Page 32 - AT

A32 FEATURE
Thursday 21 March 2019

Doping in cards? Bridge ban fuels backlash to Olympic link

By JOHN LEICESTER only tests players at major
Associated Press competitions.
PARIS (AP) — When the And the WBF’s in-competi-
top-ranked bridge player tion testing is extremely lim-
tested positive for a steroid ited: Just 11 tests in total in
that Lance Armstrong also 2017, the most recent year
used to cheat at the Tour for which figures are avail-
de France, it was easy to able, and 14 in 2016.
snigger. Juicing in cards? “We simply don’t have the
Ha! But within the card people to manage,” says
game recognized as a Jaap Stomphorst, who
sport by the International heads a WBF anti-doping
Olympic Committee, fans sub-committee. “At ma-
and players seethed. jor competitions we test
Whereas the eventual un- around 10-12 players, that’s
masking of Armstrong as a all.”
cycling swindler was widely That Helgemo escaped
hailed as a resounding vic- with a one-year ban also
tory for sports’ fight against underscored how anti-
doping, critics in bridge doping punishments are
saw the positive drug test unevenly applied across
for Geir Helgemo as a sports. He appears to have
black mark for the anti- been leniently treated in
doping system and proof In this Aug. 21, 2018 file photo, spectators watch bridge match on a screen at the 18th Asian comparison with athletes in
that it shouldn’t be applied Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. active sports. The U.S. Anti-
uniformly across sports. Associated Press Doping Agency, for ex-
“People think it’s wrong,” sample Helgemo provided the videogame era. It also pean Bridge League failed ample, last year handed a
Boye Brogeland, a bridge last Sept. 29 at a World allows WBF executives to to prove that the players 3-year ban to an amateur
professional who won two Bridge Series tournament cling to the so-far fruitless used a prearranged code cyclist, Dylan Lima, only for
world championships with in Orlando, Florida, are ambition of one day seeing during games to secretly testosterone and 1-year
Helgemo, said of the top- among the groups of sub- bridge played at the Olym- tip each other off about bans only for clomifene to
ranked player’s test for the stances that the WBF says pic Games. their hands. two MMA fighters. For per-
steroid testosterone and in- in its anti-doping handbook On bridge forums, Hel- “The integrity of the game formance enhancers like
fertility drug clomifene. for players are “not expect- gemo’s case has provoked is lost because we are try- testosterone, the WADA
“Nobody thinks he took this ed to affect performance vigorous debate and a ing to get into Olympics,” code calls for four-year
to get an edge at bridge,” in bridge.” backlash , with critics ques- Brogeland says. “The price bans when athletes fail to
Brogeland said in a phone Yet the WBF prohibits and tioning bridge’s adherence is just too high. You can- prove that they didn’t in-
interview. tests sporadically for them to WADA rules and its Olym- not actually take the real tentionally dope.
Even the governing World anyway, not because of pic affiliation. For them, fur- cheats out of the game David Harris, the WBF coun-
Bridge Federation that pun- any suspicion that their ther proof that being part because of the Olympics, sel who prosecuted Hel-
ished 49-year-old Helgemo use is rife in the game but of the IOC system does and now you actually take gemo’s case before a fed-
last month by banning the because that is the price more harm than good to people out of the game eration disciplinary panel,
Norwegian for one year the federation must pay to bridge was a CAS ruling last who are not cheats.” says the player “was un-
from lucrative professional come under the Olympic year that dealt a blow to Helgemo’s case also re- able to give a definitive
competitions says most umbrella. Accepting the the game’s efforts to weed flects badly on the global explanation” of how tes-
of the drugs and doping WADA code and the juris- out cheating at cards. The anti-doping system, be- tosterone and clomifene
methods that are prohib- diction of sports’ highest Swiss court overturned five- cause it highlighted how entered his body. Helgemo
ited in bridge because the tribunal, the Court of Arbi- year bans that bridge au- unevenly WADA rules are first suggested that he may
game has signed up to tration for Sport, are con- thorities had handed down applied across sports. have taken pills meant for
World Anti-Doping Agency ditions for recognition by for cheating to top players Unlike the vast majority of his girlfriend before later
rules don’t, in fact, make the IOC. IOC recognition , Fulvio Fantoni and Clau- sports, which test athletes blaming food supplements
bridge players better. in turn, helps secure status dio Nunes. The CAS didn’t both when they’re com- given to him by a friend,
Testosterone and clomi- and funding for bridge as completely absolve the peting and when they’re Harris said in a phone inter-
fene, both found in the it fights to stay relevant in pair but ruled that the Euro- not, the bridge federation view. “The panel probably
erred on the side of leni-
ency,” he said. “They took
into account the whole cir-
cumstances relating to the
situation and came up with
a decision that one year
was the appropriate period
of suspension.”
Helgemo didn’t respond
to Associated Press efforts
to reach him by email and
text message. Harris said
the Norwegian is currently
serving a six-month prison
sentence for tax offenses in
In this Tuesday Sept. 22, 2015 file picture, competitors play bridge In this Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015 file photo, competitors play bridge Norway that is unconnect-
at the Acol Bridge Club in West Hampstead, London. at the Acol Bridge Club in West Hampstead, London. ed to his doping ban.q
Associated Press Associated Press