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SUNDAY, JULY 31, 2016 SPORTS US sailor lends hand to clean Rio’s bay before Games RIO DE JANEIRO: Bobbing on Rio de bish from the Bay which is clogged by held. Two academic studies seen by down in the competition. Inea has the situation considerably, but that more Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay in a blue and sewage from some 15 municipalities, Reuters in June showed the waters were deployed 12 green eco-boats - each with needed to be done. white fishing boat, American sailor Brad home to some 9 million people. “I decid- infected by drug-resistant super bacteria a wire metal scoop on the front that lifts Inea has appealed to Rio’s citizens to Funk uses a plastic bin to scoop rubbish ed that if I am not going to compete, I and microbes normally found only in hos- rubbish out of the water and into its hull. stop throwing waste into canals and into from the waters where Olympic sailing want the sailors to not have problems pitals. The State Environmental Agency It has also placed 17 red floating eco-bar- the bay. On the airplane over to Rio, races will take place next month. when they sail,” he told Reuters. “I love (Inea), which is conducting daily monitor- riers across the mouth of rivers and canals Funk met Camila Avelar who decided to Funk missed out on his dream of com- Rio, and it is very important to me that ing of water quality with the help of the feeding the bay, which collect debris volunteer to help his effort, hoping to peting in Rio 2016 in the two-man 49er the Olympic Games is a success and the World Health Organization (WHO), insists floating on the water’s surface. inspire a chain reaction. “A lot of people sailing class, but travelled to Brazil any- trash does not get stuck on the sailboats, the water quality is fine, helped by the Just the eco-barrier in the Canal do say that the two of us trying to clear the way with the aim of clearing the path for taking medals away from them.” rapid movement of water through the Cunha had collected 208 tonnes of rub- rubbish from the sea will not make any those who did, including his girlfriend In recent months, concern flared over mouth of the bay where events will be bish in the last month, Inea said. difference,” Avelar said. “But I don’t think British windsurfer Bryony Shaw. A native pollution levels in the bay and nearby held. More worrying for many competi- Brazilian sailors said recently that the that is the point, it is the attitude and of Clearwater, Florida, Funk is leading his sea, where sailing, windsurfing and long- tors, however, is the floating debris which work of eco-boats picking up rubbish encouraging other people to do the own clean-up effort to help remove rub- distance swimming events are being could crash against boats and slow them along competition routes had improved same thing.” — Reuters Genetic doping: The ‘sea serpent’ of cheating LAUSANNE: How big a threat is genetic month, said: “there may well be tests but doping to clean competition in sport? “It’s a I’m not sure of their relevance.” bit like sea serpent,” mythologised, poten- tially capable of causing serious harm, “but THE BIGGEST THREAT not so present”, said Martial Saugy, former “The biggest problem at the moment director of the Swiss Laboratory for Doping are microdoses,” Saugy said, when asked Analyses. The lab is in Lausanne, near the about the worst threat to fair play. headquarters of the International Olympic Dopers have increasingly realised that Committee, which put Saugy on the front- tiny doses of steroids or the oxygen capaci- line of efforts to purge drug cheats from ty booster EPO can be very effective and global sport. extremely hard to detect. Saugy noted that In an interview with AFP ahead of the Tour de France 2006 winner and former August 5 start of the Rio de Janeiro Lance Armstrong teammate Floyd Landis Olympics, Saugy said anti-doping labs had cheated with a steroid “that is still very to keep pace with new methods developed present”. Landis “made an error in usage. by doping cheats that multiple scandals Without that error, we wouldn’t have seen involving Russia have proved are still a anything,” he explained. major threat. But he cautioned against The use of biological passports “helps putting too much focus on the still unde- enormously,” said the doctor, who now termined threat of genetic doping, when heads the Center for Research and other dangers-like micro-doses-are far Expertise in anti-Doping sciences at the more pressing. University of Lausanne. “This is one of my main principles: you need to work with the LOOKING FOR ‘INDICATORS’ right sample from the right athlete taken at Doctors have for years been experi- the right time,” he said. menting with ways to inject synthetic genes into patients, altering an individual’s CHANGING THE SYSTEM genome to enhance muscle recovery or Overall, Saugy endorsed the notion that stem muscle deterioration, among other the entire global anti-doping infrastructure benefits. Should such treatments be taken needed a shake-up. up by athletes, anti-doping efforts could be In too many cases, private labs motivat- PRISTINA: Kosovar judoka Majlinda Kelmendi sits with other Kosovo’s athletes prior to the flag handover ceremony in Pristina onFriday. Double set back years. ed by profit are accredited to conduct tests world judo champion Majlinda Kelmendi will carry Kosovo’s flag and its dreams of winning a gold medal in its first Olympic Gamesin Rio. —AFP “We’ve been talking about it since the by sport federations, which are sometimes creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency motivated by the desire to see their star in 1999,” Saugy said, adding that the goal athletes have clean records. for labs is to find a way to detect “the indi- Making sure that WADA has the authori- Judo star carries Kosovo hopes cators of genetic doping.” ty and willingness to withdraw accredita- But he noted that since the world’s best tion for labs whenever problems occur is doctors are struggling to use the technolo- crucial to cleaning up the system, Saugy for gold at first Olympics gy to treat sick children, athletes and train- argued. IOC executives have pushed for a ers seeking to cheat with genetic doping major anti-doping overhaul and have float- PRISTINA: Double world judo champion Majlinda are inevitably facing similar difficulties. “We ed the idea of WADA taking over the entire Kelmendi will carry Kosovo’s flag and its dreams of need to put things in perspective. Genetic system, removing authority from national winning a gold medal in its first Olympic Games in Russian father and son hammer therapy in the medical domaine has diffi- sport federations which can be corrupted, Rio. Serbia will lead the nations who will not be culty getting its place because it’s very as notably happened in Russia and Kenya. celebrating if the 25-year-old succeeds in putting throwers share Olympic sorrow complicated,” he said. IOC executives last month called for a spe- Kosovo’s name on the Olympic map. The 52 kilo- Asked if there was a testing system for cial summit on doping to be held next year, gramme champion leads eight Kosovo athletes at MOSCOW: Russian hammer thrower Sergey world could finally breathe-his absence from genetic doping in place for Rio, Saugy, who where enhancing WADA’s authority will be the Rio Games following its recognition by the Litvinov and his father have a lot in common: the Los Angeles Games left a stain on his stel- stepped down from the Lausanne lab last discussed. —AFP International Olympic Committee in 2014. a first name, an athletics discipline and now a lar career. “I could have had a chance to go for Olympic fever is mounting among the 1.8 million history of missing the Olympics. gold,” he said. “But what can I say? It didn’t Kosovars and with it the pressure to succeed. The suspension of Russia’s athletics federa- happen and that’s it.” President Hashim Thaci set Kelmendi’s photo, tion over “state-sponsored” doping will deny Litvinov Sr. declined to answer questions S Sudan refugee Olympians Kosovo flag and the Olympic rings logo as his the 30-year-old a shot at Olympic glory, just as whether he had doped or had witnessed the Twitter account background. “We may get gold, the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles use of performance-enhancing drugs among run for glory of lost home we may not, still we are heroes,” he tweeted in a Games did for his father and coach, legendary his Soviet teammates. But he said that doping reflection of the growing national pride. Soviet hammer thrower Sergey Litvinov. “has always existed.” NAIROBI: There will be more South training. Beyond their sporting talent, the Kelmendi and her coach Driton Kuka went into Father and son recognise the striking paral- Sudanese competing at the Rio Games in quintet’s childhoods also bind them hiding ahead of Rio. Having made her interna- lels between their careers and wish the sting- ‘A CLEAR WAY’ the Olympics refugee team than for the together. All come from families that fled tional debut in 2011, Kelmendi is unbeaten since ing memories of 1984 had not returned more The younger Litvinov insists he has never African state that will be taking part for the civil war that broke out in Sudan in the 2013.

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