THERE IS DOPING AND DOPING

Azerbaijan is breaking new ground in the fight against doping. A board meeting of the East European Regional Anti-Doping Organization was held in Baku, at which an agreement on mutual cooperation was signed. One of the key clauses in the agreement is that every time a banned substance is found in an athlete's test it will be considered separately and individual circumstances will be taken into account.

Double standards 

Irada Rustamzada, chairman of the anti-doping department of the Youth and Sports Ministry, noted that RADO is not an alternative to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and has completely different functions. "All regional anti-doping organizations are members of WADA. But WADA cannot deal with every minor issue such as, for example, an investigation into each individual test. But we want to be involved in discussions on these issues and propose an individual approach to every sportsman because, at present, the use of doping in sports has taken a very interesting turn. It sometimes happens that the sportsman takes pills out of ignorance, by mistake or through folly, but there are cases when an athlete is simply set up, because he or she is a strong rival of other competitors. This is why every case requires individual investigation, and we gather and hold discussions to help each other analyze the situation in the clearest possible manner," said Rustamzada.

There is a mistaken view that WADA makes the decisions on disqualification of sportsmen who are found guilty of doping. This is wrong. WADA only establishes whether the athlete has used doping, but the final decision is made by the international federation, which should hand down its ruling within two weeks. "We want to be involved in that decision too, because the international federations exercise a policy of double, or sometimes even triple, standards. This is why Azerbaijan and a number of other countries have made serious complaints against many federations," Rustamzada admitted.

It is hard to disagree with this. The example of the Spanish national field hockey team would suffice; they defeated the hosts in the final game of a qualifying tournament in Baku. Despite the fact that doping tests were positive for two Spanish sportswomen, the international federation "hushed up" the case, without even disqualifying the two athletes. The name of Azerbaijani judo wrestler Nicat Sixalizada springs to mind too: in the opinion of a number of authoritative specialists, he was one of the main contenders for an Olympic medal, but in the end he did not go to Beijing. During a training meeting in Minsk, the winner of the world junior championship and the World Super Cup in Paris was tested by WADA and surprisingly proved positive. Rumours were spread that the athlete was simply set up, especially as Nicat did not have to take any banned substances: at that time he was not training for any major competition. However, there is hope that the wrestler will come back to the international arena, especially as he himself is quite optimistic and continues training.

Should there be an anti-doping laboratory?

Overall, doping is one of the most pressing issues in today's world of sport. The number of substances on the black list grows every year. In addition, WADA keeps raising its standards for the accreditation of labs under its aegis. Whereas previously labs had to be equipped to handle 1,500 tests to meet the requirements and get the coveted certification document, from the new year the testing capacity requirement will be raised to at least 4,000. Of course, this is a major blow to Azerbaijan's aspiration to create its own lab: we will simply be unable to take so many tests.

So, in this light, how sensible is it to create an anti-doping lab?  "I do not know, negotiations are under way. It is possible that we will open a lab which will be sanctioned and approved by the National Olympic Committee. At present, the estimated cost of a lab is 16 million euro. I am talking about the equipment alone, but there is also the need to train staff. Would it not be easier to send the doping tests of Azerbaijani athletes to neighbouring countries for now? But there are nuances even here. Every country promotes its own interests and could say that the doping test of our sportsman is positive, even if it is not. This has not happened yet, and before important events we double-check the athlete's tests in several labs at the same time," was Irada Rustamzada's response. In addition, Ukraine and Belarus have opened labs; Turkey and Russia have their centres too. This means that we would not be able to invite sportsmen from these countries to take tests in Azerbaijan. For his part, board member Nikolay Kruchinskiy said, when he discussed the reasons for creating RADO, that the organization coordinates the efforts of different countries. "We pay great attention to educational programmes. In particular, a workshop was organized for doping officers during the last meeting. We prepared an agreement between all the participant countries which envisages the exchange of different materials and the introduction of educational projects," Kruchinskiy noted.

On the other hand, it is becoming increasingly difficult to trace the presence of drugs in the body for a number of reasons. "More developed countries use such perfect stimulants that it is simply impossible to catch the sportsmen. The labs do not lag behind and introduce new methods of detecting doping in blood or urine. Sooner or later, an assessment will be given to the work of both anti-doping organizations and the systems which promote the development of new, banned substances," Rustamzada concluded.

Black list is widening

In the mean time, an interesting trend has developed: increasing numbers of banned substances are included on the black list. In addition, some substances are sometimes removed from the list and then re-entered. Where will all this lead? "This will lead to the normalization of the list itself. Sooner or later, everyone will realize that when they enter a country, the label of every medicine should include information on whether or not it contains doping substances. A great many medicines have no doping information on their labels and people take advantage of this fact. But sooner or later, the list will take a more or less stable form and the notorious caffeine will stop popping from the white list to the black list and back again. The rules for the medicinal use of drugs will be normalized at last; after all, no sportsman should die because the medicine he needs to take includes a banned substance. There is a simple rule: we need to fill out forms correctly, send them to WADA, and the sportsman in question will have the right to use the medicine for the rest of his sporting career. In other words, we must simply learn how to use this mechanism," Rustamzada noted.

On the other hand, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge admitted recently that doping will never disappear from sport, just as crime will never disappear from society. But there are positive developments too, nonetheless. "After detecting eight doping-positive cases at the games in Beijing, the IOC is seen as more trustworthy. Three more tests are being discussed, and four positive tests were found in competitors' horses. The total was 15, although we expected about 30-40. So it is clear that our anti-doping efforts were effective. It is increasingly difficult for sportsmen to use banned substances," said Rogge.

The IOC also decided to re-test samples taken during the Olympics. The organization took this unprecedented step after detecting the banned substance CERA, a new form of erythropoietin which was founding in the samples of participants in the famous Tour de France cycling tournament. All the doping tests from Beijing will be sent to the WADA lab in Lausanne and details of the procedure are currently being discussed.