David Howman, former director-general of the Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), has sharply criticized the global anti-doping fight. The methods for doping controls are outdated and the detection rate is poor. That said Howman, who is now chairman of the Independent Integrity Commission of the World Athletics Federation IAAF, the British newspaper "The Telegraph".
"The collection of urine and blood is the current method, mainly urine, which started in the sixties and early seventies," said Howman. In most areas of society, the methods have since been reviewed, but not in doping controls. "Why is urine analysis so necessary or so attractive, even though it has been proven to be ineffective in chasing cheaters?" Said the New Zealander, who led the Wada from 2003 to 2016.
More blood tests than murder trials
He also criticized that two positive blood samples, A sample and B sample, must be present for correct detection of doping. Even murder trials would be conducted on the basis of a single blood sample. "Why is there more protection in sports than murder?" Howman said.
In order to achieve "that we do things in the most efficient and effective way," he called for a debate on the methods of anti-doping struggle. Howman said, "If not, we spend millions and millions of dollars to support an industry that pays a lot of people, do we do that, do we produce an industry instead of protecting clean athletes?"
Even as he worked for Wada, Howman did not feel comfortable guiding "an organization where we had one or two percent positive cases from the lab and even less sanctioned." The low enlightenment rate frustrates the ex-Wada boss. "In private companies, these results would not be acceptable, even in the civil service," said Howman.