November 27, 2009 (Gatineau, QC) – As you know there’s great concern in the sporting world, but more specifically in the international (FIS) cross-country skiing world with the doping activity that is still going on year after year. A majority of the international coaches met during the Beitostolen race week to voice their concerns especially with recent [and past] transgressions by Russian skiers (read more here). I don’t know if any statement was delivered to FIS following that meeting – but I hope there was.

More and more countries are becoming concerned given that WADA, the IOC, and FIS have not run such a tight ship and cleaned up these doping activities – whether they be individuals or groups. Several countries have legislated laws or are considering such laws to make doping a criminal offence punishable by fines and/or jail terms – read more here. These actions do not constitute a vote of confidence for the agencies I’ve mentioned however I do applaud the IOC and UCI for retroactively applying tests to 2008 Beijing athletes and sanctioning those that tested positive such as Italy’s Davide Rebellin who will be stripped of his silver medal in the men’s road race.

With this being an Olympic year, it would seem that doping would be on everyone’s front burner, yet many were surprised that there was no testing on either day at the season launch FIS XC World Cup races in Beitostoloen, Norway this past weekend which raises my concern as well. Why would FIS miss the opportunity to test at the season opening races, especially with the sophisticated doping methods that the athletes in all sports are using?

FIS protocol only calls for 3-4 podium athlete tests and 3-4 random tests each race, which isn’t much. It’s time for more testing, not less. With the current history of doping in skiing and the possibilities of what we don’t know that is going on because of the sophistication in blood profiling for skiers, this is long overdue in our sport.

I also hope that FIS is going to revise its testing schedule protocol as skiers and teams seem to know what weekends to expect you’ll be on-site during the WC circuit. In fact your schedule should be well publicized because you should be openly testing at every WC and assume there’s cheating at every competition – to think otherwise is being naive.

What about the international team skiers that have been in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland for 10-21 days and perhaps outside of their country’s out-of-competition testing net? Did FIS consider or conduct any random tests as this was an ideal time for the skiers to boost their training effect?

I spoke with the Canadian Centre for Ethic in Sport (CCES), a doping agency here, and they also wondered why there was no testing done at the first World Cup in this Olympic year. They indicated that because of the Olympics there’s a more pro-active testing schedule for Canadian teams pre-Games than in normal years.

You have to look at doping in sport like our judicial systems deal with crime. Countries are doing it why isn’t FIS? Criminals break the law and dopers are no different, and vigilant policing in both arenas is crucial. Only a handful of tests at any given time is not enough and seems like a welcome mat for dopers.

With the current sophistication in doping, key organizations like FIS need to be on the leading edge not watching from the sidelines. What has just occurred in the sporting world is an eye opener and likely many at FIS are aware of this recent doping episode and landmark ruling.

Claudia Pechstein, a German speed skater of great magnitude, who has won multiple medals at the last four Olympics was planning to be in Vancouver to try and win another medal but read on. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered a landmark final decision against Pechstein who has never failed a doping test, but is now facing a two-year suspension based on abnormal blood values found during the World Speedskating Championships in Hamar, Norway this past February.

CAS upholds first suspension based on blood profiling here.
CAS Rules that Blood Abnormalities are Evidence of Doping here.

Court of Arbitration for Sport
Speed Skating-Case Pechstein: the 2-Year Ban Confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (more here)

The Panel is also aware of sophisticated doping plans which provide for the frequent administration of very small doses of EPO, which makes it increasingly difficult to detect it in urine samples at all. Hence, the Panel does not consider the absence of a positive finding EPO to be evidence which could exclude blood manipulation.

In summary, the CAS Panel has rejected the Appellants’ arguments related to the sample collection and the analysis procedure and found that the calibration procedure established by the manufacturer of the automatic blood analyser used by the ISU was reliable. Furthermore, the CAS Panel found that the percentage of reticulocytes values shown by the athlete in Hamar on 6 and 7 February 2009 constituted abnormal values in comparison with both the general population in Europe and other elite speed skaters, as well as in comparison with her own usual values. The Panel also found that the variations in the athlete’s percentage of reticulocytes from 1.74 on 8 January 2009 to 3.49 on 6 February 2009 and then down again to 1.37 on 18 February 2009 was abnormal.

The Panel found that the above abnormality could not be reasonably explained by the various justifications submitted by the athlete nor by a congenital medical condition, as the expert hematologist chosen by athlete examined her in depth and concluded that there were no signs of any detectable blood disease or anomaly.

The CAS Panel concluded as follows: As a result, in exercising its discretion to consider the evidence submitted by the parties, the Panel, bearing in mind the seriousness of the allegation, and based on all the considerations made above, finds that the ISU has discharged its burden of proving to the comfortable satisfaction of the Panel that the abnormal values of percentage of reticulocytes recorded by Ms Pechstein in Hamar on 6 and 7 February 2009, and the subsequent sharp drop recorded on 18 February 2009, cannot be reasonably explained by any congenital or subsequently developed abnormality. The Panel finds that they must, therefore, derive from the Athlete’s illicit manipulation of her own blood, which remains the only reasonable alternative source of such abnormal values.

The full award with the grounds is published on the CAS website www.tas-cas.org/recent-decision – or click here.

As you read your way through this you realize that the athletes have taken doping to a much higher level and that all international sports federations and WADA are even more challenged now to meet this battle with more aggressive programs of testing.

The current system FIS is using won’t cut it when trying to catch dopers. The time for action was prior to and at the first World Cups to counter any kind of manipulation. The International Skating Union reportedly tested Pechstein 27 times in 2 years and this helped to develop a blood profile that was her downfall in the end. This decision is a tremendous breakthrough for protecting the honest athletes.

Speed skating is on the right track and so is cycling with Biological Passports now in place to track each athlete’s profile over time to find abnormalities and take appropriate action. FIS has been dragging it’s feet far too long and it’s time for FIS President Casper to back up his statements in a recent FIS release:

“The Olympic season will see FIS continuing its fight against the use of doping. We will do this with all our means and across all disciplines. The recent cases are a good example that our programs and procedures are effective,” commented FIS President Gian Franco Kasper.

FIS needs to re-visit their whole program and procedures for testing, and sanctioning (which is too lenient) and their interaction with other national doping agencies to establish a testing program and schedule that covers the widest net possible throughout the season – and share all information gathered. The current program has too many holes, too many B samples that are thrown out, and a very slow communication and announcement process.

It is time for FIS to modernize its system and demonstrate leadership to all of its stakeholders, so all of the athletes that have played the game by the rules can finally realize their dreams and potential and not be forced to continually suspect their fellow racers or be pressured by the dopers to join the dark side. You have side stepped your responsibilities in this area far too long. Your programs will be considered effective when you have eradicated doping.

Respectfully yours,

Marty Hall
MisterXC@aol.com