WMA president: Any IAAF changes on records won’t affect masters

Heard about a plan that IAAF wipe out all elite records set before 2005? Yup, that’s a thing. The idea is to allow WRs set after drug samples all started being stored. Some masters have written me, asking: Oh man, what about WMA age-group records? My response: “Fuhgeddaboudit! Ain’t gonna happen to masters records, and probably not IAAF records.” But just in case I thought wrong, I wrote Stan Perkins, president of World Masters Athletics. He graciously — and definitively — replied Tuesday: “The proposal within the IAAF concerning the recognition of world record performances achieved before 2005 has no bearing on WMA. Unlike the IAAF, we do not have the ability nor capacity to drug-test every athlete at every world meet. The drug testing programme in WMA is self-funded and even though we do undertake testing at every stadia and indoor championships, it is still very expensive to complete the testing.”

Stan continued:

For example, if we had tested each athlete who entered the Stadia championships in Perth (just once) and using the cost charge of the Australian Sport Anti Doping Agency it would have cost $3.4 million (Australian dollars).

Even though the test charges vary tremendously across the world, it would still be beyond the financial means of WMA in any part of the world.

Instead, we have adopted a policy to undertake a variety of tests at each championships — urine, EPO, blood — and support a programme that includes both random and targeted testing, as well as expanding into out-of-competition testing at any location worldwide, as determined by the AD & M Committee.

An athlete levy (part of the competition entry fee) supports the testing programme and is also used to support education initiatives on drugs and doping in sport.

Drug testing within WMA was first approved in 1991 with the first actual testing to my knowledge having taken place in 1995 in Buffalo, USA. We have had several positive test results and athletes have been suspended.

But this does not indicate any problem of significance, with most masters athletes obviously being aware of the rules and adhering to them. Sure there would be some who cheat — that is human nature unfortunately, and should they be successful they have to live with the knowledge that their success has been the result of cheating, not primarily their own ability.

I am confident that an enhanced programme of out-of-competition testing, together with an initiative that requires all WMA Regions to undertake testing at their Regional championships, will continue to encourage athletes to compete clean of any doping influences.

So in short, I would strongly oppose even any consideration to remove previous performances in WMA competitions on the basis of the IAAF proposal.

Well, good on ya, Stan! Thanks for making clear WMA’s stance.

All our pre-2005 record-holding friends can sleep easily tonight.