I noticed that Tim Becker posted on Duathlon.com (http://www.duathlon.com/forums/talk/11521) that Nina was not a member of any national triathlon governing body. Is this true? If so it is a bit disturbing as there would be no way to require such an individual who is not a member of a governing body to submit to out of competition drug testing. If it is true it sounds like a potential loophole that could be abused. Does anyone know if there are other pros who are not members of national federations and compete by simply purchasing one-day memberships?
Doesn’t she have a pro card?
If what Tim Becker says is true, Nina only ever holds a single-day pro membership. That means she is a member for race day and no other. As such, she would be free to refuse testing on any day except for race day as that is the only day she is bound by USAT rules (and WADA by implication). Now, this is all based on the assumption that Tim is correct about this. I am not sure. Doesn’t everyone have to be a member of a federation to race pro? I would think that Nina would be a member of the German triathlon federation and then simply buy the one-day licence for the Hawai’i. However that’s not how I am reading Tim’s post.
Apparently the German Federation didn’t have a ‘pro card.’ Thus they had no record of their ‘pro’ triathletes… Thus no way to keep track of them… Thus no out of competition testing…
I heard last week that they are creating a pro triathlon card.
Francois:
Does this mean Nina is just a “regular” member of the DTU? If she isn’t I don’t know how they could legally force someone to submit to a test.
I stand corrected.
I did read that Nina was not tested out of comp. this season. How do they test out of competition, without having a pro card (and the tracking info)?
Mr. Becker may not completely understand what he has been told.
What he might have been told is that no member racing PRO long course and being member of the national federation, WAS subject to random drug testing by either the federation or the national anti-doping comission (some LC athletes voluntarily asked for being tested, and as far as I know the federation did pay for it as long as they are/were members of the national federation).
Only ITU short course athletes were tested all the time, since they are embedded in the national testing program and receive monetary support from the federation.
I do not know if you can race PRO in a WTC race without being member of a national federation. As far as WTC presents itself I would not be surprised if this would be possible.
John - that would seem to be the worry. In fact it seems the DTU recognizes that German long-distance triathletes have been flying under the radar when compared to their ITU compatriots. It reminds me of the gold medalist from Athens who decided to retire because then it was impossible for them to be suspended under their federation rules. To see how all this could be perverted, one could envision an athlete not renewing thier USAT membership for a year, do a highly coordinated training plan ala Conte and never even risk being tested and then join just before a major competition when they knew they would be clean. From what we are learning with Kraft, Balco and Hamilton there isn’t much top athletes will not do.