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Cuba satisfied with anti-doping tests leading up to
Central American Games
BY ANNE-MARIE GARCIA—Special for Granma
International—
CUBA has expressed satisfaction
over the decision to carry out anti-doping tests on
its athletes before their participation in the
Central America and Caribbean games in July, because
it will contribute to the competition being
“cleaner.”
“It is important for this to be
done before the Games, because it will contribute
not only to the competition being cleaner and more
transparent, but also the preparations,” said Mario
Granda, direction of the Sports Medicine Institute,
in comments to Granma International.
Granda, who is also director of
the Cuban anti-doping laboratory, praised the
decision by the Central American and Caribbean
Sports Organization (ODECABE) to demand that all
delegations selected by that body’s medical
commission undergo surprise tests before the
competition in Colombia.
The official explained that the
testing system implemented in Cuba entails that “70%
of the controls are done outside of competition,
particularly before international events.”
Granda also noted that while the
fight against doping in Cuba includes control and
sanctions, “we put emphasis on informing and
educating our athletes, trainers and family
members.”
Inaugurated on February 13, 2001
by President Fidel Castro, the Havana laboratory
carried out 1,800 tests in 2005 during national and
international competitions inside and outside of the
country, according to its director: “300 more than
the minimum established by the World Anti-doping
Agency.”
Like all laboratories, the one in
Havana reports on “negative and adverse” outcomes,
Granda explained, “but positive cases must be
reported to the authorized medical commission.”
The Cuban institution’s 34
workers have all the resources they need to carry
out any kind of tests, in spite of difficulties in
buying certain implements due to the U.S. blockade
against the island; since the lab’s opening, the
blockade has resulted in $571,000 in additional
costs.
While he affirmed that “our guard
will never be let down,” Dr. Granda also expressed
that he is realistic: “doping will always be around
as long as there is commercialization of sports,
businessmen and publicists who promote their use, or
unprincipled doctors, trainers and athletes who
tolerate it.”
There is “doping for the poor and
doping for the rich,” he noted. The poor one “is
detected by all the labs,” while the rich “is
promoted by people who make money from discovering
substances that are hard to detect.” |
