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´óÏó´«Ã½ BLOGS - Tom Fordyce

Archives for June 2011

Inside the anti-doping system: Week Two

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Tom Fordyce | 06:00 UK time, Thursday, 16 June 2011

Each night for the past seven days, my phone has bleeped and a message arrived from a number I don't recognise. "Remember to update your slots at www.myadams.co.uk. Emergency updates to 07786202407 (text) or 0080009437378 (voice). To unsubscribe send 'REMOVE' in reply."

I will not be removing, because I need constant reminding. This is week two of my month on the UK Anti-Doping whereabouts system, and the realities of my new responsibilities are starting to kick in.

Specifying where you'll be for an hour a day, seven days a week, three months in advance, is easy should you be a sedentary creature not given to travel. By instinct and profession I am not.

Last week I logged on every morning to MyAdams (Anti-Doping Administration and Management System) and filled out the Outlook-style calendar for the next quarter. 0600 to 0700, my flat, every day. Easy.

Then my Mum called, inviting me over for Sunday lunch, and I was suddenly perilously close to a potential missed test.

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Inside the anti-doping system

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Tom Fordyce | 14:12 UK time, Thursday, 9 June 2011

. Rafael Nadal says it makes him "feel like a criminal". To anti-doping agencies around the world it's the most important weapon they have.

This is the , and I'm about to join it.

On Wednesday afternoon I was officially added to something called the National Registered Testing Pool, the first non-sportsman ever to be given such access. From now on I have to specify where I'll be for an hour a day, seven days a week, for up to three months in advance.

Why? So I am available for random out-of-competition tests. Why me? Because this is exactly what the 400 or so elite Olympians in Britain have to do, because it is the controversial heart of the fight against doping and because I want to see exactly how easy or onerous it is to stay on the right side of the system.

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