Positive Feedback For Gps
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday November 3, 2007
SOME of Australia's top swimmers have supported the wearing of a GPS device to notify drug testers of their location, even though Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority chairman Richard Ings said the idea was far-fetched.
Australian drugs researcher Michael Ashenden raised at an international sports ethics conference in Iceland the idea that athletes could wear a GPS bracelet or watch or carry a GPS phone.The idea was to avoid misunderstandings about missed drug tests as athletes have to provide details of their planned movements to testing authorities up to three months beforehand. Three missed tests constitutes a positive drug result and a two-year ban from competition.Commonwealth record-holding swimmer Bronte Barratt said the current system was a nuisance as athletes had to tell the ASADA of their proposed movements for two hours a day for every day over three months. She said the thought of wearing a GPS may seem intimidating but was a good idea because it would be convenient and would help keep sport clean of drugs.Barratt's training partner, fellow freestyler Kylie Palmer, said she liked the idea as long as the device was small. "It is not like they would be going, 'Oh she's gone to the shops'," she said.
© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald
