Barbadian athletes are not using any performance enhancing drugs.
This was confirmed by Chairman of the National Anti-Doping Council (NADC), Dr. Adrian Lorde, after the results from all drug tests done on Barbadian track and field athletes at the National Athletics Championships came back negative yesterday.
???The Doping Controls conducted by the National Anti-Doping Commission (NADC) at the meet, which was held from June 21 to 23 at the National Stadium, showed no adverse analytical findings,??? Dr. Lorde said, adding that he received the results from the World Anti-Doping Agency???s (WADA) accredited laboratory.
???This indicates that our locally based and overseas trained athletes are adhering to our policy of clean sports and playing true,??? he affirmed.
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Dr. Adrian Lorde, Chairman of the National Anti-Doping Council (NADC).?? (Photo from Barbados Olympic Association) |
The Chairman explained that since 2012, the NADC had increased its focus on unannounced out-of-competition testing, although it still did in-competition and out-of-competition tests in various sports.
???The element of surprise is being used as we find that our sportspersons have been willing to give their whereabouts. This allows our trained doping control officers to collect urine samples anytime and anywhere for overseas analysis,??? Dr. Lorde reported.
Further noting that testers visited the homes, gyms, training sites and even workplaces of the athletes for sample collection, he emphasised, ???We do not think the recent results mean that there is no doping problem in Barbados, because we have intelligence which states otherwise.???
In response to this phenomenon and to prevent additional cases, the NADC has been conducting a series of public outreach initiatives under its current UNESCO National Anti-Doping Education Project.
These include public education seminars targeting children at schools and summer camps; workshops for the differently abled in the community, and educational fora with representatives from various sports associations as well as physical education teachers and coaches.
Project Officer of the UNESCO National Anti-Doping Education Project and Secretary of the NADC, Neil Murrell said the public sensitisation campaign ???was timely considering recent doping cases being highlighted in the region.???
Mr. Murrell added that another component of the project designed to raise awareness was an anti-doping category in this year???s National Independence Festival for Creative Arts (NIFCA) competition.
???This is another significant element of the project??? NADC aims to educate the stakeholders in all sports and the public at large regarding anti-doping. So, songs, dances, drama pieces, visual arts, films and other media which address anti-doping issues will be judged in the 2013 NIFCA awards. This aspect of the campaign is important because the public needs to be engaged in the discussion and play an appropriate role in the fight against doping. We need members of the non-sporting community to also support clean sports and sportspersons,??? he pointed out.
The next public education seminars will be held on Saturday, July 20. The first session will start at 9:00 a.m. and conclude at 11:00 a.m., while the afternoon session will run from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Both seminars will be held at the Barbados Olympic Centre, Wildey, St. Michael.
Persons who wish to receive further information should contact Dr. Adrian Lorde at 436-9360 or doclorde@caribsurf.com; Neil Murrell at 430-7702 or barbadepolicrat@yahoo.com, or Patrina Bynoe at the National Sports Council, 430-7722 or t_patrina@hotmail.com.
shamkoe.pile@barbados.gov.bb