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Drugs in sport: Anti-doping agencies in crisis mode, says Australian expert

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By Tracey Holmes

Posted about 4 hours ago

The war against drugs in sport has become highly politicised and cannot work, according to a leading Australian sports anti-doping academic.

Key points:

"The position with regard to meldonium is unfortunate," academic says

Dr Mazanoff criticises ASADA's decision to re-open Nathan Bock case

Senator John Madigan demands information regarding Essendon investigation

Dr Jason Mazanov, a senior lecturer and psychologist from the University of NSW Canberra said the recent "clarification" on meldonium from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was just the latest in a string of global doping crises.

"The position with regard to meldonium is unfortunate," he told ABC News Radio's The Ticket.

"It suggests that they needed to do a bit more homework before they actually decided to go down the path of prohibiting meldonium, and it raises certain questions about the underlying governance of prohibition of substances and methods under the World Anti-Doping Code."

WADA has admitted its science was inconclusive in determining how long it takes for the substance to leave an athlete's body. It also conceded athletes who have tested positive since January may have used the product before it was banned on January 1 this year.

It may mean athletes like tennis star Maria Sharapova will be back competing without having to serve a mandatory suspension.

"The evidence suggests that anti-doping seems to be unable to actually identify and do anything about the anti-doping scandals that we've seen," Dr Mazanov said.

Citing other examples of the systemic doping uncovered in Russian sports teams and in athletics, he added: "It's happened under WADA's watch and they've missed something very important … it seems extraordinary that an international body like WADA could miss that."

ASADA under scrutiny over Bock case

Locally, Dr Mazanoff criticised the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) decision to re-open a case involving former Gold Coast Suns AFL player Nathan Bock, after a series of articles in The Australian newspaper.

"Anti-Doping has become highly reactive to things like what is said in the media," he said.

"We see in the recent case with the Bock incident … instead of ASADA standing behind its investigation, it's said 'Oh, well, we've got new evidence that's come to light, we need to pursue these things'.

"The internal mechanics of the World Anti-Doping Agency are a mystery to a number of us. What I would hope is that the Australian Minister for Sport would be asking critical questions of the World Anti-Doping Agency."

Sports Minister Sussan Ley is a member of WADA's 38-member Foundation Board, which is described as the "supreme decision-making body" of the organisation.

She is one of a handful of government representatives sitting alongside Olympic sports representatives and IOC officials on the board.

"It should not simply be a case of: 'We're on it, drugs in sport are bad, doping is bad, therefore we should allow WADA to do whatever it likes'," Dr Mazanov said.

"It is still an agency which receives public funds and should be open to the same level of scrutiny as anything which gets Australian taxpayer dollars.

"For example, I think ASADA should be subject to review by the Australian National Audit Office for its handling of the Essendon affair. But we seem no closer to that happening.

"The handling of the Essendon investigation took a lot of public money … it raises that question again just how much is the integrity of sport worth?"

Senator hits out at 'cone of silence'

Independent senator John Madigan said he had requested information from Ms Ley regarding ASADA's investigation into Essendon.

He said if the documents were not handed over before parliament sits on Monday morning he would move for the Senate to order they be produced.

"There's more holes in this than a block of Swiss cheese," Senator Madigan told the ABC.

"Generally across government now the political classes are never man enough to say we got something wrong, we buggered it up.

"I've been on this for a quite a while now … when you attempt to get answers from these people it's the Maxwell Smart cone of silence.

"I'm not giving up on it. It's not right."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-17/war-on-drugs-in-sport-doomed-to-fail-says-expert/7333358

 

 

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