I was kinda of suprised at David Salo's comments especially after the announcement by the WADA. At the start of the World Championships, *** Pound, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency said that his agency will work with China to insure its national anti-doping measures are sufficient to weed out drug cheats before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. "We'll work with the Chinese to make sure their anti-doping apparatus is adequate," Pound said. "We know the Chinese don't want to be embarrassed by having cheats at their own games." He does not think the host country would risk being embarrassed by a major drug scandal like the 1990's in front of the world stage.
The WADA was at the meet to conduct tests in conjunction with FINA. Right now they are off to Helsinki to do the same thing at the World Track and Field Championships. I think Salo's comments really ticked off *** Pound. Pound says "If there is a problem, identify it. If there is not, keep quite." He pretty much made the same remarks that hmlee made when he said this. The WADA found 17 of 4000 Chinese athletes tested positive for drugs last year.
FINA has stated that they have stepped up their efforts as well. FINA reported that it performed 33 unannounced drug tests on 20 Chinese swimmers so far this year and no chinese swimmer has tested positive. For comparison, FINA performed 107 tests on 79 US swimmers and 3 tested positive. Mustapha Larfaoui, President of FINA, said his organization was at the forefront on the fight against illegal substances and criticism was unwarranted. He did acknowledge that all sports are facing a tough fight to ensure fair competitions. "We're in a struggle that's impossible to win. We're going to win some struggles, but we're not going to win the war. The labs are working very hard to come up with new drugs. Can we ensure total cleanliness? No. I can't committ to that. But we're using all the controls we can to ensure the sport remains clean."
From these comments from both Pound and Larfaoui, does there seem to be a lack of trust here in the USA from coaches and others that they cannot perform the tasks and duties there organzations say they can? Pound has said its impossibe to weed out 100% of the cheaters. "I am kind of cynical about these things. In many cases, if you haven't tested postive, that only means you haven't tested positive. It would be naive to think everyone here in Montreal is clean. I hope we can catch some of those who are not."
Another statement that sent shock waves was the one by John Leonard, the head of ASCA. He said a Chinese Coach told him that 50 to 100 swimmers that were selected for development in China have essentially disappeared. That China is secretly traning these swimmers outside the international spotlight so they won't be subject to drug testing. They will not travel and attend competition until shortly before 2008 when they will suprise the world.
Does this sound familar? That you could go into hiding, train away secretly all year, get stuffed with steriods, HGH, EPO, etc, and be safe in the knowledge that you would not be caught. Then taper off or completely be off the drugs prior to 2008, becauce the drugs had already done the required in months if not years before and dominate the games. I think this is what people are suspicious of.
Can China not repeat the mistakes it made in the past? Are they not capable of producing World Class performances without drugs? Are we insulting them? Are we still paranoid about what happened in the past?
I was kinda of suprised at David Salo's comments especially after the announcement by the WADA. At the start of the World Championships, *** Pound, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency said that his agency will work with China to insure its national anti-doping measures are sufficient to weed out drug cheats before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. "We'll work with the Chinese to make sure their anti-doping apparatus is adequate," Pound said. "We know the Chinese don't want to be embarrassed by having cheats at their own games." He does not think the host country would risk being embarrassed by a major drug scandal like the 1990's in front of the world stage.
The WADA was at the meet to conduct tests in conjunction with FINA. Right now they are off to Helsinki to do the same thing at the World Track and Field Championships. I think Salo's comments really ticked off *** Pound. Pound says "If there is a problem, identify it. If there is not, keep quite." He pretty much made the same remarks that hmlee made when he said this. The WADA found 17 of 4000 Chinese athletes tested positive for drugs last year.
FINA has stated that they have stepped up their efforts as well. FINA reported that it performed 33 unannounced drug tests on 20 Chinese swimmers so far this year and no chinese swimmer has tested positive. For comparison, FINA performed 107 tests on 79 US swimmers and 3 tested positive. Mustapha Larfaoui, President of FINA, said his organization was at the forefront on the fight against illegal substances and criticism was unwarranted. He did acknowledge that all sports are facing a tough fight to ensure fair competitions. "We're in a struggle that's impossible to win. We're going to win some struggles, but we're not going to win the war. The labs are working very hard to come up with new drugs. Can we ensure total cleanliness? No. I can't committ to that. But we're using all the controls we can to ensure the sport remains clean."
From these comments from both Pound and Larfaoui, does there seem to be a lack of trust here in the USA from coaches and others that they cannot perform the tasks and duties there organzations say they can? Pound has said its impossibe to weed out 100% of the cheaters. "I am kind of cynical about these things. In many cases, if you haven't tested postive, that only means you haven't tested positive. It would be naive to think everyone here in Montreal is clean. I hope we can catch some of those who are not."
Another statement that sent shock waves was the one by John Leonard, the head of ASCA. He said a Chinese Coach told him that 50 to 100 swimmers that were selected for development in China have essentially disappeared. That China is secretly traning these swimmers outside the international spotlight so they won't be subject to drug testing. They will not travel and attend competition until shortly before 2008 when they will suprise the world.
Does this sound familar? That you could go into hiding, train away secretly all year, get stuffed with steriods, HGH, EPO, etc, and be safe in the knowledge that you would not be caught. Then taper off or completely be off the drugs prior to 2008, becauce the drugs had already done the required in months if not years before and dominate the games. I think this is what people are suspicious of.
Can China not repeat the mistakes it made in the past? Are they not capable of producing World Class performances without drugs? Are we insulting them? Are we still paranoid about what happened in the past?
