| Stop the doping inquisition! | ||||||
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| The upright citizen is bombarded with information about profitable
forms of criminality from all sides. They are the subject of discussion
in the pub, at parties and in the media. Fraud just is an integral part
of human life. Our upright citizen finds solace in the hope that such
criminals will get their just desserts. This is cold comfort, however,
because many get away with their crimes, as he knows from the news. But
if he keeps to the straight and narrow, he will not become victim of
allegations and prosecution. This may be a simplistic portrayal of social relationships, but in its simplicity it seems to reflect the actual situation. |
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| By Paul Ruijsenaars, Hidde van der Ploeg, e.a. | ||||||
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| However, there is one category of citizens to which this situation does not apply: professional athletes. In the above paragraph, replace 'upright citizen' by 'honest professional athlete' and the comparison concerning allegations falls short, particularly with regard to the most deadly sin known to sport, alleged doping. Every (professional) athlete is treated like a potential fraud, a suspect - by the IOC, the doping authorities and the sports federations involved. Tackling doping use has degenerated into a witch hunt on all top athletes. The individual and his personal and working environment are put in the pillory at the slightest suspicion. Berufsverbot The obligation of top athletes to make themselves available to inspectors all over the world is disproportionate to the nature and extent of the doping problem. For top athletes, there is no privacy; by definition they are suspects. The top athlete is a citizen without rights in the field of doping. The way in which he is treated violates fundamental human rights. There is no precise jurisprudence. A long-term Berufsverbot is the imminent penalty which for many athletes means the end of their chosen career. Any mitigating circumstances or other nuances are excluded from the judicial proceedings. As we said above: fraud is part of life. Take the number of IOC members who have had to resign from the organisation in recent years for transgressions of this kind. In terms of percentages, many more IOC members than top athletes have been caught at fraud. But the IOC does not subject its honourable members to the same suspicion as it does those ordinary top athletes. Worldwide, all organisations which represent sport in some form or other seem to have forgotten that sport had begun with sports men and women, which then spawned the need for associations, umbrella organisations and event organisers. Furthermore, the competition between these bodies to be or become the biggest, most powerful and richest has created an unhealthy rivalry which has relegated the interests of the athletes in question to the background. The fact that, for example, without athletes the IOC, ASO and UCI would be redundant, is no longer realised in these circles. Top athletes concerned should also draw this rather simple conclusion They are the most important party to shape the top sport sector. In this respect, they should follow their recreationally-minded brothers and sisters who have turned their backs en masse on organised sport. “The wheels can stop turning if your powerful arm wants to!” If there is one professional group that can prove that solidarity criterion in practice, top athletes can. Chain gangs When we mention the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the organisers of the Tour de France (ASO) the last reader will realise what was the direct motive for our message. Although the abuses described here are not limited to cycling, let us focus now on the Tour de France, the arena for the chain gangs of the road and the shop window for parties who want to spread their power on cycling as widely as possible. Most worryingly, they present themselves as moral crusaders claiming that if they come to power or remain in power, an atmosphere of purity will be created. The last Tour de France offered a taster of the meaning and consequences of this ambition. Doping tests before and during the Tour have made clear that cyclists can claim no rights whatsoever. The inspectors are known as 'doping hunters'. Every cyclist is suspect. Anyone who proves his innocence today must be available tomorrow for the next test. Anyone caught by the doping hunters was and is treated like dirt by them, the sporting organisations and their employers (sponsors). The devastating result was the disqualification of the yellow jersey rider for allegedly telling lies, without taking into consideration the seventeen recent tests which had all showed that the victim had not used doping. Obviously, regulations have become more important than their aim. Thus far the 'new Tour', which the present authorities are planning. A new future based on a scandalous past. Because the treatment of athletes by doping hunters bears a strong resemblance to the inquisition which victimised so many people eight hundred years ago. Replace the term 'doping' by 'heresy', inspectors by inquisitors and church authorities by IOC, doping authorities, sports associations and organisations like ASO, and you have your comparison. Stakes Of course the situation then was even worse; every citizen was a suspect. Failing to attend an interrogation, giving a hesitant answer, making one suspect move and you were found to be a heretic. And heretics were severely punished. Burning heretics at the stake was a popular public spectacle for those who did not yet stand accused, because even then there was no solidarity among cyclists, sorry, citizens. You could exonerate yourself by reporting others as heretics. The inquisitors could also accuse people of being heretics in the name of God and issue on-the-spot sentences. These sentences were then executed by the secular power. The inquisitors were not even required to justify themselves to the secular power. They were only answerable to God. You can draw the comparisons yourself. The inquisition was a sacrosanct and feared power which was not afraid to implement a repressive reign of terror in the name of God. It was only following the separation of Church and State, when the secular power stopped executing the punishments, that the all-embracing nature of the inquisition declined. The inquisitors went on to focus on investigating and punishing members of their own church organisation. Medieval practices Let us look more closely at the parallels between the medieval 'legal' practices and the 'pure' intentions of modern day sports governing bodies with regard to the doping problem. First of all, there is the entwinement of the functions of law maker, law enforcer and judge. The presumptio innocentia does not exist: people are guilty in advance and in doubt one must prove one's innocence. And on this weighty note: “in dubio pro reo” is never permitted in the procedures and that also applies to “ne bis in idem” ('strict liability': no defence possible). The discrepancy between punishment and offence also belongs to this summary. And then there is the parallel with the people's court: the media serves its customers by eagerly hanging athletes based on allegations; in the Middle Ages, people flocked to executions carried out on the same flimsy basis. The media's approach to the doping problem moves between rousing public opinion and an inquisition. Press conferences become tribunals in which the athlete has to defend himself. There is often no insight into the material, leaving everything to overblown tabloid journalism. Press perspective Fortunately modern legislation offers perspectives with regard to tackling Medieval practices. In the Bosman ruling in 1995 and again during a doping case in 2006, the European Court of Justice rejected the idea that the sporting world could be completely free to apply its own rules. The show of strength from the new inquisitors during the Tour should create the momentum for a strong union of athletes, their employers and their sponsors to defend themselves and achieve the liquidation of the inquisition. European rules for trade and commerce and the European Convention on Human Rights offer a legal framework in this context. This union should point out to national and European governments that they completely fail to monitor violations of basic human rights. When will they decide the time is right for a modern sports policy? The aim of those signing this manifesto is to create that perspective. By the way: in the year 2000, the Pope asked people's forgiveness for the mistakes made by the Catholic Church in the distant past. But the Olympic inquisition led by pope Pound of the IOC and all the cardinals in the international sports associations does not consider itself obliged to justify itself to modern society. We do not want to let that continue for 800 years. Paul Ruijsenaars, former basketball international, owner of a coaching and advisory agency in Utrecht, sports director; Hidde van der Ploeg former volleyball international and former coach of the national men's volleyball team, as (sports) correspondent of the NRC-Handelsblad he was closely involved in the theme of doping in sport; Henk Kraaijenhof, top sports coach; Egbert Lambers, solicitor, cycling fan; Loek Jorritsma, former chief officer Sports department, Ministry VWS; Dr. Janwillem Soek, researcher, associated with the Asser International Sports Law Centre in The Hague and author of the dissertation “The Strict Liability Principle and the Human Rights of Athletes in Doping Cases” (enthusiastic archer); Jan Rijpstra, Mayor and former member of the Dutch House of Representatives, sports director |
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| 2007-11-16 | ||||||
| Source: The International Sports Law Journal / 18-9-07 | ||||||
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