Anti-doping rules at the 2014 Winter Olympics

By Vestnik Kavkaza

Less than a month is left before the Olympic Games in Sochi. The sporting program of the Games has already set an Olympic record - the biggest number of competitive events and the biggest number of new kinds of sports included into the program. 12 kinds of sports will be presented at the Olympic Games 2014. As the result the general number of competitions and sets of medals have reached 98; 29 of them will take place in the In-shore Cluster and 69 – in the Mountain Cluster. The number is bigger by 12 competitions than at the Vancouver Games in 2010 and by 14 than at the Turin Games in 2006.

The question on fairness of the competitions is also settled. Natalya Zhelanova, the head of the department for anti-doping and interdepartmental cooperation of the Ministry of Sports of Russia, stated that “The World Anti-Dote Agency and the International Olympic Committee pay close attention to the anti-doping policy of the host country in general. At the moment, the Russian laws have changed; now it corresponds the International Convention Against Doping in Sport. Moreover, we took a step further than the international anti-doping society and launched administrative responsibility for personnel of an athlete – a coach, a doctor, any staff member who can encourage an athlete to take forbidden substances or use unfair methods. In the world cases of calling staff members to account are very rare.”

Moreover, according to Zhelanova, “due to a serious educational work and propaganda of “pure” sport, one of the key goals was achieved – the changing of the public opinion toward people who use doping. Five years ago an athlete who was found guilty of using doping was treated as a hero. Today the situation has changed. A strong national anti-doping organization was established – RUSADA. It was founded five years ago; and today there are more than 70 high professional experts in the sphere, 50 of them are anti-dote inspectors. It provides strong anti-doping programs and is able to hold high level anti-doping control at major sporting events.”

Fighters against doping call it cheating which contradicts the spirit of sport, as any competition is based on honesty and equal conditions for all participants.