January 27, 2010

Occupational health and safety

B.C. Roadbuilders fund program to train drug-testing technicians for 2010 Winter Olympics

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

B.C. Roadbuilders are sponsoring a program to train drug-testing technicians for the 2010 Winter Olympics and are planning to develop the initiative into an antidrug campaign for the construction industry.

“We held a three day training session in Kamloops in November to teach people how to take and test samples for anti-doping use at the Olympics,” said Jack Davidson, president of the B.C. Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association.

“We talked to VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games) and asked them what would they like us to do. We tried to find something that would help the Olympics and the industry.”

The body that oversees the testing of athletes for the use of performance enhancing drugs at the Olympics is the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Testing of athletes for performance enhancing drugs includes both urine and blood tests.

“We asked VANOC if we could use their name to send a message to our members about anti-doping,” said Davidson.

“We hope we can use the tie with WorkSafeBC to do an industry-wide poster campaign. Just like drugs in athletes, drugs and gold medal construction crews don’t mix. We will share the campaign with our counterparts in the rest of the industry”

The International Olympic Committee banned the use of performance enhancing drugs in Olympic competition in 1967.

The first drug use controls were introduced at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

These controls eventually evolved into a systematic testing regimen that all Olympic athletes must adhere to.

“When the Olympics were given to Vancouver, we went to our members and put a little money aside each year so we could have something to contribute,” Davidson explained.

So far, the use of performance enhancing drugs has been more prevalent in the summer games than the winter games.

At the 2002 winter Olympics in Salt Lake, seven athletes were caught using performance enhancing drugs, while only one athlete was caught in the 2006 games in Turin.

The creators of performance enhancing drugs continue to improve their sophistication, potency and transparency.

This has forced WADA to find innovative and new ways to detect these drugs

Print | Email | Comment