http://www.youcanbefit.com/ster.html
This story highlights one of the more under reported aspects of the steroids scandal that is finally beginning to get needed attention. The culpability of strength coaches, who receive undue reputation benefit by enhancing an athletes performance. Some HS team coaches are alleged to have investigated how to incorporate illegal, illicit performance enhancer into their program in order to get a leg up on the competition.
When the athlete gets caught via positive test, everybody throws up their hands, the athlete is always presumed to be guilty and life goes on. But the coaches who "knowingly" and in some cases surreptitiously introduce these drugs into the program are not punished. Certainly not to the degree the athletes are.
As noted in the follow-up story below, according to the current WADA rules as shown on its web site, www.wada-ama.org, the principle of strict liability only applies to athletes. That has never seemed fair to me and apparently now the international pooh-bahs agree. Now the national and international agencies are looking into sanctioning or punishing dirty coaches who are linked to positive drug tests.
We only need to look at the example of the former East German Olympic program to see that, at least on occasion, trusting athletes are taken advantage of by sports coaches seeking to "enhance" their reputation and won-loss ledger without regard to the disposable athletes they train.
Here is an example from Tennessee where a HS football coach allegedly provided performance enhancers to an athlete under his care without his knowledge. The kid apparently trusted the coach to guide him in the right direction with near tragic results.
Suing over Steroids:
http://crossville-chronicle.com/local/x434655442/Status-of-coach-one-of-issues-in-lawsuit?referer=d1a38dbaf3c5c3b7d2fad43e9b99a392
A former high school football coach, the school's principal, assistant principal/athletic director, the School Resource Officer and the Cumberland County Board of Education have been named in a lawsuit in connection with the selling of anabolic steroids to a former player.
As a 17-year-old member of the SMHS, Dodd approached Wilson after the 2008 season, asking for advice on over-the-counter supplements to help him gain muscle mass. The suit claims that Wilson responded that he could obtain supplements but that the family would have to reimburse the coach.
Dodd's mother then issued a check for $140 for 85 tablets which turned out to be anabolic steroids. The suit claims neither mom nor son knew that they were obtaining steroids.
Shortly after, Dodd and his mother state that Dodd became sick, suffering from headaches, chest pains and violent mood swings. In January, Dodd was transported by ambulance to Crossville
Medical Center where he was treated and released.
Even the international bodies have taken notice as the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) calls for stricter guidelines and penalties.
WADA boss calls for ban on tainted coaches
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sports/WADA-boss-calls-for-ban-on-tainted-coaches_7611456
COACHES OF athletes who are found guilty of anti-doping offences should also be banned, says director general of the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) David Howman.
"Yes! And that's a subject that we feel has to be accentuated to by government," Howman told the Observer in an exclusive interview yesterday.
"You can deal with lawyers who misbehave; you can deal with journalists who misbehave; you can deal with doctors who misbehave (but), how can we deal with coaches?
"You can strip them from representing the country; you can stop them from going to (an) event, but you can't stop them from coaching unless there is a law, so we're looking at ways and means of where that can be encountered," the WADA boss declared.
"The reason for it is that very often the athlete is, I can't say innocent, but is the receptacle of information given of persuasion by people who should know better; older people who they take guidance from who tell them to go and do something which is wrong," Howman added.
"There should be a degree of responsibility... laid at the feet of those people (including) coaches... trainers, agents, doctors, pharmacists, and we think very strongly they've got to be dealt with."
According to the current WADA rules as shown on its web site, www.wada-ama.org, the principle of strict liability only applies to athletes.
"The principle of strict liability is applied in situations where urine/blood samples collected from an athlete have produced adverse analytical results.
"It means that each athlete is strictly liable for the substances found in his or her bodily specimen, and that an anti-doping rule violation occurs whenever a prohibited substance (or its metabolites or markers) is found in bodily specimen, whether or not the athlete intentionally or unintentionally used a prohibited substance or was negligent or otherwise at fault."
Conversely, there are few documented cases where coaches of sanction athletes have been handed coaching bans.
In July 2008, the United States Anti-doping Agency (USADA) slapped Trevor Graham with a lifetime coaching ban for reportedly helping his athletes, which included Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin and Tim Montgomery, to obtain performance-enhancing drugs. Graham has always denied providing performance-enhancers to his athletes.
Athletics Canada also handed Ben Johnson's former coach, the late Charlie Francis, a life-time ban after he told a 1989 inquiry that he had introduced Johnson to steroids.
Johnson tested positive for the steroid stanozolol after winning the 100 metres at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and was stripped of his gold medal.
The WADA boss hinted that until countries put legislation in place to sanction coaches and other athlete representatives, the anti-doping fight will not end.
"They should be subject to at least the same sort of sanctions as the athletes. They should be out of sport for two years or out of sport for four years. There's no reason why not, so I look at it from the angle of being fair to all that might be part of something," he said.
"If you look in society and you say they are five people are involved in a crime, you don't just prosecute one, you get the whole five who are involved in the conspiracy. We should be doing the same in sport," added Howman, who is a lawyer by profession.
WADA, which is headquartered in Montreal, Canada, was established in 1999 to act as an independent international agency to co-ordinate efforts to rid sports of doping. The agency involves government representatives, certain inter-governmental organisations, alongside sporting bodies.
To add to this topic, I would be remiss if I did not mention the passing last week of Charlie Francis, who many would say is the worlds top sprint coach. No mention of Francis will ever be made without linking him to Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson and Johnson's subsequent positive steroid test. Many believe this was Ground Zero for the subsequent steroid madness that followed throughout the last twenty years.
SPRINTER BEN JOHNSON AND HIS COACH, CHARLIE FRANCIS
From ESPN.com:
Francis didn't run from steroids truth
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/columns/story?id=5186345
The most tragic part of the story is the last line where Francis sums up in essence what was gained and what was lost by his involvement in the scandal.
"For me, my life has been better since I stopped coaching," Francis reminisced last June.
Final Score: The gain in glory was temporary at best, the loss of doing what he must have loved was permanent.
