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Behind d Whistle (5.1.2007) Drugs in Sport
Drugs in Sport
Since this is the first ‘Behind d Whistle’ column for this new year, I would like to take the opportunity to wish all readers a prosperous 2007 and may the coming 52 weeks be full of satisfaction.
I have opted today to be somewhat gloomy and discuss, albeit in a brief way, a negative side within our sports world namely doping.
The latter is the use of substances and methods intended to improve the performance of a player. The reason that led me to talk about this matter was an article/story I read this last week. It made me ponder further and remind myself that our islands are not immune from this problem and one should tackle it and be consistent so as not to allow ‘cheaters’/abusers to get away scott-free and maybe also then losing the true sportspeople in the process.
Here is the article/story I mentioned above:
“It all started when I was a freshman in high school. I was on the after school activity bus. The basketball players and I would go home on the same bus after practice. They would smoke pot everyday after practice and would offer me to take a hit and I would say no. They asked and asked until one day I said yes. I tried it and I liked it surely not knowing what was in store for me at that particular time. So I smoked weed all of my high school years and I thought it was a great thing to get high.
However, when I got out of high school I did not become that professional basketball player I always dreamt to become and had trained so hard for in my early years. For one, school grades were bad and I was skipping class and hanging around the campus all the time trying to get high all day and put in some different drug as pot was now a ‘sweet’.
Then it got to the point were I tried all kinds of drugs such as; Tylenol pills, heroine, cocaine (crack) and many other drugs. Yet, one day I was getting high, with some friends, on some heroine and some sort of pills and my heart stopped for 11 minutes.
I also went into a coma that lasted for ten days. The drugs had caused some brain damage and I was, for some time, in critical condition. In fact, the right side of my brain suffered the effects and it paralyzed the left side of my body. I use a wheelchair for a considerable time of the day now. I walk with a walker now to go to church and other short distances. My dreams of being a professional basketball player are totally destroyed now. My reflexes to catch a ball are thrown off a great deal because of damage in my nerves system. On hindsight, and after finally ‘opening’ my eyes, I did not know or never imagined back then that drugs were trying to kill me. Initially all I wanted to do was have fun but then drugs got very serious with me up to the point that they almost killed me. What a price to pay.”
This was a sad (and slightly extreme) story but one that can happen easily around us. People (and no one can point fingers as each one of us is liable to be vulnerable at some point of time) can easily fall prey to such things.
The use of performance-enhancing drugs has been an issue in sports almost ever since the beginning of organized sports activity. It poses a risk to health and it is contrary to sporting ethics.
One can easily state that, despite the fact that years have passed since then, the goal of universal testing of athletes for performance-enhancing substances is far from being achieved.
The ancient Greeks used herbs and various types of fungus (many of them hallucinogenic in nature) to sharpen their performances. In subsequent years, Roman gladiators took large amounts of stimulants, including caffeine and strychnine.
Many are not aware but it was not until the late 1920s that the systematic testing of athletes for doping products began. The subjects were not humans but thoroughbred race horses.
By 1966, the international federations that govern cycling and football introduced doping tests at their world championships. Drug testing was not begun in the Olympics until the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City.
The first athlete to be disqualified was the Swedish pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall (for using alcohol). Statistic-wise, according to doping historian Gary Wadler, the first documented fatality from a performance-enhancing drug occurred in 1886, when an English cyclist died from an overdose of "trimethyl" during a race in France.
Progress against doping has been thwarted by two key factors:
technological advances that keep abusers almost always one step ahead of the authorities and conflicting rules and procedures adopted by hundreds of sports governing bodies.
The first step in forming an organization to control doping around the world and in every sport took place in 1999. Through an initiative led by the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was created to unite sports organizations and governments "in their efforts to achieve completely drug-free sport."
WADA's World Anti-Doping Code was implemented in 2004 by sports organizations before that same year’s Summer Games in Athens. The organization's goal was to "ensure that, for the first time, the rules and regulations governing anti-doping will be the same across all sports and all countries." WADA conducted more than 3,000 tests immediately before and during the Athens Games. Those tests resulted in 24 athletes being ousted. That included, as many might still vividly remember, Greek track stars Kostas Kederis and Katherina Thanou, who were suspended right before the Games for dodging a mandatory drug test.
In all, seven medals were taken from athletes who tested positive or refused tests (for the record these were three gold, one silver and three bronze).
Quite unfortunately, for the biggest professional (and at times most followed by young people around the world) sports leagues in the USA (namely the NBA (Basketball), the NFL (American football) , major league baseball (MLB), and the NHL (ice hockey)) collective bargaining agreements with their players have precedence over the WADA code.
The NFL’s policy is closest to the WADA standard as it tests for steroid precursors and imposes a mandatory four-game suspension for first-time offenders.
In MLB, a player who tested positive for steroids would not be penalized until his second offense, when he would be fined and suspended for 15 days. A player would have to test positive five times to earn a one-year suspension.
The NBA's agreement calls for a five-game suspension for a first offense.
The NHL, however, has no drug testing.
Our European basketball federation, FIBA, has implemented a sound anti-doping policy and (apart from an extensive educational campaign) effects controls both during competitions and out-of-competition.
Sanctions will be applied depending on the nature of the anti-doping violation. The initial sanction for a first doping offence is a 2-year period of ineligibility. For a second offence, the player would be banned for life.
To conclude, the general opinion is that a player must respect sporting ethics. He must be sensitive to and informed about doping, its consequences and its damaging effects. The more famous he is, the more he is a "role model" for young people. His commitment against doping will thus be an example to others. If he opts still for drugs, then in my opinion no mercy should be spared as we should give a clear message that sports is built on fair play and develops sound health.
I just hope that, even with limited financial budgets, our local federations fight this problem that might be lurking amongst some of its members with tight fists.
vassallobernard |
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