Fifa doubts Brazil's drug test competency

MONACO (AP) — FIFA's medical chief is
"really not happy" with drug-testing
plans for the World Cup in Brazil because
samples taken from players must be
flown across the Atlantic for analysis at a
laboratory in Switzerland, which could
slow results.
FIFA had to turn to the Swiss lab because
the Brazilian laboratory that was
expected to analyze World Cup samples
repeatedly failed to comply with World
Anti-Doping Agency standards.
FIFA expects to send about 1,000 blood
and urine samples to the WADA-
accredited facility in Lausanne, at an
extra cost of $250,000 for the governing
body, said Michel D'Hooghe, who chairs
FIFA's medical commission and sits on its
executive committee.
Speaking in an interview with The
Associated Press, D'Hooghe said that at
previous World Cups "we always
managed to have the (anti-doping test)
results before the next game of the
team. So if you were positive or if I was
positive we knew it before you or me
played a second game."
But "I am not quite sure" results will
come back quickly enough for that to
happen in Brazil, he said. That means, at
worse, that a player who has failed a
doping test could still get to play in
another match.
"I hate this. I'm really not happy with
that," D'Hooghe said on the sidelines of a
sports medicine conference. "We have to
live with it. We will do our best. But this
is a weak point. And I attacked this point
in the last meeting of the (Brazil)
organizing committee where I was, yes,
rather, how I say? Disappointed."
Brazil is hosting the World Cup in 12
cities across the world's fifth-largest
country, making transportation for fans,
teams and organizers a major issue.
Samples collected outside of Rio de
Janeiro or Sao Paulo, which together will
host 13 of the 64 matches, must first
travel to either of those cities before
being flown across the Atlantic to Zurich
or Geneva and then going on to
Lausanne, D'Hooghe said. FIFA has
contracted DHL for the transportation,
he said.
D'Hooghe appeared most concerned
about getting samples in a timely fashion
from Manaus in the Amazon basin,
calling it the "worst-case scenario."
Manaus is roughly 4 hours flying time
from Rio and Sao Paulo. England, Italy,
the United States, Portugal, Cameroon,
Croatia, Honduras and Switzerland play a
total of four group matches there.
Samples from Manaus could take
"maybe 36 hours" to get to Lausanne,
said Jiri Dvorak, FIFA's chief medical
officer. From other venues, the travel
time should be 24 hours, he said.
But D'Hooghe expressed concerns about
possible flight delays. Promised
improvements are ready at only two of
13 major airports being used in the June-
July tournament. Analysts are warning
fans to brace for unfinished construction
work, long check-in lines, and last-minute
gate changes and flight delays.
"The problem is not so much the
laboratory, they can easily be ready (with
results on a sample) mostly in 24 hours.
The problem is to get it there,"
D'Hooghe said.
Complex transport logistics might make
it easier for a lawyer defending any
player who failed a test to argue that
FIFA's drug-testing process in Brazil was
unsound. Should a player test positive,
FIFA may have to show to a hearing or
court that the sample wasn't tampered
with on its long journey or poorly
handled in a way that skewed lab
analysis.
"The longer the journey that the sample
has to take and the greater the number
of steps before it gets to a laboratory,
the greater the risk that some form of
mishandling might occur," London-based
sports lawyer Mike Morgan said by email,
in response to questions from the AP.
"Needless to say, FIFA will have a task to
ensure (1) that the chain of custody is
maintained at all times to protect the
integrity of the samples; and (2) that
storage conditions are optimal
throughout the transfer of the samples
so to avoid any risk of sample
degradation. Failure to ensure either one
of these conditions could render the
analysis of any given sample unreliable."
Samples will be transported in
temperature-controlled and monitored
boxes, Dvorak said.
"The samples will be in perfect condition,
but it is also something that costs
money. It is not so easy," D'Hooghe said.
"But I have the guarantees that it will be
done OK, because I have put forward the
same question."