On May 3rd the World Anti-Doping Association announced that it suspended the accreditation of Africa’s only anti-doping laboratory until at least 30 September 2016. In a statement released by South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) that stated ‘all tests will now be sent to a new laboratory in Doha, Qatar for analysis‘.The result of this action seeing the countries only anti-doping lab suspended, a disastrous situation for all sports within the republic.
With steroid abuse numbers growing among athletes in South Africa over the past five years, especially among young rugby players, the suspension of this major anti-doping lab is, and should be, a big concern to South African sport authorities. The Bloemfontein laboratory operates independently of SAIDS and reports to the University of Free State but according to SAIDS, there have been 10 cases of doping convictions between 2009 and mid 2014 for rugby players exclusively.
SAIDS announced before the 2016 Craven week, that they would increase the number of doping tests during the event. Even Jurie Roux, the Chief Executive Officer of the South African Rugby Union (SARU) has proactively addressed the issue in a letter to all school headmasters early this year, urging them all to join in the campaign against doping in sport. Positive messages.
Now with the 2016 rugby season well on its way and the important Craven week approaching in July–a celebration of schoolboy rugby, in memory of the late South African rugby head Dr Danie Craven–it is such a busy time in the sporting calendar. Add to that all the other sports events with athletes using that competition as their last chances trying to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, one cannot stop oneself to ask the following questions:
How is SAIDS going to handle and cope with all the doping tests in the next few months, with no anti-doping lab located within South Africa? Are they still going to do the same amount of “increased number of tests” at the Craven week? That seems difficult, but another question is ‘are they still going to do as many in-season and out-of-season testing of professional athletes?’ [a question relevant for SARU] and who is going to pay to send all the tests to Doha?
And last, but not the least question ‘does the lab in Doha have the capability to handle their own tests, and all the new tests required by SAIDS?
The timing of the suspension couldn’t have come at a worse time. After you have asked all the above questions, the obvious conclusion is that SAIDS will reduce the number of tests done in the coming months. Random in and out of season testing and specific-testing at tournaments that will be proportionally be reduced. This compounds the fact that these cumulative testing strategies had deterred many athletes from using performance enhancers (see picture above) but now many, including some rugby players; young and old, will now see this as a time to take a chance. A time to get that extra boost you might say. A free for all time, so ‘bad timing indeed’.
“Main photo credit”
