Andy has been writing about the governance of sport for over 15 years. Prior to working on the Sports Integrity Initiative, he was the editor of World Sports Law Report for eight years. He has also worked for the Press Association and has written for numerous trade magazines. He has also created, chaired and spoken at numerous conferences on the business of sport, and produced the Sports Law Show for iSportConnect TV.
All posts by Andy Brown
Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada have developed a drug test that they claim takes between 10 and 55 seconds and could cost just a few dollars per sample. It is understood that the test uses coated blade-spray mass spectrometry that can detect more than 100 drugs...
England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) has said that a 25.9% decline in anti-doping tests from the 1,001 conducted during the 2015/16 season to the 742 conducted during the 2016/17 season is due to the international calendar. ‘The slight reduction in total samples collected was expected and is due largely...
Integrity officers from football’s regulatory bodies will convene at the Chelsea Harbour Hotel in London on 9-10 March for Tackling Match Fixing, a conference organised by sports law organisation Rex Sport and Inside World Football. Oliver Jaberg, Director of Integrity at FIFA, and Nick Raudenski, UEFA’s Integrity Director, will...
• Italy’s national anti-doping tribunal (TNA) has provisionally suspended Marzio Adriano Galimberti, after the rugby union player returned an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for metabolites of cocaine and MDMA (ecstasy). Galimberti plays for Serie B club Cus Milano. Pietro Beretta, another rugby union player, has also been provisionally suspended...
A toxicologist has concluded that tramadol detected in the urine of sled dogs competing in the Iditarod Trail was administered post race, raising questions as to whether an adverse analytical finding (AAF) reported in October last year was a deliberate attempt at sabotage. ‘The time frame of 2 hours...
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today welcomed the appointment of Ben Cohen as Director General of the Independent Testing Authority (ITA). It said that the ITA ‘will provide anti-doping services to those IFs and MEOs that wish to delegate their anti-doping programmes to...
• The Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) said the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has not approved the applications of three Russian athletes to compete as neutral athletes at the World Indoor Championships, which will be held from 1-4 March in Birmingham. Applications from Artyom Primak (triple jump), Timur...
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has requested analysis of the B sample of its U23 national team goalkeeper, after being informed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that Ahmad Syihan Hazmi Mohamed has returned an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for a metabolite of methandienone. The FAM said that...
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled that as the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) is suspended, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not discriminate against 32 Russian athletes by not inviting them to the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics. Although the CAS has previously ruled that there was...
• The Norwegian Olympic team has taken over 6,000 doses of asthma medication to the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, reports NRK. The broadcaster reported that the 109 athletes and 100 person support team have access to 52 different drugs and ten nebuliser devices. Last month, an article in Norwegian newspaper Verde...
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) never wanted to exclude Russia from the Olympic Games, and lacks the required evidence to sanction its athletes for anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs). In this article, Andy Brown looks at the reasons why. Tomorrow, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will almost certainly...
• UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) spent £585,659 on the case against boxer Tyson Fury and his cousin, Hughie Fury, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed. The majority (£576,587) related to legal work carried out by Bird & Bird, however UKAD said it is in the process of recovering...
Italy’s national anti-doping tribunal (TNA) has sanctioned four athletes for doping, and its national anti-doping organisation (NADO Italia) has suspended another athlete after a positive test. The TNA sanctioned cyclist Raimondas Rumšas Junior with a four year ban, expiring 22 October 2021. Rumšas was provisionally suspended in October last...
• Iran’s national anti-doping organisation (Iran NADO) has sanctioned six athletes for doping. Footballer Omid Abolhassani, a striker for Giti Pasand FC, has been sanctioned with a four year ban after testing positive for higenamine. Iran NADO also announced that two other athletes had been sanctioned with four year...
Kenya is hoping to establish a satellite blood testing laboratory, which it hopes will eliminate the need to send blood samples to Qatar for analysis. Anti-Doping Kenya said that the government’s Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts (MoSCA) had established a Committee on Anti-Doping Laboratory Development on 2...
