Wake up call for all associations/federations

Jan 16, 2014 Sports

– education of athletes on drugs use must be priority

By Franklin Wilson
The recent media blitz that has taken centre stage as a result of Gumendra Shewdas’ positive test for banned stimulants (Methylhexaneamine and Oxilofrine) following an in-competition urine test on August 26, 2013 must be a wake-up call not only for the powerlifting fraternity but for all sports associations and federations in Guyana.
No sports entity will be exempted from the full force of the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) if athletes fail to be honest when it comes to the supplements they use in order to have the cutting edge in competition.
I came across a quote which says, “Doping is fundamentally contrary to the spirit of sport”, this is a profound statement which must hit home to all and sundry.
Administrators, it is time for serious business, education is key; ignorance of the laws is no excuse. We need to save our athletes from further embarrassment by preparing them properly and holistically.
Investigation has revealed that the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) has systems and personnel in place at the disposal of all associations and federations when it comes to educating athletes on the intricacies of doping and what is expected of our athletes.
A few years ago, female West Indies cricketer, Guyanese Tremayne Smartt, 26 year-years-old then, was found guilty of committing an anti-doping rule violation under Article 2.1 of the ICC Anti-Doping Code (the “ICC Code”) and was suspended from all cricket and cricket-related activities for a period of five months.
Smartt was subjected to a similar procedure (s) like Shewdas including her sample being tested by the WADA accredited laboratory and was found to contain Furosemide; a classified ‘Specified Substance’ under the WADA Prohibited List and is prohibited both In-Competition and Out-of-Competition.
What is vital now is that associations and federations utilize the resources available to them at the level of the GOA to carry out a full scale education campaign. We must not allow another athlete from these shores to test positive for any banned substance.
If they choose to go that route after being equipped with the relevant information, then they must face the full gamut of the law.
For some strange reason (s) or it might very well be laziness, associations and federations have not been proactive in this regard. It is understood that only one of the affiliates of the GOA would have taken up the offer to educate its athletes on the uses of drugs in sport.
This must be reason for serious concern; there must be a radical turn around where the GOA must be inundated with requests for assistance in this regard. There are four Doping Control Officers who have been trained and all experienced individuals that are solely underutilized. This must no longer be so, if administrators really care about the future of our sportsmen and women, the time to arrest this situation is now.
Let us see some vision being shown in the way we do business with the welfare and development of our athletes at the centre of what we do.
Just remember, if administrators continue to keep athletes unaware of what they must not put in their bodies, then the consequences for them (athletes) and Guyana are dire, because come January 2015, athletes found guilty of doping will be banned for a minimum of four years and forced to miss at least one Olympic Games, even as a first offender.
The WADA passed that ruling last November at a Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, as they aim to get tougher on drug cheats.
Although the new WADA code extends the ban for a first-time offence, it increases flexibility of sanctions for those who have been found to have taken banned substances unintentionally or with no significant fault, or who cooperate with investigations by anti-doping authorities.
Moreover, the new code provides anti-doping authorities with more power to punish athletes’ support personnel, such as coaches and trainers, who conspire in athletes’ doping.
The revision also provides anti-doping agencies greater investigatory power, and it requires national governments for countries with participating athletic organizations to put in place laws or administrative practices that will permit the sharing of information and data with anti-doping organizations.

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Wake up call for all associations/federations

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