeding to Indian Olympic Association's suggestion, the Indian Weightlifting Federation has agreed to reduce the life ban slapped on three women lifters and chief coach after the Athens doping fiasco last year. "We have recently received a letter from the IOA suggesting reducing the ban on three women lifters and chief coach and decided to reduce their suspension period to two years as per the WADA laws,"IWF Secretary General Balbir Singh Bhatia said. The Federation had already conveyed the news to the lifters through Police Force Control Board, he said but added that an executive committee meeting would further deliberate on the fate of Pratima Kumari and Sanamacha Chanu, who tested positive for banned drugs for the second time during Athens. According to the rules, the weightlifters could be banned for life if caught twice for doping offence, he said. We have already sent letters to them conveying the news. But we will place the matter of Pratima and Sanamacha before our executive committee when it meets,"Bhatia said. Sunaina's suspension period will be over in April 2006. Meanwhile, Pratima, who has appealed to the International Weightlifting Federation against the ban and also filed a case holding coaches responsible for the Athens episode, said she was yet to receive any communication from the IWF. Sanamacha said she would meet the Federation officials after returning and then only give a statement over the issue..."

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Rapid healing trick falls foul of anti-doping rules
New Scientist Issue of 14 May 2005, p.7, Newswise (press release) - USA (12 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "A rapid healing treatment, considered but rejected by the UK soccer team Chelsea, has been virtually outlawed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The procedure called blood-spinning, which is based on concentrating and re-injecting a person’s own blood, can be applied as a gel to a wound to heal injuries faster. But WADA warned all national sports authorities last week that the treatment could introduce banned substances into the body."

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Sport - Media - Ethics
International Olympic Committee News (11 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "Various media and sports personalities gathered yesterday at the Olympic Museum to discuss the theme “Performance at any price, doping, sports business and the media: how can we ensure clean sport?”. Sport as a factor of social identity: Organised by the Swiss Commission for UNESCO and in collaboration with several Swiss press associations, the day began with an introductory speech from IOC President Jacques Rogge, who then answered numerous questions from those attending. In his speech, the President recalled the importance of the values transmitted by sport, and the efforts being made by the IOC to combat the dangers of doping, corruption, racism and violence. “Sport is a tremendous tool for educating young people and integrating minorities; it is a factor of social identity, and the IOC will continue to do all it can to promote the values of sport”, he added. “Winning without cheating”: Next on the agenda came two round tables on “Winning without cheating” and “Money in sport – good or bad?”. Swiss athletes, television and written press journalists, and representatives of companies linked to sport exchanged ideas on the role and responsibility of the msedia with regard to sports ethics: while the media have popularised sport and the sporting spirit within society, this increased media attention helps to encourage doping and mercenary attitudes by developing the entertainment side of sport. Sport for all: Adolf Ogi, Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary General on Sport for Development and Peace, rounded the day off with a speech on sport for all..."

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U.S. Anti-doping agency awards $1 million in research grants
United States Anti-Doping Agency, USADA (10 May 2005)
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Full Text: "Colorado Springs, Colo. (May 10, 2005) - The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), as part of its continuing efforts to eradicate doping in sport and protect the health of athletes, has awarded more than $1 million dollars (U.S.) in grants to fund research designed to detect new methods of prohibited performance-enhancement, including a study involving gene manipulation. “Our commitment to clean sport is most evident in the $2 million we dedicate annually to research,” said USADA Senior Managing Director Dr. Larry Bowers.  “Only by making these investments, and in combination with education, will we have the best opportunity to deter doping in sport.” USADA has committed more than $460,000 U.S. to a two-year study conducted by the Hastings Institute in Garrison, N.Y. to investigate the present and future implications of gene transfer technology and the ethical issues inherent in attempting to detect genetic manipulation.  The study, led by Dr. Thomas Murray, will also address the ethics surrounding genetic testing conducted to determine the most favorable athletic traits in an individual. “The science of genetics is poised to have a significant impact on Olympic sport in several ways: through genetic selection, targeted genomics and proteomics and, perhaps, through genetic manipulation,” said Dr. Murray.  “With USADA’s generous support, The Hastings Center is eager to contribute to understanding the ethical and policy implications of genetic science in sport.” King’s College London in England received approximately $400,000 U.S. from USADA for a broad study on steroids in women, including the concentrations of specific urinary steroids.  The Institute of Hematology, Royal Prince Albert Hospital in Camperdown, Australia was awarded an $80,000 U.S. grant to investigate the ability to detect infusion of stored red blood cells from the same individual.

A total of $90,000 U.S. was distributed to several institutions to provide reference materials to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratories, including Albany Molecular Research, Inc. of Albany, N.Y.; the National Measurement Institute of Australia in Sydney, Australia; and ARC Seibersdorf Research Gmbh in Seibersdorf, Austria. USADA is responsible for managing the testing and results management process for athletes in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement.  USADA is equally dedicated to preserving the integrity of sport through research initiatives and educational programs. USADA allocates $2 million annually towards the study of prohibited substances, the development of tests, and other issues involved with the practice of doping in sport. Recommendations for funding of grant proposals are made by an independent Research Policy Advisory Committee.

CONTACT: Nirva Milord, Communications & Public Affairs Director, Phone: (719) 785-2009, E-mail: nmilord@usantidoping.org "

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Aus, English get US anti-doping funds
AFP - iAfrica.com - Cape Town,South Africa (11 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "A US study of gene manipulation techniques is among the research projects receiving more than $1-million in funding from the US Anti-Doping Agency, the group announced on Tuesday. Studies in Australia and England were also financed by the US doping oversight panel. US anti-doping officials are backing projects aimed at improving detection of banned performance enhancement in sport, with special concern about the prospects for genetically designed Superman being engineered for sport success. More than $460 000 was invested into a two-year genetics study conducted by the Hastings Institute in Garrison, New York. The investigation will probe the implications of gene transfer technology, ethical issues of attempting to detect genetic manipulation and of genetic testing to determine most favourable athletic traits in individuals. "The science of genetics is poised to have a significant impact on Olympic sport in several ways — through genetic selection, targeted genomics and proteomics and perhaps through genetic manipulation," study director Thomas Murray said. England's Kings College received about $400 000 for a study on steroids in women, including concentrations of specific urinary steroids. An $80 000 research grant went to the Institute of Hematology at Royal Prince Albert Hospital in Camperdown, Australia, to investigate the ability to detect a person infusing their own stored red blood cells to boost performance. Australia's National Measurement Institute in Sydney, ARC Seibersdorf Research in Seibersdorf, Austria, and Albany (New York) Molecular Research were awarded a combined total of $90 000 to provide reference materials to laboratories accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

"Our commitment to clean sport is most evident," said USADA senior managing director Larry Bowers. "Only by making these investments and in combination with education, will we have the best opportunity to deter doping in sport.""

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Sepeng doping 'accidental'
De Jongh Borchardt
News24 - Cape Town,South Africa (8 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "Pretoria - Despite receiving calls of support from all over the world after it became known that he tested positive for steroids, South Africa's star athlete Hezekiel Sepeng is fighting to clear his name. Sepeng tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone, better known by its commercial name Deca-Durabolin. ' If found guilty, the 800m Olympic silver medallist in the 1996 Atlanta Games could be banned for two years. Sepeng's coach says Sepeng did not knowingly ingest an illegal substance, but is keeping his cards close to his chest regarding the possible reasons for the positive test. Sepeng's long-time coach, Jean Verster, emphasised that they could not elaborate because of the sensitive nature of the matter. However, he queried why the authorities waited so long before contacting Sepeng to inform him the sample taken on February 21 had tested positive. "We can't say anything yet, but there are a few possible reasons for the positive test," he said. "We've written a letter to Athletics South Africa and to the IAAF in which Hezekiel says that he did not knowingly use any (banned) substances." Verster said: "Sepeng asked that his B sample also be tested and we asked a complete breakdown of information." Verster declined to comment on reports that Sepeng could have used contaminated supplements. The British tennis player Greg Rusedski was absolved last year after testing positive for nandrolone. A tribunal found that the ATP had distributed tablets apparently contaminated by banned substances. "In the meantime we're doing a lot of research on the internet about nandrolone and the possible reasons for positive tests." Nandrolone has also been a talking point in SA rugby. The two-year ban on Sharks flyhalf Herkie Kruger expired earlier this year, but he is still fighting to clear his name. Former Springbok prop Cobus Visagie also tested positive for nandrolone in 2002 and he was banned for two years. This was later set aside when research indicated the body could over-produce nandrolone in some circumstances. Nandrolone is known commercially as Deca-Durabolin and is a steroid administered by injection."

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Sports court hears appeal of case involving U.S. Olympic relay team
AP Sports - MSNBC News - USA (10 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "The Court of Arbitration for Sport heard an appeal Tuesday in a case that could result in a U.S. relay team losing its gold medals from the Sydney Games. Jerome Young, who already has been stripped of his medal because of doping, was on the winning 1,600-meter relay squad at the 2000 Olympics. The former 400-meter world champion ran in the opening and semifinal rounds, but did not run in the final. He had tested positive in 1999 for steroid use, but was cleared to run in the Olympics by a U.S. appeals panel. The International Association of Athletics Federations has recommended that the entire six-man team be declared ineligible because of Young's drug infraction. The U.S. Olympic Committee has challenged the IAAF recommendation. Officials of CAS, world sports' highest court, were not available to say when a decision _ which would be final and binding _ could be expected. Michael Johnson _ who won his fifth gold medal in his last Olympics _ raced in the final, along with Antonio Pettigrew, Calvin Harrison and Alvin Harrison. Angelo Taylor also received a gold for running in the earlier heats. All would lose their medals if CAS upholds the IAAF's recommendation. Young was banned from track and field for life by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency last year following a second positive doping test."

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Belarus forward Filin banned for doping
Eurosport - Italy (4 May 2005)
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Excerpt: "The 20-year-old Filin plays for Dynamo Minsk and he played junior in Canada for the Oshawa Generals. Filin was tested after the Belarus forward Tsimafei Filin has tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone and been disqualified from the world championships. Belarus will suffer no further penalty, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced on Wednesday. The 20-year-old Filin plays for Dynamo Minsk and he played junior in Canada for the Oshawa Generals. Filin was tested after the 2-1 defeat by Slovakia on Saturday in Group A which also includes Russia and Austria. The federation said both Filin's A and B samples showed the steroid present at more than 250 times the normal level. "We had a meeting with the player, the team doctor and the management of the team, and the player requested the B sample also be tested," the IIHF said. "The B sample showed the same result as the A sample. He is now found guilty of an offence and is out for the rest of the tournament. "After the tournament it (the case) will be handled by the IIHF disciplinary committee who will decide on further sanctions for this player," the IIHF added. Belarus team officials said the player denied taking any performance-enhancing substances, but that they accepted the IIHF decision. "We are not disputing this fact (of the positive test). We will continue to try and educate our players, especially young players, on how to play drug-free. We do not support drug use," said Belarus team leader Sviatoslav Kiselev. "Our management, and federation will stand behind the player no matter what."

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IOC 'blew' dope tests
Brisbane Courier Mail - Brisbane,