Isabelle Westbury is a freelance journalist who writes for the SII. Her focus is on politics and sport, especially cricket. She has written for a number of publications including The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, The Daily Mail and The Sun, and broadcasts on cricket for the BBC. She has an undergraduate degree from Oxford University, where she was President of the Oxford Union, as well as a postgraduate degree in law. She is also Middlesex CCC women’s cricket captain.
All posts by Isabelle Westbury
An analysis of the key cases in which a lack of scientific evidence and protocol have gravely undermined WADA’s role in anti-doping. 2016 was a difficult year for WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency. The failure to act sooner on the information of whistleblowers made regular headlines. An inability to...
Le footballeur de Liverpool, Mamadou Sakho, a été blanchi plus tôt cette année suite à une enquête de dopage imparfaite. Sa carrière reste dans la balance, tandis que l’AMA, l’organisation qui a si peu contrôlé l’affaire, n’a pas encore été tenu de rendre des comptes. Une semaine est une...
The Liverpool footballer, Mamadou Sakho, was exonerated earlier this year following a flawed doping investigation. His career remains in the balance while WADA, the organisation which policed the affair, has yet to be held to account. A week is a long time in sports, as in politics. On 11...
Federbet, the betting monitoring organisation, has come in for some flak over the years, but increasingly its findings are being vindicated. The Sports Integrity Initiative interviewed Federbet’s General Secretary, Francesco Baranca, who is bullish about its prospects, and unrelenting in its defence. Last month police in Wales arrested eleven people...
Last week a referendum in the United Kingdom saw a majority vote in favour of leaving the European Union. While the vote is only advisory – any legal implications will likely take at least two years to occur – the financial markets have already taken a severe hit and...
The anti-corruption tsar explains why he’s the man to lead the energetic anti-corruption organisation operating from Qatar. Michael Hershman boasts a résumé that reads like an anti-corruption instruction manual. If there was ever anyone born to lead the fight against corruption, Hershman’s achievements suggest he’s it. A former US...
Information on sanctions In accordance with the International Standard for Laboratories (para. 5.2.6.5), the reporting of “A” samples shall be provided to the Anti-Doping Organisation within ten working days of receipt of the sample by the laboratory. The deadline for submitting the sample analysis results can be modified by agreement between the Laboratory and...
• The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has announced that US hammer thrower Gwen Berry has received a back-dated three-month doping ban for using a prohibited asthma medication. Berry declared the use of the medication on during an in-competition sample collection but did not test positive for the substance. Berry...
The Provincial Court of Madrid has ruled that blood bags seized as part of a major doping investigation in 2006 should be handed over to anti-doping authorities for investigation. On 30 April 2013, when sentencing Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes following a 2006 raid in which over 200 bags of blood...
• An Independent Tribunal appointed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has found that Ukrainian doctor Elena Dorofeyeva has committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation by administering a prohibited stimulant to professional tennis player Kateryna Kozlova. In June 2015 Kozlova had a ban reduced to six-months after testing positive for...
Performance enhancement is a dirty phrase in elite sport, but is the condemnation justified? The Sports Integrity Initiative and former Olympic sprinter Craig Pickering discuss the legal and moral implications of vilifying an athlete’s efforts to improve performance, in any form. Yesterday, after three months of speculation, Russian tennis player...
On the day of the screening of the latest installment of the ARD television documentary series alleging widespread doping in Russia, the Russian Ministry of Sport has released a statement highlighting the controls it has put in place to combat these allegations since the filming of the documentary series....
Eddie Hayson, reported last week to be a ‘person of interest’ in a police investigation into allegations of match-fixing in Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL), has denied that he is involved. ‘It doesn’t matter what games they’re talking about,’ Hayson told The Sydney Morning Herald. ‘Match-fixing doesn’t exist in...
Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir has been named in Pakistan’s Test squad for the country’s cricket tour to England next month. Amir’s selection, however, is subject to the grant of a visa by the UK Home Office. This is the first time that Amir has been named in the...
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that a Joint Integrity Intelligence Unit (JIIU) will operate both before and during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. During a National Integrity in Sport workshop held jointly with Interpol in Rio de Janeiro, the IOC said that the body would involve...
