15 athletes have used banned substances in last two years

FIFTEEN Cypriot athletes were caught using controlled substances in the past two years, including three who took part in the 2009 Games of the Small States of Europe, lawmakers heard yesterday.

The data was submitted before the House Education Committee, which discussed amendments to the anti-doping law to include banned substances discovered since 2009.

“Only three athletes were caught doped from all states that took part (in the Games of the Small States of Europe held in Cyprus in 2009) and all three were Cypriot,” committee chairman Nicos Tornaritis said.

The 15 athletes caught using controlled substances over the last two years include those with disabilities.

Asked later to elaborate on the kinds of sports and substances, the chairman of the anti-doping authority Michalis Petrou said “various sports” and “various substances.”

The committee heard that a female track and field athlete, who trains overseas, had taken veterinary drugs, putting her life at risk.

Her alibi, Petrou said, was that they were given to her by her doctor.

“The situation has reached its limits,” Tornaritis said. “Society must react; parents, the education system, the institutions tasked with enforcing the law.”

Petrou said the authority, founded in 2009, makes every possible effort to prevent athletes from using controlled substances, through education as well as tests.

Asked how strict the authority was regarding football, Petrou said “football is the sport that goes through the most checks each year.

“We also check all other team sports and most individual ones,” he added.

He said the authority was gradually extending its checks to cover the largest number of disciplines possible.

Petrou said the authority’s greatest fear was the substances that could not be traced but regulations allowed for samples to be kept for up to eight years to be re-tested, if necessary, at a later stage.

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