Law changes needed to keep sport clean of drugs: Steel

2.00pm

Law changes are needed in the New Zealand Sports Drug Agency (NZSDA) Act to keep sport free of drugs, executive director Graeme Steel says in the agency's annual report.

The anti-doping policies of all sports needed updating to reflect the new-world code, he says in the report.

"We need to re-double our efforts to establish a process for tracking the whereabouts of all athletes in the testing programme.

"It is now a 'violation' for an athlete to fail to supply this information.

"These tasks are stretching the limited resources available to the agency but there is no question that if we get it right it will be a huge step forward in the anti-doping fight."

Steel said implementing the code was a challenge in New Zealand where the programme was governed by legislation.

"Parliament is not necessarily attuned to the same perspectives on how to solve problems as the decision makers in Copenhagen," he said.

In his report, agency chairman Dave Gerrard said the adoption of the world anti-doping code in Copenhagen in March was possibly the single most significant step ever taken by the anti-doping movement.

A disturbing trend has been the failure of some governments to meet their respective portions of the 50 per cent contribution to the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) budget.

"New Zealand sport faces a huge challenge in implementing the code," Gerrard said.

"Sports Minister Trevor Mallard continues to provide tremendous support, both in this process and for the agency generally.

"We are still faced with examples of poor decision making from some national sports organisations that have resulted from a combination of poorly drafted rules and naive administrators."

He said the new code, a new list of banned substances, the Athens Olympics and an obligation to New Zealand athletes would ensure escalating work for the NZSDA.

During the year the NZSDA suspended testing in wrestling as a result of the sport's decision not to apply an effective penalty on athletes who refused to be tested.

Testing will not resume until the policy is altered, which means Olympic representation for wrestlers is in doubt.

In the last year there were nine positive tests and three refusals from the 1413 tests conducted by the agency.

Six of the positive cases came from 40 tests conducted in bodybuilding.

- NZPA




Law changes are needed in the New Zealand Sports Drug Agency (NZSDA) Act to keep sport free of drugs, executive director Graeme Steel says in the agency's annual report.

The anti-doping policies of all sports needed updating to reflect the new-world code, he says in the report.

"We need to re-double our efforts to establish a process for tracking the whereabouts of all athletes in the testing programme.

"It is now a 'violation' for an athlete to fail to supply this information.

"These tasks are stretching the limited resources available to the agency but there is no question that if we get it right it will be a huge step forward in the anti-doping fight."

Steel said implementing the code was a challenge in New Zealand where the programme was governed by legislation.

"Parliament is not necessarily attuned to the same perspectives on how to solve problems as the decision makers in Copenhagen," he said.

In his report, agency chairman Dave Gerrard said the adoption of the world anti-doping code in Copenhagen in March was possibly the single most significant step ever taken by the anti-doping movement.

A disturbing trend has been the failure of some governments to meet their respective portions of the 50 per cent contribution to the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) budget.

"New Zealand sport faces a huge challenge in implementing the code," Gerrard said.

"Sports Minister Trevor Mallard continues to provide tremendous support, both in this process and for the agency generally.

"We are still faced with examples of poor decision making from some national sports organisations that have resulted from a combination of poorly drafted rules and naive administrators."

He said the new code, a new list of banned substances, the Athens Olympics and an obligation to New Zealand athletes would ensure escalating work for the NZSDA.

During the year the NZSDA suspended testing in wrestling as a result of the sport's decision not to apply an effective penalty on athletes who refused to be tested.

Testing will not resume until the policy is altered, which means Olympic representation for wrestlers is in doubt.

In the last year there were nine positive tests and three refusals from the 1413 tests conducted by the agency.

Six of the positive cases came from 40 tests conducted in bodybuilding.

- NZPA