Wada fears for London 2012

[Geoff]

Wada fears for London 2012 as drug cheats are slipping through the net
• Research says fewer than one in five cheats is being caught
• Lord Moynihan criticised for 'misinformed tirade' against Wada

Less than six months before London 2012, the World Anti-Doping Agency fears that fewer than one in five drug cheats is being caught and urged against complacency from governments and sporting bodies in tackling the problem.

David Howman, the Wada director general, said that despite ever more sophisticated testing, a major research project undertaken by the global body had indicated more than one in 10 athletes were tempted to cheat but only between 1% and 2% were caught.

"We think the annual statistics show that maybe between 1 and 2% of athletes who are tested are cheating. By conducting these research projects, the results of which will be made known later this year, we think those numbers are more into double digits," said Howman.

"That's a concern. If more than 10% of the athletes in the world are being tempted to take a shortcut via taking prohibited substances then we've got an issue that is not being confronted as well as it should be."

London 2012 organisers recently unveiled the most comprehensive testing programme in the history of the Games and warned that cheats would almost certainly be caught.

But Wada said that while athletes who cheated in major events were likely to be caught, outside of competition too many tests were being conducted "selectively" with more expensive blood tests for EPO and human growth hormone not being carried out often enough..............

Wada also urged US federal prosecutors to hand over evidence collected during a long-running probe into the American cyclist Lance Armstrong, which was this week dropped. "The inquiry in the US was about fraud, but the evidence that has been gathered was about doping. We expect the evidence will be shared in the same way [as in the Balco case]," said Howman.

"It is important that happens as quickly as possible, just in case there might be athletes who are going to London to whom it might refer."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/fe ... games-2012

[readtherules]

Geoff.

Howman said that 10% are tempted to cheat but only 1 to 2 % are cought.What does "tempted" mean.You can be tempted but reject the temptation.More twisted PR from WADA.And the postives that get taken to hearings/sanctions is less than 1% as they count AAF from labs without taking off those with TUE's.More PR twists from WADA.

However if you take Howman as saying 8% escape detection then the £300 million costs of WADA world are not doing too well.

[trickstat]

Geoff.

Howman said that 10% are tempted to cheat but only 1 to 2 % are cought.What does "tempted" mean.You can be tempted but reject the temptation.More twisted PR from WADA.And the postives that get taken to hearings/sanctions is less than 1% as they count AAF from labs without taking off those with TUE's.More PR twists from WADA.

However if you take Howman as saying 8% escape detection then the £300 million costs of WADA world are not doing too well.

That's just over 4p each for every person on the planet. I presume as an adult westerner I am likely to effectively contribute more than that, let's say 50p. For the time being, I'm prepared to let them have less than the price of a quarter pint of beer (in a pub) in an attempt to combat the scourge of doping in sport.