Athletes have often come up with strange and novel defences when they fail dope tests. A couple of years ago, an American sprinter had claimed that he had kissed his girlfriend so passionately that her sinus medication had entered his body.
A few years before that, a Dutch cyclist had argued that pigeon pie – the bird was doped – was the reason for his positive test and in India, athletes often put up the 'I didn't know' excuse when they are caught.
Now, with a year to go for the Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has launched a new interactive education course on its Anti-Doping eLearning Platform (ADeL) for athletes and coaches aiming to go to Tokyo.
The course, ‘ADeL for Tokyo 2020 Olympics’, has been developed by WADA in collaboration with the International Olympic Committee and the International Testing Agency (ITA) which will independently manage the anti-doping programme during the Games on behalf of the IOC.
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The course will offer athletes and coaches an understanding of the Tokyo Olympics anti-doping rules, procedures and requirements, including how to check medications and apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE), how to provide whereabouts information and explanations of the athletes’ rights and responsibilities during the testing process. It will also allow them to identify key information, such as important dates that they need to be aware of and which organisation has jurisdiction over them during the Games.
“This sort, of course, will be very useful to all,” said P.T. Usha on Friday evening. “Often, the big excuse is that athletes are not aware of the medicines they are taking. This will certainly help them.”
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