BAA threatens to unfriend doping athletes
Calistus Kolantsho | Tuesday July 25, 2017 15:29
Ramatshaba was responding to the weekend comments made by IAAF president, Sebastian Coe, who stated that he cannot guarantee a drug-free World Championships. Coe was speaking on BBC One’s Andrew Marr television show.
Despite this, Coe was confident that the set-up to catch doping, “is a lot safer”. “We have the technology that allows us to be very much more specific about what we are looking for. I would love to tell you that we will have a drug-free sport in future.
Everything we are doing is engaged in trying to achieve that but we know a few people will cheat,” Coe said. Next month’s World Athletics Championships will be held in London, and the Russian Athletics Federation is banned from the event, following allegations of the Russian state-organised doping.
Russia is barred from international athletics after 2016’s McLaren report, which alleged that more than a thousand athletes were involved in doping in Russia between 2011 and 2015. Ramatshaba said the BAA and Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) through their Anti-Doping office have done a lot on sensitising athletes about doping. He said athletes have been advised on what to eat, drink and how to behave.
“If an athlete is caught doping at the World Championships, the BAA cannot defend such a person. If he/she is suspended, we can only associate with them after they have served their suspension. If we are seen defending such an athlete, the IAAF has the right to suspend the Association,” he said. Meanwhile, Ramatshaba said the entire athletics team is in camp in Cardiff as final preparations for the World Championships.
He said athletes who have been involved in various competitions would now have to reduce them to avoid fatigue. “The athletes were involved in some competitions over the weekend that were meant to sharpen them. The IAAF is expected to wrap up all competitions such as Diamond League because serious business is about to start,” he said.
Ramatshaba said he has been communicating with the team manager who informed him that everything was in place. Regarding cooperation between athletes’ managers and BAA, he said the two parties have good relationship.
“Managers only organise races for the athletes because they make money out of them. They do not manage them on a daily basis. They are also professionals and they know when to stop organising races because now the team needs to focus on the World Championships,” Ramatshaba said.