Archive for January, 2012

A major scandal threatened to engulf the Royal Australian Navy after revelations that sailors from a Sydney Harbour base may have been selling drugs to foreign backpackers.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) and New South Wales police confirmed that they are investigating an alleged drug-dealing ring operating out of Garden Island, the Navy’s main base in eastern Australia.

From Nzherald.co.nz:

Defence authorities said “a range of substances”, including steroids, had been seized during a raid.

Dozens of sailors may have been involved in the trafficking ring, according to the Australian, which quoted an unnamed source as saying that drugs had been sold to young tourists.

Garden Island – used for naval activities for more than 200 years – lies just north of Kings Cross, Sydney’s main nightlife district and the site of numerous backpacker hostels.

The allegations are the latest blow to the image of the Australian military, which revealed in June that nearly 600 personnel have tested positive for steroids and other illegal drugs in the past five years.

Brendan O’Connor, the federal Home Affairs Minister, said that the allegations were being “taken very seriously”.

According to a renowned anti-corruption expert, World football’s tainted governing body, FIFA, must institute radical changes to help avoid future scandals.

The world body has been mired in corruption allegations surrounding the appointment of World Cup host countries and the election of Joseph “Sepp” Blatter for a fourth presidential term.

From Swissinfo.ch:

Many of the corruption allegations concern the distribution of Fifa money to the 208 national football associations that make up its membership base.

“The members are the owners and supervisors of Fifa and at the same time they are the beneficiaries,” Pieth told swissinfo.ch. “Since there is so much money going out to the members, there is a risk that some of this money will directly benefit individuals who are taking decisions.”

One way to reduce the risk of such corruption would be to appoint external directors – perhaps from the business community – from outside the organisation to cast an independent eye over decisions and to “break up this insiders’ club”.

Another way of combatting the actions of dishonest individuals would be to make Fifa’s ethics committee more independent and allow it to weed out unsavoury characters from positions of influence.

Mark Pieth – an experienced Swiss anti-corruption expert and recently appointed chairman – released his initial findings uncovering a series of weaknesses in the way FIFA is governed that leave the organization open to corruption.

Double Olympian Liza Hunter-Galvan would not try to qualify for the London Olympics despite an international court ruling clearing the way for those who have served doping bans.

“I’m not sure if I have good or bad feelings about the ruling, because I don’t care any more,” the marathon runner said.

From Nzherald.co.nz:

The 42-year-old won the Christchurch Marathon in June after a two-year ban for taking the blood-booster erythropoietin (EPO) in 2009 but suspects she would not be welcome if she did qualify.

“In a nutshell how do you chase a spot that isn’t there?” Hunter-Galvan said. “Whether the ban was lifted or not I realise that the biggest hurdle I face is not my age, desire, commitment, injuries, qualifying standard, financial burden, or [the] poor choice I made. Rather it lies in being accepted.

“I have no interest in going through another legal battle, they take a toll on your soul,” the runner said, a reference to the Beijing Olympics where she placed 35th after appealing her earlier non-selection to the Sports Tribunal.

Hunter-Galvan is the only New Zealander to have tested positive to EPO, which is abused in sport for stimulating the production of red blood cells that boosts the amount of oxygen delivered to the muscles.

Three times Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, is still not sure if his plans for the 2012 season will be fulfilled or not.

Fate of the cyclist depends on the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that is expected to come to a conclusion in January 2012.

Contador said, “The main goal is to win the Tour de France. I know it’s very hard. Everybody wants to win, but I will work hard for it. I do not know if I can win or not, but I’ll try. I want to be as well organized as I can possibly be next year and arrive rested and relaxed for the Tour. [This year] I had a good preparation, but next year I want to make it perfect”.

From Blogs.bettor.com:

He mentioned, “I’m very confident because of all of the controls and the scientific facts supporting my case, I believe there will be a favourable resolution”.

Spanish Cycling Federation cleared the cyclist in February as it accepted that clenbuterol was the result of contaminated beef.

Contador was tested positive for a very small amount of drug which is believed to enhance the aerobic capacity of athletes. There are a number of things which can turn the decision in his favour.

The lab that detected clenbuterol in the sample was equipped with ultra-sensitive machines that can detect even the smallest amount of drug which would otherwise pass the systems, leaving no trace.

The 28-year-old is positive that the court will announce the decision in his favour but wants to get over with the lingering court matters soon.

Contador tested positive for Clenbuterol in 2010 but the decision on his case has not been announced as yet.

The four-day hearing of Alberto Contador at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over his positive for clenbuterol in the 2010 Tour finished, with a verdict in the case expected some time early in the New Year.

Contador, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) all have maintained their initial positions during the hearing in Lausanne, Switzerland.

From Cyclingweekly.co.uk:

The UCI and WADA believe Contador deserves a ban of up to two years for doping, and Contador claims the positive was due to his eating a contaminated steak and that he should go clear.

Contador – unusually for athletes – has been present throughout the hearing, which ended with a 15-minute personal appeal by the Spaniard in defence of his case. However, Contador – who was cross-examined on Wednesday – did not make any comments to the press when he left the CAS building on Thursday afternoon, and neither did WADA and the UCI’s lawyers.

Contador v. the UCI/WADA will also be remembered as the second longest in CAS history after the case of deposed 2006 Tour winner Floyd Landis testing positive for testosterone.

The latest feat of Major League Baseball of extended “labor peace” with the Major League Players Association was reached on November 22, 2011.

MLB has apparently won out in its attempt to curb illicit use of human growth hormone (HGH) by its players, as per terms of the latest basic agreement between the parties.

From Sports-central.org:

The lockouts by both the NFL and NBA this year perhaps did not go by unnoticed by MLB brass in its seemingly under-the-radar collective bargaining talks with the MLBPA this past fall. MLB attempted to show up the other leagues’ rather unkempt labor relations.

And MLB Commissioner Bud Selig made it quite clear by way of his public display of self-aggrandizement during the week following a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was reached, that his is the first North American professional sports league to agree to such a test for HGH. And perhaps it was indeed Selig’s latest and greatest coup yet, in such a pronouncement, however yet to be realized.

The agreement will run five years in duration and expire on December 1, 2016. Article 39, Sec. 7 (b) of the NFL’s CBA states: “The parties confirm that the Program on Anabolic Steroids and related Substances will include both annual blood testing and random blood testing for human growth hormone, with discipline for positive tests at the same level as for steroids.”

A joint operation between the Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP led to the arrest of two alleged drug traffickers.

According to a police spokesman, Scott Hutchings, 41, of Bell Island and Jocelyn Dunn, 26, from St. John’s have been charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine.

From Cbc.ca:

The action was part of Operation Longridge, a covert police investigation led by the OPP that targets outlaw motorcycle gangs, specifically the Hell’s Angels Kitchener chapter.

$50,000 in cash was seized from both suspects at the time of their arrest. Anabolic steroids and evidence of trafficking in steroids were also found and seized.

Police said more arrests have occurred in Ontario as part of the same operation. Hutchings and Dunn will appear in court in St. John’s on Monday.

The RCMP made the arrests on Friday in St. John’s.

Reform and collaboration with national federations in light of Alberto Contador case have been called upon by WADA director general David Howman.

On the eve of the PCC (Partnership for Clean Competition) conference in New York, Howman pinpointed the dangers brought in by organized crime, corruption, doping within sport, and a lack of drive from within governing bodies.

From Cyclingnews.com:

And with the Alberto Contador case set for a conclusion in the coming weeks, Howman has outlined why he and the UCI pursued an appeal, but admitted that the judicial system needed reform in order to provide quicker resolutions.

Howman will be the key note speaker in New York on Thursday in front of an audience including Travis Tygart (USADA) and Jeff Novitzky (FDA), and talked passionately about WADA’s role in fighting for the integrity of the sport as it faces up to more than just the threats of athletes doping, as organised crime rings, and corruption have become hot topics.

“We, WADA, were set up because every sport and every government had a different rule. I think things have improved considerably because now there is one set of rules covering everything, and I think that the gaps to the cheaters has narrowed quite considerably,” Howman told Cyclingnews.

Blood testing for human growth hormone will be included in the new collective bargaining agreement of the Major League Baseball. Testing would begin in February during spring training, according to a report in the New York Times.

The penalty for a positive HGH test would be the same as a positive steroid test — a 50-game suspension.

From Espn.go.com:

Baseball’s new labor contract also will include a rise in the minimum salary to $480,000 and luxury taxes on both amateur draft signings and international free agents coming to the major leagues.

There also will be a slight increase in the total of players eligible for salary arbitration after the 2012 season, when there also will be a new method to determine compensation for clubs losing top major league free agents. There also will be modifications to the luxury tax on high-payroll teams, but the threshold will remain at $178 million next year.

Labor negotiators of the MLB have reached a “handshake agreement” on all major issues, sources told ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark.

Seven people accused in Operation Puerto doping scandal in cycling would be finally stand trial in Spain, facing up to two years in prison.

More than 50 cyclists were implicated, including three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, and Alejandro Valverde, in the use of performance-enhancing substances or practices.

From News.smh.com.au:

The accused, who also stand to lose their professional licences, are charged with endangering athletes‘ health in their handling of blood samples since they cannot be charged retroactively for a doping crime.

Cycling’s biggest doping scandal has been a scar to Spain’s reputation for fighting doping as a Madrid judge twice shelved the case.

Spanish authorities found bags of blood, blood transfusion equipment and anabolic steroids from raids in Zaragoza and Madrid in May 2006.

Valverde is the only Spanish rider who has been punished using Puerto evidence.