Drug cheats cost Aussie taxpayers

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http://www.smh.com.au/news/commonwealth ... 62552.html

Drug cheats uncovered - but at a cost
Email Print Normal font Large font By Jacquelin Magnay
March 15, 2006

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AdvertisementAUSTRALIAN taxpayers unwittingly paid for a cat-and-mouse chase across two continents last month as international drug testers sought to test suspicious Indian athletes before they arrived at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

As part of a groundbreaking anti-doping commitment, the Federal Government paid nearly $300,000 for 300 tests on foreign athletes, as well as testing every Australian competitor in the lead up to the Games, which open tonight.

World Anti-Doping Agency chief executive David Howman confirmed to the Herald yesterday that the Australian money was used to try to test a number of Indian athletes, including a controversial group of 12 who managed to elude the testers for several weeks.

The Indians, mainly potential medal-winning throwers and some lesser-known sprinters, were training in South Africa when they were first approached by the WADA testers.

Although two, shot putter Navpreet Singh and sprinter Vishal Saxena, were identified by the testers, all 12 fled to India and again went into hiding when the testers arrived in a surprise swoop at their training base in Patiala, Punjab.

All 12 have since been prevented from competing in Melbourne by the Indian athletic authorities. Indian journalists said the controversy became a circus because the athletes would go into hiding whenever a white person, feared to be a drug tester, arrived in their town.

Lalit Bhanot, the secretary of India's athletics authority said a disciplinary panel had punished 10 of the 12 with exclusion from two domestic competitions and the national training camp. But Singh and Saxena would face further sanctions. The international athletics body, the IAAF, is conducting its own investigation.

It is understood the Australian-paid testing also caught Indian weightlifter and gold medal hopeful Shailaja Pujari, who was forced out of the team after testing positive to steroids.

During the Commonwealth Games there will be 1000 tests, including 300 for the blood-booster erythropoiten (EPO). The newly-launched Australian Sports Anti Doping Authority will conduct the testing, but pass on the test results for the Commonwealth Games Federation to handle.

ASADA chief executive Richard Ings said the Federation had put in place the most comprehensive testing program. Tests would be scrutinised by the accredited laboratory in Sydney. "The laboratory will analyse samples for all of the available testing protocols," said Ings. "These include steroids, human growth hormone, blood transfusions, stimulants and EPO and other similar hormone drugs."

Meanwhile, Federal Sports Minister Rod Kemp, who launched the ASADA in Melbourne, believes it will enhance the country's reputation as a world leader in the fight against doping in sport.

The new body will have investigative powers, although it will not be able to compel witnesses to give evidence under subpoena. Kemp said such legalities would not be required because the co-operation of all sports bodies was mandatory. "You can be sure they will comply because the sanctions, if they don't co-operate, are severe." Kemp said.

Ings said the new body would continue to follow the lead of the various international sports federations' rules in regards to when the names of athletes under investigation are officially released.