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By John Leonard

Just as FINA was about to wreck itself on the rocks of autocratic Rule by it’s Executive Director and Honorable Secretary, the steering wheel has been turned by it’s President and his good influence on the FINA Bureau.

President Julio Maglione has proven himself a friend of the Federations, the coaches and the athletes by arguing the case for Federation input into the proposals to be put forth for next summers FINA Constitutional Congress. He made his case so strongly during the Bureau Meeting in Uruguay last weekend that an initially oppositional Bureau swung all the way around and unanimously agreed to allow all Federations to contribute ideas for the good governance of the sport.

The Bureau went one better….the proposals reportedly will reach the floor of the Congress and a vote without a formal declaration by the Bureau for either support or opposition to each item. (typically every proposal comes forward with a recommendation from the Bureau, which makes it close impossible for any that are opposed by the Bureau to get a fair hearing.)

So months after the other two members of the Executive attempted to have only their unique stamp on the Constitution to be put forward to Congress, FINA has regained it’s footing for democratic process, under a President who was elected behind a mantra of Democracy, transparency and good governance. Thank you Dr. Julio Maglione!

The next step in this process will be the re-submission of items for the Congress from the other Bureau Members and Federations. We know that the Bureau Members of Asia, LEN and the America’s submitted over 100 recommendations that, until this weekend, were doomed to never see the light of day in the FINA Congress. Now, they will be presented, and voted upon by the Federation Members.

After a brief and highly concerning detour, FINA Democratic Process has returned.

John Leonard

German scientists from Tubingen and Mainz have developed a blood test that can reliably detect gene doping even after 56 days.

Scientists at the universities in Tubingen and Mainz have developed a test that can provide conclusive proof of gene doping. “For the first time, a direct method is now available that uses conventional blood samples to detect doping via gene transfer and is still effective if the actual doping took place up to 56 days before,” Professor Perikles Simon, MD, PhD from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany explained on Thursday.

“This represents a relatively low-cost method of detecting several of the most common doping genes,” Simon stated in the presentation of the process. It was previously impossible to prove that an athlete had undergone gene doping. “The process of inserting individual genes in specific body cells stems from the idea of curing severe illnesses with this new technology. It was previously thought that it would only be possible to detect gene doping via gene transfer using an extremely costly indirect test procedure from the field of molecular medicine,” explained gene therapist Professor Michael Bitzer, MD from the University Hospital of the Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen.

The gene doping study conducted by the scientists from Tubingen and Mainz was published in the online edition of the internationally renowned scientific journal “Gene Therapy” on Thursday. According to the study, the test provides clear “yes-or-no answers” based on whether or not so-called transgenic DNA is present in blood samples. Transgenic DNA or  tDNA does not stem from the person being tested but has been transferred into their body often via viruses in order to create performance-enhancing substances such as erythropoietin (EPO) for forming red blood cells. “The
body of a gene-doped athlete produces the performance-enhancing hormones itself without having to introduce any foreign substances to the body.

Over time, the body becomes its own doping supplier,” explained Simon. In 2006, as a member of the University Hospital in Tubingen, he developed a procedure that enables even the tiniest traces of transgenic DNA to be detected in the blood. The efficiency of this procedure has now been proven for the first time in laboratory mice. A key component of the animal procedure was a sophisticated process that was able to insert the foreign genetic material extremely specifically to the muscles around a small puncture area.

This triggers excess production of a hormone, which prompts the generation of new blood vessels. Even two months after the genes were injected into the muscles, researchers were able to differentiate clearly between the mice subjected to gene doping and those that were not. “The development of a reliable method for detecting misuse of gene transfer will be used to ensure that this new technology, for which the side effects are only partially known, is used exclusively in the treatment of severe diseases,” stated Bitzer. Over the next few months, the University Hospital in
Tubingen is planning a relevant therapy study for advanced tumour patients.

The safe and sensitive detection procedure developed by the scientists in Mainz and Tubingen was then proven in a so-called specificity test on 327 blood samples taken from professional and recreational athletes.  Researchers now believe that athletes will no longer profit from the misuse of gene therapy for doping purposes. “At the very least, the risk of being discovered months after the gene transfer has taken place should deter even the most daring dopers,” Simon believes. The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) has financed this research over the past four years with a
total of 980,000 US Dollars.

Gregg Troy from the University of Florida was named Coach of the Year by the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) at last week’s 2010 ASCA World Clinic in Indianapolis, Indiana. Troy’s work with Ryan Lochte and the Florida women’s team which won the 2010 NCAA Women’s Division I title were cited in his selection. Also awarded were:
-Ousley Award: Dr. Laura Cox for her work on identifying gene manipulation; (the Ousley Award recognizes special effort/work advancing the purpose/Constitution of ASCA)
-Daland Award: Jim Wood, current USA Swimming President (the Daland Award is awarded to a coach who has a major impact on the governance and leadership of swimming, while continuing to coach)
-Hall of Fame inductees (5): Jack Bauerle, Bob Bowman, Jerry Holtrey, David Marsh and Dave Salo.
A report on the awards dinner where these were present can be found online here:
http://www.swimnews.com/News/view/8053
http://www.swimnews.com/News/view/8054

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND– The list of approved swimsuits grew to 558 models in August, as FINA had a net change of +82 suits to the list. The increase from the 476 suits approved at the beginning of the month happened in two updates in August: one on August 5 and another on August 13, 2010. In total, 107 suits were added to the list, while 26 were dropped (including a entire manufacturer–Japana); there are also now 10 models that appear to be duplicated on the list.

The list can be found on the FINA website here:
http://www.fina.org/H2O/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=917&Itemid=461

Summation of changes made to the approved suit list since the last update sent out in the WSCA news on August 3, 2010, are:
-moving of demarcation of suits only allowed for Open Water from a column (“OWS-only”) to an asterisk (*) after the suit “Shape”
-addition of “FINA label” column
-addition of “Valid from” column, with dates (so far 3: January 1, 2010; April 15, 2010; and July 1, 2010)
-3 new manufactures: Aquarapid (4), FEW (4) and Yamamoto Hokosho (2)
-Japana (and its 11 suits) were removed from the list
-companies with suits added (14): Agon (+3), Aquazone (+1), Arena (+17), Asics (+10), Descent (+14), Jaked (+2), Kobayashi (+2), Lane 4 (+6), Maru (+3), Modeta (+1), Nike (+6), Orca (+1), Speedo (+26), and Sports Hig (+14).
-companies with suits dropped from the list (4): Arena (-4), EURAS (-2), Leonian (-14), and Mizuno (-7).

Note: All the suits added in August have “Valid from” dates of 1-Jul-2010.

The complete list of approved suits appears below. This listing is dated September 6, 2010; and was retrieved from the FINA website on the same day. The list of approved suits can be found on the FINA website here:
http://www.fina.org/H2O/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=917&Itemid=461

The BSCA year plan 2010 – 2011 is now available!

click here to view the year plan