Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
competition tests, thus evading detection. Approximately 10,000 samples are
tested per year, and of these, approximately 50% are collected as out-of-com-
petition tests.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) was created by the IOC in 1983 to
resolve sport-specific disputes [9]. CAS provides a forum for judicial resolu-
tion of disputes among athletes, national and international sport federations,
national Olympic Committees, games organizers, sponsors, and others.
Disputes are presided over by a panel of three arbitrators selected from a pool
of CAS arbitrators. All CAS decisions are final with nearly no possibility of
appeal.
Doping cases are subject to the strict liability rule that states that: “doping
is… the presence in the athlete's body of a Prohibited Substance…” [10].
Thus, if a prohibited substance is found in an athlete's body, a doping vio-
lation has occurred irrespective of any other factor [9]. At times this rule
results in seemingly harsh consequences, as was demonstrated by the case of
the Romanian gymnast who placed first in the Women's Individual All-Round
Event at the Olympic Games of Sydney. The athlete tested positive for pseu-
doephedrine that was allegedly given to her by the team doctor.
The two most common subjects that are argued in CAS cases are the valid-
ity of the analytical methods used to establish that a prohibited substance has
been detected in the athlete's body fluid and the chain-of-custody of the sam-
ple. The principles of both the analytical methods that may be applied and the
chain-of-custody are specified in the Medical Code of the Olympic Movement
[10]. During the adjudication procedure, the laboratory director typically
defends the analytical results and the sample-collection officials defend the
chain-of-custody issues.
The World Anti-Doping Agency
Faced with many positive test results, mounting numbers of drugs and meth-
ods to consider banning, laboratories to accredit and re-accredit, and complex
issues involving new fields of science, the IOC fostered the development of a
new agency, the World Anti-Doping Agency to supervise the drug-control
effort. This move coincided with revelations in 1998 that many cyclists com-
peting in the Tour de France were doped with recombinant human erythropoi-
etin (rHuEPO). Since the IOC had been criticized for being slow to develop
adequate anti-doping programs, the anti-doping agency was structured to oper-
ate outside the direct control of the IOC. It is expected that this agency, with
its substantial resources, will have a major impact on the doping problem.
