Global anti-doping chief admits drugs cheats in sport are escaping detection
One of the most senior figures in global anti-doping has warned that too many drug cheats in sport are evading detection – and criticised the current system as “ineffective”.David Howman, the former director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and the chair of the Athletics Integrity Unit, urged anti-doping bodies to be more ambitious in catching elite athletes again rather than focusing on compliance issues.In what was a clear criticism of Wada’s leadership, Howman also told them that the lack of success in catching cheats was harming the clean sport message.“Let’s be honest and pragmatic … intentional dopers at elite level are evading detection,” Howman told the Wada’s World Conference on Doping in Sport in South Korea.“We are not effective enough nowadays in catching cheats.
We have great education programmes which help but they don’t impact the intentional rule-breakers in elite sport”.“Our ineffectiveness in dealing with those who are beating the rules is hurting the anti-doping movement’s credibility, with the resulting risk that our clean-sport message falls on deaf ears.”Ironically the AIU is widely seen as the gold standard when it comes to catching cheats, having sanctioned 427 elite athletes for doping offences since 2017.However, Howman said the AIU could do more, despite its successes, adding that “it was not catching enough of them and significant improvements are necessary”.Howman, who spent 13 years as Wada’s director general, also urged the anti-doping community to “move beyond compliance to a system that supports effective, ambitious anti-doping efforts”.
Focusing on compliance-based testing, Howman warned, would not catch what he called the “sophisticated dopers” and he urged Wada to be more proactive in “promoting the pursuit of anti-doping excellence” and for greater transparency on anti-doping data”“We must all do better to support our clean athletes by catching the dirty ones, especially those at the pinnacle of sport,” he added,“Let’s resolve to strengthen our anti-doping system as we strive for cleaner, fairer and more credible sport,”
‘Every Leon should be magical’: food chain’s co-founder on what went wrong – and how to fix it
John Vincent on bouncing back after cutting branches, refreshing the menu, and staff learning from martial arts John Vincent is going back to the future. Four years after selling Leon, the fast food chain named after his father and founded in 2004 with two friends, he has bought it back with hopes of reviving its fortunes.“In a crisis you need a pilot in full control,” the martial arts fan says, speaking to the Guardian from Leon’s headquarters near London Bridge.He is getting his metaphorical trainers on to “outrun the lion” as he ploughs his efforts and his own money into reviving the troubled chain.The former management consultant bought back Leon for a rumoured £30m-£50m – significantly less than the £100m he sold it for – from the supermarket chain Asda in October, 21 years after the first restaurant opened in Camden
December cut to UK interest rates ‘nailed on’ after economy shrinks unexpectedly by 0.1% in October – as it happened
Economists are convinced that the Bank of England will respond to the UK’s weak economic performance by cutting interest rates next week.The Bank’s monetary policy committee will make its final decision of the year on Thursday 18th December, and a rate cut to 3.75% appears highly likely now that the economy shrunk by 0.1% in October.Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics, says:The surprise 0
Crypto mogul Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud
Do Kwon, the entrepreneur behind two cryptocurrencies that lost $40bn (£29.8bn) three years ago and caused the sector to crash, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud.The South Korean, 34, had pleaded guilty to two counts of US charges of conspiracy to defraud and wire fraud.Kwon, who co-founded Singapore-based Terraform Labs and developed the TerraUSD and Luna currencies, was sentenced at a hearing in New York.The US district judge Paul Engelmayer called his crimes “a fraud of epic generational scale”
Elon Musk teams with El Salvador to bring Grok chatbot to public schools
Elon Musk is partnering with the government of El Salvador to bring his artificial intelligence company’s chatbot, Grok, to more than 1 million students across the country, according to a Thursday announcement by xAI. Over the next two years, the plan is to “deploy” the chatbot to more than 5,000 public schools in an “AI-powered education program”.xAI’s Grok is more known for referring to itself as “MechaHitler” and espousing far-right conspiracy theories than it is for public education. Over the past year, the chatbot has spewed various antisemitic content, decried “white genocide” and claimed Donald Trump won the 2020 election.Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president, is now entrusting the chatbot to create curricula in classrooms across the country
Your Guardian sport weekend: Premier League, WSL and NFL action
Yara El-Shaboury is on duty for our essential portal to the weekend’s bumper football programme. She’ll be looking forward to the day’s four Premier League games, Championship, EFL and Scottish Premiership fixtures, sharing breaking news and reader feedback. Why not join the conversation? Send your thoughts to matchday.live@theguardian.com
‘I messaged Sia on Instagram. She didn’t get back to me’: cult darts hero Stephen Bunting on his viral walk-on
The world No 4’s entrance to the song Titanium has become an iconic moment in darts, but while he loves the attention what he really wants is the world title‘There’s a lot of people playing darts who haven’t got no character,” Stephen Bunting says in a matter-of-fact tone, his voice still a little croaky from the cold that has been laying waste to him for the last week. “They’re boring to watch. And that’s probably why they’ll never be in the Premier League. You need to have a personality as well as being at the top of your game. You need to balance both
Card Factory issues shock profit warning during peak Christmas period
Nationwide fined £44m by watchdog for financial crime control failings
UK economy shrank unexpectedly before budget, data shows
New laws may be considered after ‘harrowing stories’ from ex-Vodafone franchisees
‘Squeaky bum time’ as Great Britain’s new rail timetable goes live this weekend
Health and safety rules holding UK infrastructure back, says writer of government report