"Bury the Cheats" Says Spanish Anti-Doping Chief

(ATR) New anti-doping legislation passed earlier this month has finally put Spain level with the rest of the world in the fight against doping in sport, says Ana Muñoz, head of the renamed Spanish Health Protection Agency.

She claims "it even puts us ahead of most countries".

Spain’s past lax attitude to anti-doping has been cited in the past as a weakness in Madrid’s previous two candidacies to win the Olympic Games. With the new law in place since the 13th of June the bid for the 2020 Games can only be strengthened Muñoz says.

"Previous Olympic bids were advised by members of the IOC that we were not in line with other nations, modifications were made but it wasn’t enough and both WADA and the IOC demanded a change in legislation and that is what we have done, " Muñoz told ATR.

With a background in law and public administration Muñoz has been in charge of the previously named Spanish Anti-Doping Agency since April 2012.

Within a month of her arrival WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) visited Spain and a promise was made that new legislation would bring Spain in line with WADA’s own code of conduct within a year.

"I am not going to deny the obvious; the international press signaled Spain out as a country where doping practices were easy to carry out and where there was little will to win the fight against it."

"It took a year to modify the law but we have managed it so we don’t leave anyone in doubt that Spain wants to work hand in hand with WADA, who now tell us that the changes are appropriate solid and resolute."

She believes perceptions about Spain are already changing citing her experience in Oslo earlier this month at a conference held by Anti-Doping Norway and attended by WADA Director General David Howman and representatives from the US and Australian Anti-Doping agencies.

"It’s the first time that I have felt on a level playing field with these people, because the new law is the best way possible to say that Spain wants to change things.

"I made it clear to them we want to get to the very bottom of ‘Operation Puerto’ and know the names of all the sportsmen implicated. We can’t look to the future if we don’t know what has gone on in the past and punish those involved.

"I want to use all legal jurisdictions to bury the cheats; so we made an appeal in which we ask for all those guilty to be punished under our Penal Code and access to all the proof including the blood bags so we can discover the names of the sportsmen who have benefitted from using banned substances. Until we do that Operation Puerto is not over."

Muñoz says if the new law was in place in 2006 the process and judgement of ‘Puerto’ would have been completely different but is confident a verdict could be pronounced within the next 6 months.

"The reality is the events took place with no law in place. I think it is never too late for change, there is still a long way to go but now we have the instruments in place."

Muñoz believes the new law provides a complete change in perspective on doping in Spanish sport, with the emphasis placed on protecting the health of the athlete and fair competition.

"We now have the ability to investigate and share important information about the health of athletes and we will use it to know who is using and distributing doping products, with this we can now pinpoint exactly who we should be carrying out controls on and when."

New powers allow for controls during the night if for example information exists that an athlete may be trying to avoid detection by carrying out doping techniques that can only be detected during the hours of sleep.

Spain’s penal code now has the power to imprison those caught up in the trafficking of prohibited substances and steps are in place to go further and provide similar punishment for those caught consuming. Fines are also now far higher for both athletes and anyone found guilty within their environment.

"We can now be stronger with the doctors who carry out these practices, they are jeopardising the health of these sportsmen who go from being patients to clients.

"We won’t distinguish between sports, be it football, cycling, athletics, chess or archery. All athletes will be considered the same for us whether they are footballers or from other sports." Muñoz adds in a bid to send out a strong message that Spain is finally serious about one of Sport’s biggest problems.

Reported in Madrid by Dermot Ledwith

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