Apr 22 2009
FIFA Needs Exemption On New Testing Policy: Expert Says
Football players should be exempt from doping controls during summer vacations, a leading anti-doping expert said last Monday.
FIFA, football’s governing body, contested parts of the new testing code which mandated elite athletes in ALL sports to be available for testing every day. This caused a rift between the World Anti-Doping Agency and FIFA. Martial Saugy, adviser to both groups and director of the WADA-accredited Swiss doping laboratory in Lausanne, said that players could go untested offseason for two weeks. Four weeks is too long, two would be more acceptable. He said that fighting doping should not treat athletes like prisoners. Anyway, the laboratory that Saugy heads can still detect any trace of usage after a two week period without any tracing.
Saugy said one size fits all is not precisely the right thing in anti-doping. They must have a system that is fitting for purpose at an anti-doping agency meeting in Switzerland. The tremendous answer is harmful to the goal they have.
Surprise out-of-competition tests are essential for a credible anti-doping program
After lengthy discussions with sports confederations, it published its new code. This code became effective on January 1, which required athletes to give drug-testers a three-months’ notice of their location for one hour each day for the entire year, whether they are in training or in competition. However, FIFA, along with other team sports like basketball, ice hockey and volleyball, called for an exemption because the teams train and play at certain locations that can be easily found by testers.
Sepp Blatter, FIFA president and a member of WADA’s governing board also believed that players had the right to privacy during their holiday vacations. Athletes will also need time to rest and to relax and not be treated like captives on the loose. Martial Saugy, cycling’s biological passport scheme pioneer, pushed for WADA and FIFA to find a compromise on the issue. Saugy works with both FIFA and WADA on medical projects.
Two weeks ago in Zurich, football’s headquarters, negotiations between WADA director general David Howman and FIFA medical advisers has started. They have agreed to FIFA’s proposal to do a pilot project this summer and target “at risk” athletes for testing. The players to be tested are those who are injured and could be tempted to dope or those that have failed controls in previous testing. Issues regarding this will be discussed when WADA’s executive committee and its governing board meets on May 9 and 10 in Montreal.
The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), Fédération Internationale de Football Association in French is the international body for football associations. Its office is found in Zürich, Switzerland. FIFA’s role is to organize and govern all major international tournaments especially the FIFA World Cup. The world cup has been held since 1930. Sepp Blatter is its current president. Today, FIFA has 208 members. The United Nations has 192, the International Olympic Committee 205 and the International Association of Athletics Federations 213.
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