January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Scramble to comply with drug laws
All sports must step in line with international standards or face ban
The 'banned from one, banned from all' regulation means that if any sporting organization can't meet the new World Anti Doping Association standards then all Bermudian athletes face being suspended from international competition.
The new anti-drug code comes into affect in January 2009 and has had local administrators scrambling to ensure they can meet the criteria.
Government is even considering introducing new legislation empowering the Sports Ministry to strip offending organisations of their 'Governing Body' status.
That would mean they would no longer be eligible to send Bermuda teams to international competition and would, therefore, not be able to jeopardize the involvement of other sports.
The move has been backed by the Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sports, which says it needs teeth to enforce the new code and more cash to pay for the large increase in testing.
The organisation has already embarked on an island-wide information and education campaign to bring Sports Governing Bodies up to speed on the information they will have to provide under the new rules, which will effectively see Bermudian competitors treated in the same way as any other professional, international athletes.
The biggest change is the introduction of out-of-competition, no notice testing which will empower drug testers to turn up at any national team training session and test any athlete without prior warning.
A minimum of 50 per cent of Bermuda's elite athletes, which includes anyone competing internationally for their country, must be tested every year.
Athletes are required to submit contact numbers and details of where they will be at a given time each week.
"If enough athletes are not compliant, the National Sports Governing Body is considered not compliant. If that happens the whole country is considered non-compliant," said Cathy Belvedere, CEO of BCDS.
She said the only way to get round that would be for the Government to strip such associations of their status.
"That has to happen," she added.
Sports Minister El James said Government was working to make that possible.
"They (non compliant organisations) would have to be thrown aside as the national governing body. Everyone has to be compliant - there is no other choice."
She said the easiest way for sports to comply with the new regulations would be to submit national team training schedules to BCDS so the organization had a set time and place each week where it could turn up unannounced and test anyone in that national programme.
Training
The downside of that, for those who shirk training, is that if you don't show on the day the drug tester arrives then you are considered to have dodged the test.
If that happens three times you get an automatic two-year ban from international sport.
British 400m runner Christine Ohuruogu fell foul of that rule. She was not at training on three separate occasions when drug testers showed up and was deemed to have failed the test.
Ms Belvedere added: "The sporting bodies are going to have to say training is mandatory. If you're not at training three times and you miss doping tests three times then you're banned.
"If you're not where you're supposed to be you better have a damn good excuse."
The new regulations will also mean those who fail drug tests are named and shamed and anyone who takes any drug on the banned list for medical reasons - even an inhaler for Asthma - will have to have a certificate with them any time they compete.
"If you're an elite athlete, the chances are you are getting funding and if you're stupid enough to use marijuana at a party you deserve the consequences....
"Our athletes are now having to meet the same standards as elite international athletes everywhere. That's the way it should be really, if you want to compete at the next level." n
Don Burgess contributed to this article.[[In-content Ad]]
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