SAIDS has pushed back strongly against claims that doping is spiralling in South African rugby.
A Telegraph report this week suggested a sixfold drop in testing casts doubt over the Springboks’ World Cup successes. But the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport says the bigger picture tells a different story, with positive tests actually declining across multiple codes.
“Some years ago, we had big numbers of positives not just in rugby but in sports such as cycling, swimming, and athletics, but for a while there has been an overall decline in positive tests because of education and consequences,” SAIDS CEO Khalid Galant told IOL.
MORE: Sixfold drop in SA rugby drug testing
Galant does not deny that testing numbers dipped last year.
“We used to be aggressive in our testing because we had our own World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) laboratory in Bloemfontein, but it lost its WADA accreditation,” Galant said.
SAIDS, which is 90 percent government-funded, now has to send samples overseas.
“The cheapest lab is in Qatar, and we also use one in Belgium. The use of overseas labs increases operational costs, so we have to decrease the number of tests we do, but we don’t lose our effectiveness because sportsmen and women still have no idea when we are going to test them.
“If you are a professional rugby player, a Springbok, you are rolling the dice if you want to go the route of performance-enhancing drugs.”
Galant stressed that testing is intelligence-driven and always zero notice.
“We can go to their homes. So the risk is still very high because they don’t know when we are coming.”
Photo: Nick Laham/Getty Images
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