IFBB ANTI-DOPING EFFORTS ONGOING
By Bill Dobbins
IFBB President Ben Weider reports that drug testing is being implemented at all major international IFBB amateur contests. "The IFBB is proceeding with all deliberate speed to adopt comprehensive testing procedures that will help insure that bodybuilding is a drug-free sport," says Ben Weider, CM, PhD. "However, care must be taken to be certain that the anti-doping procedures are fair and accurate, both in the interests of the athletes themselves and to avoid any future possibility of legal challenges."
It is certainly no secret that bodybuilding has become associated in the mind of the general public with the use of steroids and other illegal anabolic substances. However, this focus on bodybuilding has been to some degree inappropriate. If the use of illegal anabolics weren't a problem for other sports - like the Olympic Games, for example - the IOC would not be so energetic in its implementation of its own anti-doping efforts. If the used of banned substances weren't a problem in football, the NFL would not be so strict with its anti-doping policies.
Nonetheless, if bodybuilding is going to eventually succeed in becoming a part of the Olympics, the sport is going to have to conform to international standards regarding anti-doping testing and sanctioning of athletes who are shown to be using illegal substances. It is with this in mind that the IFBB has devoted so much time and effort in recent years to developing it's own anti-doping program.
"Below you will find four anti-doping reports from recent IFBB national and international competitions," Ben Weider explains, "including the Men's and Women's European Championships, the Jordan Bodybuilding Championships, and the South East Asian Bodybuilding Championships. The labs used were all IOC accredited and the test procedures were done according to the highest standards. Supporters of the sport of bodybuilding will be pleased to learn that no substances banned by the Medical Commission of the International Olympic Committe were detected in ANY of the samples. I am confident that whatever temptation amateur bodybuilders might have to use such substances, knowing they will be facing such rigorous, state-of-the-art testing procedures at IFBB competitions is convincing them that such violation of the anti-doping regulations is simply not worth it."
REPORTS FROM
European
Men's Bodybuilding Championships
European Women's
Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships
South East Asian Bodybuilding
Championships
Jordan Bodybuilding
Championships
FOR MORE INFO
www.ifbb.com
