STOP THIS DRUG SCANDAL NOW

Call for new rules to ensure athletes take medication for ailments, not performance

THE man who brought down Lance Armstrong has called for new rules that ban the use of medication to gain a performance advantage, describing it as the next ‘ frontier’ in the battle against doping. In an exclusive interview with

Sportsmail here in Washington, United States Anti- Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart said that, although he believes the abuse of banned substances is in decline as methods of detection improve, using non-prohibited drugs when an athlete does not have a medical need is a practice that now needs to be tackled.

Over the past three years both Team Sky and Alberto Salazar, the Nike Oregon Project leader who until last year was coaching Sir Mo Farah, have faced accusations of providing athletes with medicines to enhance performance rather than treat a medical condition.

In March a parliamentary report was scathing in its criticism of Team Sky, in particular for three triamcinolone injections given to Sir Bradley Wiggins ahead of three major races including the 2012 Tour de France, which he won.

UCI president David Lappartient has since echoed the conclusion of MPs. Responding to an admission in the parliamentary report by Shane Sutton, who coached Wiggins to that historic Tour win, that their use of triamcinolone had been ‘unethical’, Lappartient said: ‘If you are using substances to increase your performances I think this is exactly what is cheating.’ Lappartient described it as ‘a grey area’ while the parliamentary report stated that Sky had ‘crossed the ethical line’. Sky and Wiggins, who has consistently claimed he needed the corticosteroid to combat asthma and allergy problems, rejected the accusation, stating that they ‘strongly deny the very serious new allegations about the use of medication to enhance performance’. And Salazar, who remains the subject of a USADA investigation that has been active since a joint BBC-ProPublica report in 2015, has also denied any wrongdoing. But a leaked 269-page report USADA prepared for the Texas Medical Authority last year made serious allegations concerning infusions of L-carnitine and claimed Salazar had encouraged athletes to take thyroid medication (thyroxine), calcitonin, ferrous sulphate and high doses of vitamin D to enhance performance.

Indeed in the report there was evidence that a British Athletics doctor had raised concerns about medication being given to Farah when in his opinion the drugs could be harmful to the health of the four-time Olympic champion.

With the formation of the IAAF’s athletics integrity unit leading to major figures in track and field now being caught for the use of substances like EPO, Tygart (left) believes there has been a shift towards non-prohibited drugs.

‘The days of blood transfusions, and open and obvious growth hormone and testosterone use we saw at US Postal and BALCO are gone,’ he said. ‘I’m not saying athletes aren’t still going to take some risks but it’s not like it was.

‘The frontier is pressure being put on athletes to use nonprohibited drugs like thyroxine, like tramadol, to gain performance advantage. Putting athletes in a position where they have to use non-prohibited drugs in a way that is not medically acceptable just to get performance enhancement. It’s a real concern.’

Sky have stated their riders no longer use tramadol, a powerful painkiller some cyclists claim is dangerous because it impairs judgment when racing.

Tygart said: ‘Tramadol is a great example. We know stories of how teams were handing it out at cycling events and crushing it up in water bottles to numb the pain and push through and in some cases the athletes have become addicted to opioids.

‘That’s not an anti-doping rule violation because tramadol is not a banned substance. That’s an ethical, code of conduct issue.

‘People shouldn’t be put in an environment where they feel they are being coerced or pressured to get ahead using drugs in violation of what those drugs were designed for. We’ve pushed WADA to say look, tramadol — cycling came out and said let’s get tramadol banned — is a concern. Thyroxine and calcitonin are similar.

‘We are talking about code of conduct rules — not anti-doping rules. But they could apply to the coaches, the doctors, the sport federation providing drugs without a clear medical need and just for performance enhancement. It’s an unacceptable culture.’

PAUL NEWMAN Cricket Correspondent in Colombo ENGLAND’S folly in leaving Jack Leach out of their opening Sri Lankan warm-up was badly exposed yesterday when yet more rain left them further away than ever from finalising their side for the first Test. The abandonment of the first day of England’s second and final two-day practice match left the man who is potentially their best spinner in Sri Lankan conditions high and dry without a bowl on tour with the first Test looming. That summed up yet more inadequate preparation for an overseas Test series that provides England with more questions than answers when they try to work out their best combination for what is sure to be a turning pitch in Galle. England were last night hoping to squeeze in a 50-over game today against a Sri Lankan Board XI but even that looked in jeopardy because of another bad forecast at the Colombo Cricket Club. Now England must decide whether to throw the Somerset left-armer into Tuesday’s first Test — where spin will almost certainly be the deciding factor — on the back of next to no bowling in conditions that should suit him perfectly. ‘I just want to get out there and get that first bowl in the middle out of the way,’ said Leach. ‘But I’ve bowled a lot in practice here and I’m feeling better day by day. Yes, it was frustrating not to play in the first game but we’ve got a lot of bowlers and I’ve had to wait my turn. I completely understand that.’ It was a huge surprise when Leach, who would have played against Pakistan at the start of last summer had he not broken a thumb the day before selection, did not appear here on Tuesday as he was felt to be a certain starter in Galle. Instead Joe Root and Joe Denly bowled 15 overs between them to suggest England were considering them as the joint ‘third’ spinner alongside Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid with space then provided for an extra seamer. But Denly’s leg-spin was expensive and he looked less than impressive in his main role with the bat on the second day after England had missed their opportunity to put some miles into the legs of Leach. If he does play in what will be the final Test before retirement for Rangana Herath — statistically the best left-arm spinner of them all — then Leach is adamant he can rise to the challenge. ‘I’m not scared of expectation, I thrive on that,’ he said. ‘I want to be “the man” or part of a three-man spin attack that will take the wickets.’ CRICKET Australia chairman David Peever has resigned following the scathing review into Australian cricket after the ball-tampering scandal. A report described the body as ‘arrogant and controlling’ and partly to blame for the incident in a Test against South Africa in March. Ambitious: Jack Leach wants to be ‘the man’ for EnglandREUTERS