Tremain Chris: Sports Anti-Doping Bill — First Reading 
Tremain Chris: Sports Anti-Doping Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:996] 
CHRIS TREMAIN (National—Napier) 
: 
 Athletic competition relies on a basic premise: one man’s best against another’s one woman’s best against another’s or one team’s best against another’s. The entire phenomenon of sport rests on that simple idea. When someone cheats the value of victory becomes worthless. That is a key part of the very culture of this great sporting nation. Although we may push the rules—even test them to the limit—we are a nation that plays hard but fair. Fair competition is not a moral ideal; it is a basic principle which is directly tied to the enjoyment of competing and the value of victory. The contest has more value when athletes compete cleanly. When there is a winner in clean sport it means something. With doping someone merely crosses the line first. 
As a result the National Party supports the introduction of the bill. We believe that it will seek to preserve what is intrinsically valuable about sport which is characterised by values such as honesty ethics fairness health respect courage commitment and solidarity. The Sports Anti-Doping Bill will provide the legislative framework under which New Zealand can implement the World Anti-Doping Code thereby playing its part in addressing the global problem of doping in sport. The bill will continue the role of the New Zealand Sports Drug Agency as the national anti-doping organisation and it will be responsible for ensuring that New Zealand complies with the code. 
Today I would like to examine the need for such a bill. I want to explain exactly why doping is a real threat to sport. Let me break it down into three categories: firstly fraud; secondly the “If you can’t beat them join them.” phenomenon; and thirdly the health risks that are associated with doping. 
First let me talk about fraud. What I find unacceptable about doping is the fraud that it perpetuates. When I watch a game or a race it is with the assumption that I am watching a clean contest. And it is not just me; sponsors pay millions of dollars to be associated with supposedly pure athleticism. It is a let-down then when I discover that drugs are involved. Do I personally care whether Tim Montgomery covered 100 metres in 9.78 seconds at the Grand Prix de Paris in 2002 if he had to inject himself with something first? No I do not. But I am awestruck and inspired to see a clean athlete do it in a time of 9.8 seconds. What I am trying to get at is that the end does not matter as much as the means. Doping is an ethical issue a scientific issue and a health issue but it is first and foremost a philosophical issue and it is that analysis that has been neglected. As I have said previously athletic competition relies on a basic premise: one person’s best against another’s. The entire phenomenon of sport rests on that simple idea. When someone cheats the value of the victory becomes worthless; it is a fraud. 
Secondly I will talk about the “If you can’t beat them join them.” phenomenon. A second argument says that if so many athletes are doping why do we not just let them do it? Then the playing field is level again—game on! Well that would obviously get rid of the fraud but it would be hard to explain to New Zealand kids why the All Blacks were dropping dead on TV from cardiac arrest or for one parent to explain to another that little Jimmy died because he took something to make the under-60-kilogram Ross Shield rugby team. He had to of course because everyone was doing it. If sports are allowed to become a pharmaceutical free-for-all I no longer want anything to do with them and not just because the drugs are unhealthy. There are of course plenty of outlets for cheap entertainment in our culture; there is no need to turn sport which has the potential to be so much more into one of them. 
Thirdly let us look at the health risks. Of course this is the most practical argument against doping concerns. Here is a statistic that has not received much air time: eight. That is the number of elite cyclists who have recently died suddenly from inexplicable heart failures. Cycling officials say those were freak tragedies. That is quite a coincidence especially as most of the drugs popular with endurance athletes do more than improve their endurance. The drugs also dangerously thicken the athletes’ blood. Death is the highest price to pay when one is willing to win at any cost but even the lesser side effects of blood boosters and steroids range from inconvenient to horrific. Sadly because of the shameful secretive nature of doping many of the most serious risks are unknown. 
Here is a list of the current doping options available on the market and some of their side effects. Firstly let us look at stimulants which have side effects that include increased blood pressure aggression and anxiety and increased and irregular heartbeat. Narcotic analgesics also have side effects. They are highly addictive and can cause a loss of concentration amongst other things. Anabolic agents have side effects of in males the development of breasts premature baldness and the shrinking and hardening of the testicles. In women they cause the development of male features including facial hair deepening of the voice and a number of other things. Diuretics can cause dehydration headaches and kidney damage. Peptide glycoprotein hormones and analogues have side effects of the abnormal growth of the hands—which Eric Roy talked about previously—feet face and internal organs. Blood doping also has significant side effects including blood clots and kidney damage. 
I personally do not like the health risk argument. Of course it is perfectly valid but it skirts the real issues at the heart of sports. In addition the health risks have not proven to be a deterrent. Some athletes—I am talking about a very small percentage—say that if they could take a pill that would guarantee they would win an Olympic gold medal or a world series but would die 5 years later they would still do it. Of course they still are doing it. Although the Sports Anti-Doping Bill is important legislation to ensure that New Zealand is part of the wider anti-doping code there is still a wider issue to be addressed in terms of the athletes themselves. The main problem that keeps us from understanding the doping problem is our reluctance—or in particular the athletes’ reluctance—to talk about it. Two dozen athletes seven of them medallists were thrown out of the Olympics at Athens for failing or missing a drug test. That is a summer Olympics record. The world and US anti-doping agencies should be applauded for carrying out such an unpopular task. But let us not kid ourselves. Twenty-four dopers out of 10500 athletes—or just 0.2 percent—is not something to gloat about record or not. Even to the least cynical the evidence from the Balco scandal which was once again highlighted in this morning’s paper in reference to Tim Montgomery the recent Tours de France and a few candid experts suggest that doping is far more epidemic than the 0.2 percent I have talked about today would indicate. 
Doping received more media attention in Athens than at any previous Olympic Games. That drew a mixed reaction. The most alarming response came from the athletes themselves many of whom appeared uninterested uncomfortable or ignorant. Some were even annoyed. Former sprinter Donovan Bailey said on CBC that he was sick of hearing about it. So that is it. The athletes are too focused to think about doping or they are sick of it and they are annoyed that the issue distracts from the moment of glory. That is fine—understandable. But the essence of that attitude is absurd—like dismissing the notion of crime while the burglar is still in the house. Athletes who train and compete clean should be furious and they should not feel obligated to keep that to themselves. If a small percentage—whatever that percentage may be and I suggest that it is probably a lot higher than 0.2 percent—of elite athletes are doping the real question is why the other percentage is so silent while the cheaters steal their medals and sponsorship deals. 
Whatever the reason it is time for athletes to step forward and admit that doping is everybody’s problem and that it is especially harmful to clean athletes. This bill will go only some way to cleaning up the sector; the major responsibility still rests with the athletes themselves. 
Bill read a first time. 
Bill referred to the Government Administration Committee.referred to Government Administration Committee