There are dopers, but no doping culture in Canada: report
For another interviewee who had committed an anti-doping rule violation, his professional team in Europe was the supply source [of EPO]. At no time did he acquire the substance in Canada. Unfortunately, other Canadian athletes who had also committed anti-doping violations did not agree to participate in the consultation. Some of them refused, while others simply did not respond to our numerous invitations.
An independent review released Wednesday says that there is no culture of doping among the ranks of competitive Canadian cyclists.
“The conclusion to be drawn … is that there is no organized system or culture of doping in Canadian cycling. Doping in Canadian cycling is initiated by individuals engaging in the practice alone or by small groups of people,” the report reads.
LLB Strategies gathered information from 32 interviews. The company spoke to 21 athletes, six sports administrators, two team managers, one person it identifies as a “sport leader,” one coach and one parent. All the information is anonymous because the report, commissioned in May by Cycling Canada (CC) with the support of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), was not intended as an investigation or a means to sanction riders. “We wanted to get to the root of doping: how it manifested itself in past and today, and more important, what we can do about it in the future” said president John Tolkamp, president of CC.
The interviewers seemed to be able to only connect with a few dopers. “For another interviewee who had committed an anti-doping rule violation, his professional team in Europe was the supply source [of EPO]. At no time did he acquire the substance in Canada. Unfortunately, other Canadian athletes who had also committed anti-doping violations did not agree to participate in the consultation. Some of them refused, while others simply did not respond to our numerous invitations,” the report reads. The document outlines another athlete who got EPO from a therapist. Yet, another was pressured by his European team to take performance-enhancing drugs following an injury.
At the start of the fact-finding process, one of the goals was to get a snapshot of the practice of doping in Canada from Jan. 1, 1998 to Dec. 31, 2013. The report released by LBB Strategies, however, does not provide strong indication of what time frames the interviewees are speaking about. The following are the only statements with a year, or years, mentioned:
“As well, in the 2000s, after undergoing diagnostic tests, the interviewee was using Ventolin (asthma) for which he had been issued a therapeutic use exemption;”
“In 2002, he found syringes and light bulbs in the apartment he shared with his teammates;”
“In the early 2000s, it was relatively easy for athletes to know when the doping tests would be taking place;”
“In 2012, the interviewee found a syringe in this person’s shoe. Upon making this discovery, the interviewee confronted the teammate, who admitted to using EPO. As far as the interviewee knows, this athlete never tested positive.”
With fuzzy dates and only 32 people on record, the conclusion that there is no organized system of doping seems credible, but not forceful. The report is careful to say the conclusions are based on the interviewees’ stories only. LBB Strategies’ information gatherers didn’t offer their own analysis.
