National Anti-Doping Agency. To the general public, these four words may not be known or the organization may be considered one of the dozens… indifferent organizations in the country. And yet, without EOKAN, Greek sports are in danger of being sidelined. If it is declared non-compliant with the world code of the World Anti-Doping Organization (WADA), then Greek sports will be subject to a series of sanctions, which may even reach the “submission” of the Greek flag by international events.
Since 2019, the “dad” of EOKAN, the National Anti-Doping Council, is under surveillance by WADA because it did not meet most of the requirements of the World Organization. Delays, lack of resources, but also the pandemic were some of the obstacles that became the reasons for not taking the steps that would take the body out of this unpleasant situation. The knot seems to have reached the scallop at the beginning of last summer, with the result that the Ministry of Sports changed the administration of EOKAN. The new administration, chaired by medical examiner Grigorios Leontas, is battling time because the ultimatum of the highest authority expires on January 14th.
But what does it mean to declare an organization “non-compliant”? The penalties are proportionate to the severity. Thus, a country that does not have an anti-doping agency can not claim international competitions, its agents can not be elected to international federations, and sanctions can even exclude the “flag” of the country from competitions, as in the case of Russia. The new president of EOKAN, Grigorios Leon, in a press conference, stated that, after actions of the new administration, the organization is “covered” and very soon we will leave the supervision, as the only pending issue is administrative and concerns the restructuring of the internal operating regulations of EOKAN. After a question from “K”, however, Mr. Leon admitted that there are no blood draws in the checks that are being carried out, which means “non-compliance”, because this is among the prerequisites set by WADA.
It is worth mentioning that, according to information, in the past, for the first time ESCAN had submitted to WADA a comprehensive risk assessment at the end of 2020 for which it received positive reviews while correcting a non-compliance. He formulated the national plan for the distribution of controls for 2021, with 189 athletes submitting “where about”, implementing it to a great extent during the first quarter of the year. Also, correcting another non-compliance, he proceeded to draw blood samples of the planned athletes. Lately, however, as Mr. Leon told us, no blood sampling is performed, but a person has been hired in the body and the tests from the new year will be performed on the blood as well. Of course, as long as this is done in time, as the deadline expires on January 14. The new leadership of the organization tries within the short time available to solve the problems bequeathed to them by the administrations of the past. But, as it seems, there are many gaps. A typical case is when during the athletes’ seminar, a first-class athlete of the track asked if he should fill in “where about” and the teachers, according to information from “K”, did not know the answer.
Source: kathimerini.gr
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I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
