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Only days after the cycling world was rocked by the news that the 2008 Tour de France had been riddled with drug abuse, the International Olympic Committee has announced they will be retesting over 5000 samples taken at the Olympics.
Once again officials will be testing for the banned substance CERA and with such a large quantity of samples being retested, the IOC are certainly making a strong statement of intent that drug cheat’s days are numbered. Those who are weak enough to cheat must be caught, named and shamed and the ability to continually retest samples will certainly help in doing this. The IOC are legally allowed to keep these samples for up to 8 years which means any new drug testing methods that are developed within this time can be used.
This method will not only expose guilty athletes who initially manage to beat the system but will act as a strong deterrent to any future athletes who consider taking performance enhancing drugs.
However although this clamp down on drug abuse is positive news and the likelihood of cheats being caught significantly increased, this policy does highlight the problem that drug testing still faces- the length of time it takes to catch and punish a cheat.
Some athletes will not be deterred by this new policy and so unless they are caught immediately will still be able compete, win and then bask in the glory of their success. The damage is then already done and later exposure of their actions months down the line, perhaps even years, then starts to have a detrimental effect on the sport and more specifically the event they competed in.
Great sporting events like the Tour de France and Olympic Games are in danger of becoming remembered for the wrong reasons and rather than celebrate the genuine success stories we are in danger of becoming sidetracked by the issue of cheats.
Cheats should not be swept under the carpet or put to one side as an embarrassing inconvenience but we must be careful not to become too obsessed with this issue. The 2008 Tour de France should be remembered for the victory achieved by Carlso Sastre not for the cheating of Stefan Schumacher and Leonardo Piepoli.
 | Author: | The Sports Nut (The Sports Nut's profile, The Sports Nut's blog) |
 | Posted On: | Thu, 2008-10-09 15:44 |
 | Tags: | soccer training, sprinting, skiing, rugby, marathon training, tennis, triathlon, squash, volleyball, badminton, boxing, gymnastics, golf, baseball, rowing, cycling, running, basketball, bodybuilding, football, field events, distance running, cricket, swimming, testing and drugs |
 | Comments: | 0 comments, go to comments |
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