According to the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) chairman Richard Ings, stricter new measures will make it more difficult for doping athletes to avoid being caught. He further added that The World Anti-Doping Code of 2009 which came into effect last January 1, is a fairer yet firmer approach to dealing with drug cheats in Australian sports.

The new code is far more sympathetic to athletes found to be using medications for legitimate reasons, but stricter maximum bans will be applied for serious doping offenders.

Mr. Ings said on ABC News Breakfast earlier in the week: “One of the most important things about the new, wider code launched in the last month is that it will be fairer but firmer for Australian athletes.”

He also added that the code is, “fairer”, in the sense that athletes who really do use medications and inadvertedly break an anti-doping rules will receive a far lighter sanction. Athletes involved in serious doping offenses, however, will be meted double the penalty with possibilities of up to a four-year ban from competition.

The ASADA chairman rejected suggestions that the new measures could be abused by doping athletes by trying to pass themselves on as injured or ill. Rather he said that there are very strict checks that an organisation like ASADA would put in place.

Mr. Ings also maintained that the rules were designed in such a way that “if there is an athlete who has an ailment, who uses a medication for a legitimate, therapeutic use, but forgets to get their paperwork in order, will face a much reduced sanction than they would have previously.”

Mr Ings is very much in defence of the great expense involved in the implementation of anti-doping measures. He also said that ASADA is giving an ‘insurance policy’ to ‘protect the integrity of Australian sports.’

For him, the cost of doing nothing is even more severe.

“Imagine a situation where Australian elite athletes were involved in doping and tarnishing the reputation of Australia and Australian sport. This is an insurance policy investment, to protect the integrity of Australian sport, to protect the health of Australian athletes and indeed, it is an excellent investment.”

Kate Ellis, federal Sports Minister stated that the new anti-doping measures will be applied to international athletes to AFL players.

Federal Sports Minister Ellis claimed that the new rule is sending a very clear message to any athlete out there who may be thinking about cheating with drugs. “We are also sending a message to those athletes out there that want some reassurance that those that they are competing against are competing clean.”

Chairman Ings expressed confidence that the long-term storage of athlete’s urine samples will work as warning and an assessment of reference as testing technology changes.

“Athletes involved in doping today stand a greater chance of being caught than ever before.” He further said, “In Australia, we operate a program where we store urine samples long-term, so if an athlete was using a substance that could not be detected today, their samples are retained, and may be defrosted and retested with new technology up to eight years in the future,” the chairman declared.

He also added that, “That’s a great deterrent for athletes using substances which testing today may not detect, but testing tomorrow may well be able to detect.”

Mr. Ings also believes that regardless of the criticism ASADA’s ‘Whereabouts’ program, which presently involves about 500 athletes in Australia, professional sportsmen and women are fully conscious of the value of their vocation.

He further added that, “The Whereabouts program has actually been in place in Australia for more than two years… it requires an athlete to establish one hour per day where they will be available for testing.”

ASADA Chairman moreover explained that there’s about 500 (athletes) across Australia who have to provide ASADA with one hour per day where they will be, so that ASADA testers can come and take a no-notice, out-of-competition sample from those athletes.

On a final note Ings asserted that Australian athletes are well aware and have accepted that this kind of stringent monitoring is the price that has to be paid to ensure that their competition is fair and clean.

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