World Anti-Doping Agency director general David Howman said
the integrity of sports is under threat due to the “increasing encroachment” of
organized crime gangs involved in steroid trafficking, match-fixing,
money-laundering and other corruption.
“They make more money from this than from trafficking in
heroin,” Howman said at the World Sports Law Report's anti-doping conference
outside London.
“We get it in the anti-doping world,” he added. “Doping
control officers have been bribed or have been attempted to be bribed. There
have been examples internationally of labs being subject to brown envelopes.”
Howman also raised the possibility of offering financial rewards to national
anti-doping bodies to catch dopers, suggesting that some agencies are covering
up positive tests to protect their own athletes. Some testers, he said, are
also “too scared” to report positive cases for fear of legal challenges.
Howman said law-enforcement agencies, including Interpol,
are aware of the widening involvement of mafia-style groups in doping and
sports.
“My inside information has is that the underworld is now
controlling a significant proportion of world sport,” he said. “It need not be
at this (elite) level. It can be at much lower levels for them to get the
return they are seeking.
“It doesn't have to be Premier League, it can be fourth
division.” Howman said criminals are motivated by “huge” financial incentives
and little chance of getting caught. The gangs procure raw doping materials
from China, deliver them to “kitchen labs” across the world and then distribute
them to those looking for performance-enhancing benefits.
“The criminal underworld is challenging the integrity of
sport,” Howman said. “It's the same people who distribute illegal substances.”
Howman suggested an international body should be set up to deal with gangs
using the betting industry - legal as well as illegal - to launder money and
corrupt sports.
“It's the same jokers,” he said in a separate interview.
“It's not anybody new. If you are going to set up a body, it
has to deal with all the issues, not just illegal betting.” On a separate
issue, Howman said it was worth exploring the idea of offering financial
incentives to members of national drug-testing bodies.
“Maybe we should put out a reward system - say $50,000 for
each cheater caught correctly and appropriately,” he said. “Will that make a
difference? I don't know. Maybe we have to think about these things.” Howman
suggested cheaters are getting off because of a reluctance by national bodies
to catch them.
“We all know there are athletes out there cheating who are
not being caught,” he said. “Are we being too protective? Are we testing the
right people at the right time? Do we have a nationalistic pride at national
level to say, 'We better not touch the captain of the cricket team because he's
very important for our nation and if he's taken out, we're in trouble.”' Howman
said many positive cases are never reported, with some scientists afraid to
pursue them for fear of law suits.
“There are a significant number of false negatives,” Howman
said. “We all talk about false positives. We get one or two every year. I'd say
the false negatives are in the hundreds. There is a good deal of conservatism
and a fear of the legal process.” Howman hailed last week's validation by the
Court of Arbitration for Sport of cycling's “biological passport” program,
which can sanction athletes based on evidence of doping in their blood profiles.
“Now other sports should join in,” he said. “They don't have
an excuse to stay out.” Howman welcomed plans by the International Olympic
Committee and US Olympic Committee to go to CAS for a legal position on the IOC
rule that bars athletes with a doping suspension of six months or more from
competing in the next Olympics.
The rule would prevent American runner LaShawn Merritt from
defending his 400-meter title at next year's London Olympics.
“A court needs to decide whether it's double jeopardy or
not,” Howman said. “We need to have certainty in these cases.”
