BNOC accepts blame after doping incident

MOSAH MOKGANEDI
Correspondent | Wednesday September 8, 2010 00:00

 

 The athlete has been slapped with a two-year suspension by the International Amateur Athletics Association (IAAF) for using performance-enhancing substances. BNOC chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho admitted that they have failed to educate athletes against substance abuse.

He blamed the lapse on the lack of finance. He said BNOC has ignored doping because it never thought it was a problem among the country's sportsmen and women.

Baloyi tested positive at a competition in Belgium in June and said he was not aware that the energy drink he was taking was banned.

Serufho said they need to redouble their efforts to ensure that such incidents are avoided.

He said Baloyi's issue has a lot of implications because performance enhancing drugs suppliers may start targeting Botswana athletes.

However asserted that BNOC cannot take the blame alone as there are other stakeholders involved in ensuring athletes do not take performance enhancing drugs. 'We cannot be blamed alone. Issues of doping involve a lot of stakeholders although we cannot run away from the fact that we could have done better on the issue,' Serufho stated.

'May be we have always ignored issues of doping because we never thought the usage of drug performance enhancing drugs was a problem in our country,' he added.

The BNOC has a doping advisory committee that is responsible for educating sportsmen and women but it has been hamstrung by financial constraints. The committee is tasked with testing athletes for performance enhancing drugs but this has not been possible due to the absence of testing facilities in the country.

Serufho said they are constrained because the advisory committee members are volunteers and are not able to carry out their duties fully. He added that they have been engaging the government to see if Botswana can set up a fully-fledged doping office.

Baloyi blames BNOC for not making an effort to educate athletes about banned substances. He said a pharmacist recommended a drink to him and if he knew about banned substances, he would not have taken it. The 26-year-old runner claimed that he had gone to a pharmacy to buy Explode Energy drink that he normally used but because it was not available, the pharmacist recommended Jack 3D which is said to contain banned substances.