Fight Against Doping - French Disparage Armstrong, EU Criticizes WADA Code

Lance Armstrong has come under fire from French anti-doping authorities and could miss the Tour de France. (Getty Images) Armstrong's Tour Eligibility in Question After Drug Test Incident

The French anti-doping agency says Lance Armstrong may have broken its rules by leaving the sights of its drug tester during a March 17 test.

The agency said on Wednesday that Armstrong took a shower after an out- of-competition test while a member of his staff verified the tester’s credentials. The rules state that someone being tested must remain in the sight of the drug tester.

While blood, urine, and hair samples were taken, no performance enhancing drugs were found. The agency must decide if it wants to bring a case against the seven-time Tour de France winner. Armstrong called the news “outrageous” and said he was given permission to shower. According to The New York Times Armstrong said “I did not try to evade or delay the testing process that day.”

Should the agency decide to pursue a case against Armstrong, he could miss this year’s Tour de France. Armstrong ended a three year retirement this year with the hopes of winning another Tour.

Armstrong has had to repeatedly fend off allegations of doping, especially in France, even though he has never failed a drug test.

International Cycling Union President Pat MacQuaid had harsh words for the agency, telling the BBC, "The French are not acting very professionally in this case. The tester has to have a specific instruction that the athlete must remain under his supervision from the moment he is notified until the test is concluded…Lance Armstrong had every right to take a shower while his manager checked with the UCI that these people had the authority to take these samples."

EU Criticizes WADA Code

A BBC report says the European Union thinks the WADA Code may break EU laws.

According to the BBC, it has obtained a copy of an EU report that says the Code breaks European laws on data protection. The EU’s report will be released next week and will raise concerns about the need for so many athletes to be required to follow the Code, the “whereabouts rule”, how data can be obtained, and if that information can be submitted safely.

Allegedly, the report also found the naming of drug cheats to be unnecessary.

The EU is the newest member of a growing chorus of Code critics. WADA, for its part, has said the Code needs time to be fully successful and that it developed the Code in consultation with athletes, sport federations, and governmental bodies.

German Athletes Don’t Accept Coaches’ Apology

German athletes who participated in East Germany’s doping program have rejected the apologies of five coaches from the former German Democratic Republic.

Former sprinter Ines Geipel, a victim of the East German doping system, said the decision to allow five coaches to keep their jobs after their confession discredited the victims. (Bongarts/Getty Images)“This is superficial and it is no way clearing the GDR’s doping past. This is whitewash,” said Klaus Zoelling, head of the Doping Victims Aid group (DOH), on Wednesday.

The coaches, Klaus Baarck, Maria Ritschel Gerhard Boettcher, Rainer Pottel, and Klaus Schneider, admitted in a signed letter Monday to being involved with a state-run doping system.

Germany’s umbrella sports organization and Olympic Committee DOSB made a decision to allow the coaches to continue their jobs despite their confession.

“We knew we were breaking sports rules, but we felt legitimized by the orders of the state,” the coaches said.

Zoelling said the letter did not satisfy the over 600 victims his company represents.

“These coaches had 20 years to come out and help in an essential way to clarify what was being done, but instead they were silent for 20 years until now with this letter. That is not a real apology. It cannot be.”

Between 4,000 and 5,000 athletes were on the doping program from 1972 to 1989.

Positive Drug Tests for Two Russian Skiers

A male and female Russian skier have tested positive at the national championships in Uvat, Russia, according to the Allsport news agency.

The skiers’ A-samples were positive for the blood-booster erythropoietin (EPO) and if their B-sample tests positive, they could face a two-year ban.

Biathletes Ekaterina Iourieva, Dmitri Yaroshenko and Albina Akhatova tested positive for the same drug in December and were banned from the World Championships when their B sample also tested positive.

Briefs…

…The husband of the president of the International Equestrian Federation rode a horse that failed a drug test. Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s horse Tahhan tested positive for 16-b Hydroxy-Stanozolol and Guanabenz after two endurance events earlier in the year. The sheikh denied doping his horse but said he is the “person responsible” for the horse’s health.

…Despite a rash of doping scandals in the past few weeks, the Austrian justice minister says sport in Austria is clean for the most part. Claudia Bandion-Ortner was quoted as saying in local media that the positive tests are the result of "only a few bad seeds." The scandals have "caused great damage" and she was “very sad” to learn of them.

Written by Ed Hula III.