Old.netball.asn.au

Memorandum
To:
ANZ Championship General Managers, Team Operations Managers, Physiotherapists, Team Date: 29 April 2011
From: Natalie Wright-Boyd GM High Performance
The information below has been provided by Mary Toomey, Wel being Manager fol owing the news today that an aspiring AFL athlete has been found to be guilty of an ADRV (Anti-doping rule violation) due to the ingestion of sufficient Sudafed tablets to take his level of pseudoephedrine beyond the threshold level allowed for athletes in competition and has been suspended for 2 years. The news article related to this story can be read by clicking on the fol owing link. Pseudoephedrine was re-introduced to the WADA list at the end of 2009 and is prohibited above 150
micrograms per millilitre, in an athlete’s urine sample for in-competition testing. This al ows for the
therapeutic use of pseudoephedrine containing medications, but sets a limit at the point beyond
which the medication is believed to have performance enhancing capacities.
The ASADA website very clearly advises athletes not to take medications containing pseudoephedrine
for 24 hours prior to or during competition, to avoid the risk of an inadvertent doping offence.
The problem that athletes face with regard to substances such as pseudoephedrine is that it is contained in many over the counter cold and flu medications and they need to be extremely diligent when taking such medications. The most common of these related to sport (in part because of its known use as a performance enhancing agent in the past) is Sudafed. However, not every Sudafed medication contains pseudoephedrine, which means that athletes cannot just buy and take it without checking first
whether that particular product is allowed. How a substance comes to be prohibited
For a substance or method to be prohibited, it must meet two of the fol owing three conditions 1. The substance or method has the potential to enhance, or does enhance performance in sport 2. The substance or method has the potential to risk the athlete’s health 3. The substance or method is deemed to violate the spirit of sport Every athlete is responsible for the substances that enter their body. Athletes are also responsible for
any methods they undertake. Ignorance of the WADA code is not al owed as a defence for an athlete
competing in a sport where Anti-doping rules apply and where an athlete may be subject to drug
testing.
Netbal State MO’s and their member clubs, administrators and athletes are reminded that they can now access free on-line education regarding their rights and responsibilities under the WADA (World Anti-doping Authority) code. The ASADA e-learning package can be accessed by clicking on the link below and then clicking on the ASADA e-learning link at the bottom of the yel ow box on the right.

Source: http://old.netball.asn.au/_uploads/res/1_150879.pdf