World Anti-doping Agency's David Howman on fight against sports' cheats

The “shame” that athletes “bring on themselves, their family and their country” by using illegal drugs is something athletes don't consider according to David Howman, Director General of the World Anti-doping Agency. He met with MEPs on the Culture Committee Monday (26 January) to discuss doping in sport. Prior to speaking to us he briefed MEPs on some of the problems the Agency faces, notably keeping track of scientific developments, genetic doping and the different sanctions countries impose.
(Europarl): What are the main consequences of doping in sport?

DH: There are two main consequences. One is that any person who dopes brings great shame on bring on themselves, their family and their country. It's a personal wrong - something I think people don't often think about. The second is that you cheat other athletes. You deprive the cleaner athlete of an opportunity to be successful and that’s wrong. Just like it's wrong if you, as a journalist, plagiarise somebody else's work and pretend that it's your own. Then we could add the fact that when you dope, you can damage your health.

(Europarl): What drug control mechanisms does the World Anti-doping Agency use?

 DH: We don't have any ourselves. The control that we have is preparing the prohibited list. We do this with the help of experts every year, so the number of doping substances is reviewed annually. For control, say in trafficking or distribution, we rely on governments and on their having proper laws in place so that trafficking doesn't occur. We are not policeman. We must rely on countries to have policeman who do that job.

(Europarl): The new list includes new trends, so you watch for new drugs and keep it up to date?

 DH: Our experts must think as if they were experts advising cheats. It is a horrible thing to say but that is the only way you can look at what is really going on. We’ll have a meeting with our experts next week. They work all year long. They look at research, trends and information from athletes who have cheated and told us what went on. They look at what we know from doctors who have been caught and have explained what they did to athletes. We also have information from the pharmaceutical industry.

(Europarl): How important is it to involve sportsmen, clubs, civil society, trainers in the fight against doping?

 DH: Everyone around the athlete needs to be involved in understanding what doping is about, so that they stop the athlete from succumbing to the temptation. We have education packages for coaches and other people who are there for the athlete, even doctors. This helps them understand about doping and the rules. If they break the rules, if they encourage the athletes to break the rules then we think they should be punished too.