Anti-Doping Law in South-African Sport : The Challenges of the World Anti-Doping Code / Portia Ndlovu. – (International Sports Law Journal (2006) 1-2 : p. 60-63)

Content:
1.) Introduction
2.) South African Sports and Anti-Doping Law
3.) Practical Application of Current Anti-Doping Legislation
4.) Duty to publish information on testing procedures
5.) The Institute Appeal Board
6.) The World Anti-Doping Code
7.) The International Convention against Doping in Sport
8.) The World Anti-Doping Code and the Constitution
9.) The Responsibility to Apply the Code: Sporting Bodies in South Africa
10.) Conclusion

The purpose of this article is to educate South African athletes on anti-doping laws and to create awareness that it is possible to win at any level of competition without the use of banned substances. Further, it is essential in law to highlight that there is hope for those athletes who have talent and a desire to succeed but have been historically disadvantaged however they should seek to avoid expedient success through the use of banned substances. In light of the quest to develop as a sporting nation, it is the aim of this paper is to contribute to the legal research applicable to sport by highlighting the laws relating to doping and the challenge in applying these laws in South Africa.

Baseball’s Doping Crisis and New Anti-Doping Program / James A.R. Nafziger. – (International Sports Law Journal (2006) 1-2 : p. 10-13)

Content:
1.) Baseball’s Doping Crisis
2.) Major League Baseball’s Response to the Crisis and Its Significance
2a.) MLB’s Response
2a-1.) The 2002 Program
2a-2.) Public Opinion
2a-3.) The 2005 Program
2b.) The Significance of MLB’s Response in the Process of Globalization

The most significant issue confronting professional baseball has been the use by players of performance-enhancing drugs. The widespread use of steroids, in particular, led to a doping crisis in the sport and irresistible pressures for reform emanating from congressional hearings in the United States on the crisis.
As a result, MLB first accepted minimum testing procedures and sanctions against doping in 2002 and then, under continuing public and congressional pressures, rapidly instituted a respectable program of testing and sanctions in 2005. Frontier issues involving difficult-to-detect and undetectable drugs remain to be resolved in the future. What may be particularly significant about baseball’s new program is not simply its rapid development under pressure but its growing conformity with the standards and procedures of international sports law-a significant development, given the independent role of player contracts and collective bargaining in professional baseball.
This study first summarizes baseball’s doping crisis, then discusses MLB’s response to it and the significance of the response in the context of international sports law and the globalizing process.

Narcissism and empathy in steroid users / John H. Porcerelli, Bruce A. Sandler. - (American Journal of Psychiatry 152 (1995) 11 (November); p. 1672-1674)

• PMID: 7485634
• DOI: 10.1176/ajp.152.11.1672

Abstract

Objective: In an effort to begin to construct a psychological profile of anabolic steroid users, the authors compared weight lifters and bodybuilders who did or did not use anabolic steroids on an objective measure of narcissism and on clinical ratings of empathy.

Method: The subjects were 16 weight lifters and bodybuilders who reported that they had used anabolic steroids within the past year and a comparison group of 20 weight lifters who had not used steroids. The Narcissistic Personality Inventory and clinical ratings of empathy were used to assess narcissism.

Results: Steroid users had significantly higher scores on dimensions of pathological narcissism and significantly lower scores on clinical ratings of empathy.

Conclusions: These preliminary results document a relationship between anabolic steroid use and narcissistic personality traits. They also indicate the need for further research to determine whether narcissistic personality traits contribute to the initiation of anabolic steroid use or result from their use.

Body image and attitudes toward male roles in anabolic-androgenic steroid users / Gen Kanayama, Steven Barry, James I. Hudson, Harrison G. Pope Jr.. - (American Journal of Psychiatry 163 (2006) 4 (April); p. 697-703)

• PMID: 16585446
• DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.163.4.697

Abstract

Objective: The authors sought to expand on previous observations suggesting that body-image pathology is associated with illicit use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). In particular, the authors compared current versus past AAS users and short-term versus long-term users in this respect.

Method: The authors assessed 89 heterosexual men who lifted weights regularly-48 AAS users and 41 nonusers-on measures of self-esteem, attitudes toward male roles, body image, eating-related attitudes and behaviors, and muscle dysmorphia ("reverse anorexia nervosa").

Results: AAS users as a whole showed few differences from nonusers on most measures but showed greater symptoms of muscle dysmorphia (e.g., not allowing their bodies to be seen in public, giving up pleasurable activities because of body-appearance concerns). The current and past AAS users each differed only modestly from nonusers on most measures. Short-term AAS "experimenters" were also largely indistinguishable from nonusers, but the long-term AAS users showed striking and significant differences from nonusers on many measures, including marked symptoms of muscle dysmorphia and stronger endorsement of conventional male roles.

Conclusions: Both body-image pathology and narrow stereotypic views of masculinity appear to be prominent among men with long-term AAS use. Although our cross-sectional observations cannot confirm that these factors help to cause or perpetuate AAS use, a causal hypothesis is certainly plausible and deserving of further testing in longitudinal studies. If these factors are indeed causal, then AAS users might respond to cognitive behavior approaches that simultaneously take aim at both types of maladaptive beliefs.

Ftaiti F, Dantin MP, Nicol C, Brunet C, Grélot L. The effect of desmopressin, a vasopressin analog, on endurance performance during a prolonged run in simulated heat conditions. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2006 Apr;31(2):135-43.

Genetische doping / H.J. Haisma, Olivier de Hon. - (Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Klinische Chemie en Laboratoriumgeneeskunde 31 (2006) 1 : p. 261-263)

Genetische doping zal zeer waarschijnlijk binnen 5 jaar zijn intrede doen in de sportwereld. Bepaalde genen kunnen de sportieve prestatie immers verbeteren. Deze genen worden thans onderzocht in klinische studies voor de behandeling van ziektes. Het niet-therapeutische en ongecontroleerde gebruik van gendoping door sporters kan resulteren in gezondheidsschade.
Preventieve maatregelen om het gebruik van gendoping te voorkomen zijn dus noodzakelijk. Een uitvoerig voorlichtingsprogramma t.b.v. de sportbegeleiders en de sporters zelf, een evaluatie van de huidige regelgeving en de ontwikkeling van een geavanceerde detectiemethode op basis van proteomische technieken lijken de meest veelbelovende preventieve maatregelen.

Independent Observers (IO) Report XX Olympic Winter Games, Turin, Italy, 10-26 February 2006 / Arne Ljungqvist. - Independent Observer Team. - Montreal : World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), 2006

CAS CG 06/01 Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) vs Raju Edwin

CAS CG 06/02 Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) vs Tajinder Singh

In March 2006 during the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games the Indian weightlifters Raju Edwin and Tajinder Singh tested positive for the prohibited substance Stanozolol.

Following notification the Athlete's denied the use of any prohibited substance and disputed the validity of the test results.

Because there were 4 adverse analytical findings reported on the occasion of doping controls carried out on the Indian national team members in 2006 consequently the International Weightlifting Federation decided to suspend the Indian Weightlifting Federation.

On 25 March 2006 in this interim order the Ad hoc Panel provides the Athletes the opportunity to consider with the aid of an expert whether the analysis of the their samples relied on to support a case of violation of the anti-doping rules was in any way flawed.

Therefore on 26 March 2006 the Ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport decides:

(1) By 06:00pm Swiss time on 28 March 2006, the Respondents produce a report from their expert on the analytical data to be distributed in accordance with directions of the CAS Secretariat.

(2) By 06:00pm Swiss time on 29 March 2006, the Respondents indicate to CAS in Lausanne whether in the light of such report, the Respondents continue to dispute the findings of violation of an anti-doping rule, and if so, on what basis.

(3) If and in so far as the Respondents continue to dispute the findings on the basis that the analysis of their samples was in some material way flawed, the CGF has until 06:00pm Swiss time on 31 March 2006 to produce a report in defence of the analysis to be distributed on the same basis.

(4) The Panel refers the dispute to arbitration by the CAS in accordance with the Code of Sports-related Arbitration (Article 20 (a) and (c) (i) and (iii) of the ad hoc Rules)

(5) If a defence is advanced by the Respondents, further directions will be given for its resolution.

If, however, the Respondents advance no defence, the Panel will as soon as possible determine that an anti-doping rule violation has been committed (see article 28.8 (d) of the CGF Constitution), and the Federation Court will thereafter impose the sanctions provided for under article 28.9. (The Panel further draws attention to article 28.10, although its implementation is not a matter for it.)

The New Zealand Federation of Bodybuilders (NZFBB) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Respondent after her sample tested positive for the prohibited substance Clenbuterol.

Respondent admitted the anti-doping violation, did not want to participate in the hearing and acknowledged that the Tribunal may impose a penalty on her without holding a hearing of the parties.
The Tribunal notes that Respondent admitted the violation but provided no further information to warrant any lesser penalty than the two year suspension set out in the WADA Code.
Therefore the Sports Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand decides to impose a 2 year period of ineligibility on the Respondent starting from the date of the decision.

In February 2006 the Agenţia Naţională Anti-Doping (ANAD), the National Anti-Doping Agency of Romania, has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete Paulina Geanina Orlic after her sample tested positive for the prohibited substance hydrochlorothiazide.
Therefore on 23 March 2006 the ANAD Sanction Committee decides to impose a 2 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete, starting on the date of the sample collection, i.e. on 25 February 2006.