media_artricles :: 2015

NAAAs spend $50, 000 on drug testing annually

President of the National Association of Athletic Administration (NAAA) Ephraim Serrette said dope testing is a must at all his administration’s events.

He was speaking following a report by the World Anti Doping Agency Commission which examined allegations of doping, cover ups and extortion in Russian athletics that also implicated the world governing body for athletics- the IAAF.

The commission is also calling for Russia to be banned from athletic competition while five of its coaches and athletes to be handed lifetime bans. The report which shocked world athletics yesterday also identified ‘systemic failures’ in the IAAF that it said prevented an ‘effective’ anti-doping programme.

But when contacted yesterday Serrette said he did not want to comment on the issue because of the world implications. However he made it clear his administration does not make joke where drug testing is concerned. He explained that the NAAAs spends a lot of money on testing each year.

That amount, the Guardian understands is in the region of approximately TT$50, 000 spent on drug testing every year. Secretary of the administration Allan Baboolal in giving a break down of the monies spent by the NAAAs annually, explained that there is a cost of US$950 for a kit which comprises of two vials (A and B); there is also a cost to do the testing which is unknown as well as a cost to send the test back to be examined.

The administration selects athletes at ramdon and these athletes are between six to 10 for each championship. The Meets at which drug testing is done in T&T are the Senior and Junior National Championship and the Carifta Trials. To date only two athletes from T&T were found guilty from the NAAAs drug testing- the first was caught at the 2006/2007 junior championship and the another at the 2011 senior championship.

Serrette said the athletes were immediately sanctioned by the world governing body when they were caught. The NAAAs boss claimed that his administration do not take action against people caught on drugs but instead are guided by the penalties of the world governing body.

Sprinter Kelly Ann Baptiste, who claimed a bronze medal at the World Championship Games in Daegu, South Korea, in 2011, tested positive for a banned substance only a day before she was expected to compete in the Women’s 100 metres in Moscow. DShe has since served a two year suspension.

Semoy Hackett, also served a retroactive six-month ban by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) for her use of Methylhexaneamine in March in 2012 and again for the same drug in November of the same year while representing her school Louisiana State University (LSU) at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 Outdoor Championship.

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