FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE GYMNASTIQUE
Letter from the President
Nr 50
By Prof. Bruno Grandi, FIG President June 2011
It's a tough law, but it is the law!
In a letter dated March 17, 2011, I addressed ASOIF President Mr Denis Oswald, Attorney-at-Law,
conveying my support of the action he took with regard to the World Anti-doping Agency when he
submitted a list of grievances. His dissatisfaction stems mainly from the way the Agency is run and
the manner in which it handles investigations.
I took position against the undiscerning attitude taken toward young athletes, for I feel strongly
about age-appropriate training as well as equal treatment for sports people. As a good indicator of
physical and psychological maturity, age is something to which we need to give our undivided
attention. Our gymnasts are young, the majority small in stature; that is reality in the world of
gymnastics. Our athletes are a far cry from the giants that play Basketball and have yet to reach
the maturity of thirty-year old players.
To dope is to take a prohibited substance. And who makes that decision? An athlete? His
entourage? Do athletes have the same understanding of doping at sixteen as they do at thirty? I
can say with a good level of certainty that they do not. It may be easy to convince a younger
athlete, to take advantage of his naivety, but a thirty year old will be harder to convince; at a certain
age decisions are taken with more forethought and it is increasingly difficult to pull the wool over a
person's eyes.
Yet as far as WADA is concerned, the cause-effect relationship is the same. No matter the
athlete's age, retribution is immutable. May justice be upheld. Dura lex, sed lex: The law is tough,
but it is the law!
I am convinced that this overgrown sense of rectitude is in fact a glaring injustice. No matter what
violation has been made to the doping code, our younger gymnasts have the right to be considered
in a more age-specific context. Too often have I read on their faces expressions of fear, confusion;
they are powerless in the face of ruthless and pitiless punishment. Worse are the after-effects of an
exaggerated sanction. The remedy is often worse than the illness! And when all is said and done,
careers are stunted as young athletes are branded cheaters for the rest of their lives.
My position on doping has been an uncompromising one against real offenders. But at the age of
sixteen, athletes have neither the understanding nor the maturity to fully understand what it means
to willingly self-administer prohibited substances.
Giving special consideration to youth is not synonymous with growing slipshod. I have battled
cheating and injustice since my earliest days in gymnastics, and that was some time ago. And
while I subscribe to the Agency's "Play True Generation" and "No! to doping" ideals, it is
sometimes difficult for me to get behind their militant methods of investigation.
Punishment to fit the crime? Absolutely. But with discernment and wisdom.
In gymnastics, we have observed that while doping does in fact exist, its reach is much weaker
than in other sports. The temptation remains, however, and I would invite everyone in the
gymnastics family to resist crossing the Rubicon into that deceptive snare. Cheating is nothing less
than flaunting one's ignorance. Playing true is accepting the rules.
The pay-off for playing fair, no matter what it is, will be all the sweeter.
With my compliments.
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FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE GYMNASTIQUE