No Holds Barred: David Howman, Director General of WADA, Teleconference

No Holds Barred with Eddie.jpg

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldmanpresents the May 1 media teleconference with David Howman, the Director Generalof the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) (http://www.wada-ama.org).

The main reason for this teleconference was to discuss with the internationalmedia the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to reject theappeal of the British Olympic Association (BOA) after WADA had found it innon-compliance to the World Anti-Doping Code. The BOA, which is the hostOlympic committee for the 2012 Summer Olympics, wanted to add a lifetime banfrom the Olympics for any athlete who had ever failed a doping test, even aftertheir suspensions had been served.

The CAS agreed with WADA that this was an extra sanction which was, accordingto its press release, "therefore not in compliance with the WADACode." The CAS did, however, leave the door open "that the BOA andthe IOC were free, as are others, to persuade other stakeholders that anadditional sanction of inability to participate in the Olympic Games may be aproportionate, appropriate sanction of an anti-doping offence and may thereforeform part of a revised World Anti-doping Code. At the moment, the system inplace does not permit what the BOA has done."

The backdrop of this is a growing movement among athletes and others in worldsport to increase the penalties for a major doping violation from a two-yearban to a four-year ban for the first offense, as well as a lifetime Olympicsban.

At the same time, the athletic commissions in North America, which regulatecombat sports like boxing, mixed martial arts, and kickboxing, are still notfollowing the World Anti-Doping Code, with some having no drug testing at all.

WADA Director General David Howman thus discussed these issues on this teleconferenceand answered questions from the media.

We also discuss the voluntary drug testing being done by boxers Floyd Mayweather,Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.

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