Drugs in sport

[Neil Young]

World's fastest 100m runners

1. Usain Bolt (Jam) - 9.58 secs
2. Tyson Gay (USA) - 9.69 secs
3. Yohan Blake (Jam) - 9.69 secs
4. Asafa Powell (Jam) - 9.72 secs

Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell: Olympic sprinters fail drug tests

US sprinter Tyson Gay and Jamaica's former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell have failed drug tests.

Gay, 30, the joint-second fastest man over 100m, was notified by the US Anti-Doping Agency on Friday that his A sample from an out-of-competition test in May had returned a positive.

Powell tested positive for a banned stimulant while competing in June's Jamaican championships.

Fellow Jamaican athlete Sherone Simpson also failed a drug test at the event.

The sprinter, a 4x100m relay silver medallist at last year's London Olympics, tested positive for oxilofrine - the same stimulant Powell tested positive for.

Powell and Simpson's doping positives come a month after Jamaican Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown tested positive for a banned diuretic.

The 30-year-old Powell was the last man to hold the individual 100m record before compatriot Usain Bolt broke it in 2008. He is still the fourth fastest man of all time.

Powell later helped Jamaica to win 400m relay gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

He has run 9.88 seconds this year, but failed to make the Jamaican team for next month's World Championships.

"I want to be clear in saying to my family, friends and, most of all, my fans worldwide that I have never knowingly or wilfully taken any supplements or substances that break any rules," Powell said in a statement.

"I am not now - nor have I ever been - a cheat."

Gay, who is the fastest man in 2013, is waiting for the results of his 'B' sample.

He has already withdrawn from next month's World Championships in Moscow.

"I don't have a sabotage story... I basically put my trust in someone and was let down," he said.

"I know exactly what went on, but I can't discuss it right now.

"I hope I am able to run again, but I will take whatever punishment I get like a man."

USADA responded to Gay's disclosure by releasing a statement that read: "In response to Mr Gay's statements, USADA appreciates his approach to handling this situation and his choice to voluntarily remove himself from competition while the full facts surrounding his test are evaluated.

"The B sample will be processed shortly, and as in all cases all athletes are innocent unless or until proven otherwise through the established legal process, and any attempt to sensationalise or speculate is a disservice to due process, fair play, and to those who love clean sport."

Gay, who missed almost a year of running after he had hip surgery in 2011, had been in impressive form so far this year, clocking the three fastest times of 2013.

He won the 100m at the Jamaica Invitational athletics meeting in May with a time of 9.86 seconds, before clocking 9.75 seconds - the fastest time of 2013 - to win the US World Championships trials the following month.

He continued his good form with victory in the men's 100m at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, running 9.79 seconds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/23307913

[Chazza]

What do you reckon then? Let them get on with it?

[BobTheCharmer]

Yep, who cares? Forget landing on Mars, in my lifetime I want to see the 100 metres ran in 5 seconds.

[Neil Young]

What do you reckon then? Let them get on with it?

No, I don't think so.

[Neil Young]

I hesitate to put this in here because Gibbo racing has f*ck all to do with sport as far as I'm concerned but maybe I'm in a minority on that so here goes...

BHA report into Zarooni doping scandal: What is there to hide?

Racing's rulers plan to keep full report into systematic steroid doping at a Godolphin stable away from public view

Greg Wood
The Guardian, Sunday 14 July 2013 19.40 BST

When the British Horseracing Authority published its findings in the race-fixing inquiry centred on the jockey Eddie Ahern, the document ran to nearly 7,000 words. The case of Andrew Heffernan, another cheating jockey, and his co-conspirators was detailed in nearly 10,000 words and the race-fixing operation run by Maurice Sines and James Crickmore required about 32,000 words – 20,000 for the initial case and 12,000 more on their subsequent, unsuccessful appeal. John Steinbeck required 2,000 fewer to complete Of Mice And Men.

At some point over the next couple of weeks the BHA will announce the results of its investigation into Mahmood al-Zarooni's steroid-doping operation at Godolphin's Moulton Paddocks stable in Newmarket. It is a more significant and disturbing case than any of those listed above. But do not set aside an afternoon to digest the report because the BHA's findings – those it deems fit for public consumption, at least – will be squeezed into … a press release.

Godolphin, the operation which paid Zarooni's wages for three years, will get more out of the BHA than the racing public, whose interest the BHA is, in theory at least, there to defend. Spectators and punters have spent untold millions of pounds to watch and bet on races which may have been corrupted by the deliberate and sustained use of anabolic steroids in one of the biggest stables in the game. Yet the Zarooni report's "key findings, and any recommendations, will be shared with Godolphin", a briefing document from the BHA revealed last week. "The BHA will also issue a press release on completion of the report."

There have already been so many bizarre twists in the Zarooni story that it would require several pages just to list the top 10. But it is a match for anything heard thus far that racing's regulator seems to believe that it can now wrap up the whole affair with a handful of bullet points and a few hundred words.

Rarely has a week passed since the initial revelation of the Moulton Paddocks scandal in late April when Zarooni's name did not appear somewhere in this column. It could be argued that there are other issues which need to be addressed too. The log-jam of valuable meetings this weekend, and the rights and wrongs of the decision to allow Elusive Kate to keep the Falmouth Stakes are two examples from the last three days alone.

But the Zarooni case, to my mind, has provided such a fundamental test of the BHA's capacity to regulate an industry which generates billions of pounds in betting turnover alone that everything else is a detail by comparison. It has been a test not just of the authority's ability fully to investigate serious corruption but also the extent of its power and its ability to investigate an employee of the most powerful owner in the game.

The BHA exists because the Jockey Club, which regulated racing from its earliest days, wanted to step back from day-to-day administration and concentrate instead on its very substantial assets. Most of the best racecourses, a large chunk of the real estate in Newmarket and the gallops in both Newmarket and Lambourn belong either to the Jockey Club or to Jockey Club members like Sheikh Mohammed.

The BHA – which followed on from two interim administrative bodies, the BHB and the HRA – has, on balance, done a fair job of regulation in recent years. It has had the huge advantage of access to market information from the Betfair betting exchange, which has proved invaluable in connecting the various members of conspiracies to corrupt the sport, and it has used the weapon well to warn off a series of jockeys, trainers and owners.

But in the case of Zarooni, a man whose employer is a long-standing Jockey Club member and has put more money into British racing than any owner in history, the BHA appears to have done things backwards. In other corruption cases a long and detailed investigation has been followed by charges where appropriate, then a hearing, a decision and the handing down of penalties. Zarooni was charged, tried and banned in 72 hours and the investigation carried on from there.

If the BHA intends to sit on its full report and offer nothing more to the racing public than the points that its PR spinners are willing to concede, there will be those who think it has something to hide. It could be its lack of progress towards a credible account of the scandal, the result of the decision to ban first and ask questions later. Or it could be that publication of the "full" report would reveal that the BHA has neither the courage nor, crucially, the confidence in its authority to do what it should.

It is a thought to bear in mind the next time you feel like a bet and also if, or when, the BHA tries to fob us off with a press release and soothing reassurance that the Zarooni scandal has been resolved with nothing more to find. Because there will be a full, detailed account of the BHA investigation into the Godolphin dopings sitting on Paul Bittar's hard drive.

The BHA chief executive does not want you to read it. Why not?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog...doping-scandal

[Chazza]

New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez in baseball doping ban

Baseball's highest paid star, Alex Rodriguez, has said he is fighting for his life as he and 12 other players are suspended in a doping scandal.

Major League Baseball banned the New York Yankees slugger for 211 games until the end of the 2014 season.

The 38-year-old is one of a few players who have been linked to a closed Florida clinic which allegedly supplied banned performing-enhancing drugs.

Rodriguez, who is popularly known as A-Rod, said he would appeal the penalty.

He can continue playing while his challenge is being heard.

'Mistakes made'
In a news conference on Monday, Rodriguez did not deny using performance-enhancing drugs, saying he would address the issue another time.

"I'm sure there's been mistakes made along the way," he said. "We're here now.

"I'm a human being. I've had two hip surgeries. I've had two knee surgeries. I'm fighting for my life. I have to defend myself. If I don't defend myself no-one else will."

He spoke just hours before taking to the field for the first time this season after his surgery. The Yankees played the Chicago White Sox.

Other players suspended on Monday include the Texas Rangers' Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta of the Detroit Tigers, and Everth Cabrera who plays with the San Diego Padres. They each received a 50-game ban.

They are the latest players to fall foul of the doping allegations which have plagued the sport.

Only last month, the Milwaukee Brewers' Ryan Braun was banned for the 2013 season. The third baseman was accused of breaking drug rules and accepted a 65-game suspension.

But Rodriguez is the most high profile star to be snared by investigators. His current 647 home runs places him at fifth for the all-time record.

Major League Baseball, the organisation governing the sport, said Rodriguez had been suspended for "his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years".

The statement also accused the player of "attempting to cover up his violations" by obstructing the investigation.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said on Monday: "We continue to attack this issue on every front."

The accusations against Rodriguez emerged from a major investigation into a shut Florida drug clinic, Biogenesis, that allegedly distributed performance-enhancing drugs to a number of professional baseball players.

Rodriguez was accused of interfering with the Major League Baseball investigation into Biogenesis, resulting in a harsher penalty, correspondents say.

He previously admitted using performance-enhancing drugs while playing for a Texas team between 2001-03, but had denied using steroids since.

He was named Most Valuable Player in baseball's American League three times.

The divorced father of two's earnings this year total over $30m (£19.5m) according to Forbes.

Rodriguez has previously been romantically linked to a string of celebrities, including pop singer Madonna and actresses Kate Hudson and Cameron Diaz.

After years of inflated batting statistics - and arm muscles - during what has become known as baseball's "steroids era", the extent of doping in the sport was laid bare in a 2007 report by former Senator George Mitchell.

The sport subsequently strengthened its drug-testing policies and created an investigative branch to prosecute such offences.

Many had hoped the changes would usher in a new, "clean" era for the sport.

Baseball legends such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were previously both accused of lying about alleged steroid use.

Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice, while Clemens was cleared of perjury. The allegations left a cloud over both stars' legacies.

Suspended players

New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez
Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz
San Diego Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera
Detroit Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta
Philadelphia Phillies reliever Antonio *******o
New York Mets outfielder Jordany Valdespin
New York Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli
Seattle Mariners catcher Jesus Montero
New York Mets outfielder prospect Cesar Puello
San Diego Padres pitching prospect Fautino de los Santos
Houston Astros pitching prospect Sergio Escalona
New York Yankees outfield prospect Fernando Martinez
Jordan Norberto, a Minor League pitcher
Source: Major League Baseball

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23578738

[Neil Young]

1966 German World Cup players ‘had traces of banned drug’

A report on doping in German sport since the 1950s, kept under wraps for months, was released on Monday and highlighted details of systematic use of banned substances over decades.

The report describes West Germany as organising and experimenting with doping in sports since the 1950s, much like its East German neighbour, using sports politics and medicine to support the research.

It also raises questions about whether some German footballers "towards the end" of the 1966 World Cup in England were clean as, citing a FIFA document from the same year, three players showed traces of ephedrine. Ephedrine is used as a decongestant but also as a stimulant.

The report says: "The until now unknown letter from FIFA official Dr Mihailo Andrejevic informs the president of the German athletics federation, Dr Max Danz, that in doping tests conducted by FIFA at the end of the 1966 World Cup, three players of the German team had 'slight traces' of ephedrine."

FIFA said last year, when the issue surfaced, that it had no knowledge of the letter.

Commissioned by the Federal Institute and prepared by Berlin's Humboldt University and the University of Muenster, the report into German doping says athletes of many sports were knowingly given performance-enhancing substances.

"The Interior Ministry has a strong interest in a complete clarification and assessment of the history of doping," ministry spokesman Philipp Spauschus told a news conference shortly before the report was made public.

"The Federal Institute for Sport Sciences will today publish the researchers' final report... on its website and then the Federal Institute for Sport Sciences will do a specialist assessment and then there will also be a political assessment."

The report was completed in April but its content had previously not been officially made public.

The report says that by the 1970s at the latest, West Germany was actively involved in experimenting with performance-enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids, testosterone, amphetamines and EPO, financed by taxpayers' money.

Any substances seen as boosting performances were then deployed in many sports, it said. A controversial injection distributed widely to West German athletes during the 1976 Olympic Games provided the first modern German doping affair.

The report also said doping was not limited to one or two sports but many different athletes had used banned substances, with football players being given amphetamine, or "fighter pilot chocolate", as early as 1949.

Before and even after the two nations reunified in 1990, East Germany was seen as a country that used state-run doping at the height of the Cold War to amplify its position in the world through its successes in sport.

West Germany, on the other hand, was never suspected of systematic state-backed doping but rather seen as a country with individual doping cases.

The report quotes a senior sports federation official in the early 1990s as saying: "Coaches always told me that if you don't take anything then you will not become something. Anyone who became something was taking it (testosterone)."

Thomas Bach, president of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), who is also running for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee, said on Monday: "This is a good day for the fight against doping.

"A commission will now evaluate the report and give recommendations with regard to the tasks as well as about the future improvements of the fight against doping.

"I am confident we can reach our goals to have full knowledge about the past and to learn the lessons for the future. This will strengthen our zero tolerance policy against doping."

Spauschus said Germany takes the fight against doping seriously.

"Combating doping is, of course, primarily the sport industry's responsibility, but the German government supports it to the extent that this falls within its responsibility and campaigns for clean sport that is free of manipulation and uses taxpayers' money for this purpose," he said.

"We support the national anti-doping agency, for example, and are providing it with around 3.5 million euros (£3.02 million) in 2013 alone.

"We certainly take the issue very seriously and the federal government primarily supports the fight against doping by providing financial means."

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/s...133951063.html

I think it's probably more widespread, affecting many more sports, and has been going on for far longer than we have all believed.