Liza Hunter-Galvan, the double Olympian, would not make an effort 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.

The double Olympian is the only New Zealander to have tested positive to EPO that is abused in sport for stimulating the production of red blood cells that boosts the amount of oxygen delivered to the muscles.

Tags:  Beijing Olympics, EPO, erythropoietin, London Olympics

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Bobby-Gaye Wilkins, the Jamaican 400m runner, has been banned for two years after she was found using performance enhancing drugs by the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association.

According to Warren Blake of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association, Wilkins will be barred from competition until April 2012.

From Guardian.co.uk:

The Jamaican 400m runner Bobby-Gaye Wilkins has been banned for two years for using a performance-enhancing substance.

Warren Blake of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association says the athlete will be barred from competition until April 2012.

Wilkins tested positive for the banned substance andranine at the world indoor championships in Doha, Qatar, in March.

She was a member of the Jamaican 4x400m relay team who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Wilkins won the Olympic bronze in 4x400m relay team.

Tags:  andranine, Beijing Olympics, performance-enhancing drugs

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China should make it a criminal offence to offer banned performance-enhancing substances to athletes and jail those found guilty, according to a leading sports ministry official.

After fearing embarrassment at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese sports ministry cracked down on the use of drugs.

From in.reuters.com:

Most positive tests in recent years have been at provincial level or below, including the unearthing of 450 doses of EPO, testosterone and steroids during a raid on a Liaoning athletics school’s training camp in 2006.

Jiang Zhixue, director of the science and education department at the sports ministry, said there was insufficient deterrent for coaches and officials who administer drugs to athletes.

“We are confined to punishing them technically, giving them bans or fines but nothing more,” Jiang was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

“The (current) regulations have certain connection with the criminal law but the criminal law doesn’t have specific terms regarding this area.”

However, if it was made a criminal offence one of the punishments could be imprisonment.

Jiang said the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency had conducted 14,042 tests in 2009 — 13,336 urine tests and 706 blood tests, more than 6,000 of which were random — and 25 gave positive results.

It is worth noting here that athletes from China were at the center of a string of doping scandals in the 1990s and early years of this century.

Tags:  Beijing Olympics, doping, EPO, Steroids, testosterone

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The first drug scandal of the Paralympics rocked the Beijing Olympics but things soon start going the right way as “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius created headlines with a thrilling 100m track win.

Pistorius crossed the line in 11.17sec at the Bird’s Nest National Stadium on a wet night, an event that was also highlighted by Marlon Shirley failing to materialize by collapsing two-thirds into the race.

From Foxsports.com.au:

Earlier a shadow was cast over the Games when it was revealed that Pakistani power lifter Naveed Ahmed Butt, 37, had been given a two-year ban for steroid use.

In the first drugs scandal of the Paralympics, he tested positive for the steroid methandienone metabolites on September 4, two days before the opening ceremony, the International Paralympic Committee said.

“In accordance with the IPC anti-doping code, and after a hearing of the IPC anti-doping committee, the IPC ratified the decision to disqualify Butt,” the committee said in a statement.

A total of 356 tests have been carried out at the Games, both in and out of competition, according to IPC figures until the end of Monday.

At the Athens Games in 2004, 680 doping tests were conducted, resulting in 10 anti-doping rule violations, according to the IPC.

In other news Heath Francis pulled off Australia’s first gold medal in the 200m sprint, winning in world record time in his T46 class.

The one-armed runner finished well clear of the field in a time of 21.74sec over Cyprus silver medallist Antonis Aresti and Cuba’s Ettiam Calderon in third.

Naveed Ahmed Butt, power lifter from Pakistan, was rendered disqualified by the International Paralympic Committee in accordance with the IPC anti-doping code and a hearing of the IPC anti-doping committee.

Tags:  Beijing Olympics, doping, drug scandal, methandienone, Oscar Pistorius, steroid, Steroid use

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