Chess grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk refused to submit to a WADA-sanctioned steroid testing at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden earlier this year. (Yes, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) tests its players for anabolic steroids.). Ivanchuk went into a “rage” when asked to submit a urine sample (”The Great Chess Doping Scandal,” December 11).
Who knows what was going through Ivanchuk’s head when, on Nov. 25 in Dresden, the last day of the Chess Olympiad, he lost to Gata Kamsky? What we do know, however, is that when the game against the American ended, a judge asked Ivanchuk to submit to a drug test. Instead, he stormed out of the room in the conference center, kicked a concrete pillar in the lobby, pounded a countertop in the cafeteria with his fists and then vanished into the coatroom. Throughout this performance, he was followed by a handful of officials.
The World Chess Federation (FIDE) has aspirations of becoming an Olympic discipline. As such, it must adopt the anti-doping code created by the Worldn Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). WADA tests “athletes” in all “sports” for the same prohibited substances. The International Olympic Committe (IOC) requires adoption of the WADA code as a prerequisite to becoming part of the Olympics.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Executive Committee and Foundation Board identified three groups of non-compliant anti-doping organizations in its November 25th Code Compliance Report. Board members voted to delay the official declaration of non-compliant anti-doping organizations until May 2009 (”WADA names ICC, FIVB among non-compliant federations,” November 26).
WADA finally offers some transparency by exposing anti-doping agencies that have failed to comply with the WADA code. WADA’s transparency was criticized after the Beijing Olympics when observers reported that half of the countries failed to comply with “whereabouts” ruling (i.e. Out-of-Competition testing (OOCT)). The Code Compliance report divided non-compliant national anti-doping organizations into three groups based on the nature and degree of non-compliance. … Read the rest of this entry »
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Executive Committee and Foundation Board is meeting in Montreal, Canada this weekend to evaluate the implementation of steroid and anti-doping regulations by national anti-doping agencies. Countries that have failed to full implement the anti-doping code espoused by WADA will be cited as non-compliant. Compliance to the WADA code by signatories is considered mandatory. The first WADA Code Compliance Report will be posted on the WADA website on November 25, 2008 (”Press Conference with WADA President on November 23 Following Foundation Board Meeting,” November ).
The World Anti-Doping Code—the document harmonizing regulations regarding anti-doping in all sport and all countries—assigns WADA the responsibility of monitoring and reporting on the implementation and enforcement of the Code by its signatories. The objective of this monitoring and reporting is to ensure efficiency of the harmonized fight against doping in sport and fairness to the athletes so that they benefit from strong and fair anti-doping policies and protection that are the same for all, no matter the sport, nationality or country where tested. Following a two-year review process, the Board will discuss the compliance report and determine which anti-doping organizations are not compliant. As required under the Code, the list of non-compliant organizations will be posted on WADA’s Web site on November 25.
The WADA board will also the achievement of milestone of over 100 countries who have ratified the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport which seeks to “apply the force of international law to anti-doping.”
MacLeod’s A sample showed a level greater than the WADA permitted figure of four to one, sparking an investigation.
If his B sample – the urine is put into two separate containers and sealed by the tester in the presence of the athlete after he or she produces their sample – backs up the initial finding, which is normally the case, MacLeod faces the prospect of another appearance before Scottish disciplinary chiefs.
Scott MacLeod’s testosterone to epitestosterone ratio was elevated similar to Tour de Franc winner Floyd Landis. Also, MacLeod, like Landis, is determined to prove a physiological explanation for the elevated ratio. … Read the rest of this entry »
On Wednesday the International Olympic Committee said the new Cera blood test would be used to analyse almost 1,000 blood samples collected during the Beijing Games, and an IOC spokeswoman added last night that these samples could also be tested for autologous transfusions “if a method is fully validated by the scientific community [and] Wada.”
Speculation over a possible new test for autologous transfusions, which duplicate the effect of EPO in increasing the flow of oxygen-carrying red blood cells and so helping endurance, followed claims made by [Pierre] Bordry [of French Anti-Doping Agency] to German television. Bordry said his agency had “serious evidence about cases of autologous transfusions [during the Tour]“. “Soon,” added Bordry, “we will be able to prove autologous transfusions and we will then test [for] it.”
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is desperately seeking to enhance its historically disastrous performance in the cat-and-mouse game between anti-doping agencies and athletes who use performance enhancing drugs. WADA committed $6.6 million to fund forty research initiatives to improve their drug detection abilities including the next generation of performance enhancing techniques involving “plasmid vectors” and “RNA interference” to regulate gene expression … Read the rest of this entry »
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