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| WADA President, John Fahey and FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, |
FIFA has announced
its plan to bring in 'Biological Profiles' following discussion between Sepp Blatter,
FIFA president, and his World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) counterpart, John Fahey,
on thursday, February 14, 2013.
The Profiles
test, similar to Biological Passport used within Cycling, will first be introduced
at June's Confederation's Cup - a warm up tournament for the 2014 World cup, both
to be held in Brazil.
Biological Profiles
are built up by collating a player's drug test result over time, there fore making
it easier to detect differences which could indicate the use of a banned substance.
The move comes
in the wake of 'Operation Puerto trial' underway in spain. Following an investigation
which began in 2006, into the wide spread doping network operated by Dr. Eufemiano
Fuentes.
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| Australia Newspaper |
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| Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes |
And last week
the world was stunned by an Australia government report which alleged many professional
athletes are using forbidden drugs often supplied by organized crime groups.
These performance
enhancement drugs are prepared in such a way that it could not easily be detected
by simple culturing of the blood sample - hence, the biological profile method.
Football players
will now face a more systematic regime of drug testing, at every FIFA organized
tournament - starting from the Confederations Cup this year 2013.
FIFA medical
committee chairman, Dr Michel D'Hooghe, said: "We have been testing different
drug regime in FIFA competitions and we will continue at the FIFA Confederations
Cup 2013 with blood testing unannounced at training camps and games. And it's our commitment to have all players participate at FIFA World cup having biological
profiles."
The move is part
of a global sports battle to crack down on drug cheats in the wake of recent doping
scandals, which football players were not exempted.
"We are
very interested in continuing the biological profile," Fahey said in a FIFA
statement released on Friday, February 15, 2013."
"WADA is
very satisfied with the commitment of FIFA on the biological profiles, which will
be run not only at the FIFA World cup in 2014, but already is in motion for the
FIFA Confederations cup in June this year."
Fahey concluded
by saying: "I would like to see particularly
team sports, take up the athlete's biological passport. There is absolutely no reason
why not in the major codes of football, and in the major sporting events right throughout
the world. That will do a lot to stamp out doping in sports."
