Spain declared 'non-compliant' with WADA code

[CheckMyPecs]

Spain joins such bastions of clean sport as Russia, Mexico and Bolivia on the list of countries that do not comply with the WADA code.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/spain-sports-declared-non-compliant-wada-code-182845779--oly.html

 

[Benotti69]

Spain great place to 'train'.........

 

[carton]

The WADA declaration is mostly due to the fact the there is currently no Goverment in Spain.

I also thought this a good place to highlight how the Spanish attitude towards doping is neither homogeneous nor entirely coherent even in its individual strains, as this fantastic quote from yesterday's El Español article on Miguel Angel Lopez, referring to Vicente Belda, shows:

Acabó en 2006 por mor de la infausta Operación Puerto, con la mayoría de ciclistas del equipo apuntados en la lista negra de la Guardia Civil pese a no conocer siquiera al personaje central de la trama, el médico Eufemiano Fuentes. Víctimas colaterales, peones muertos en una partida de dimensiones y motivaciones insondables.

"Colateral victims, dead pawns in a game of unfathomable dimensions and motivations." Lumping in a director with the cyclists amongst said pawns is a staggering, yet unsurprising, move. I find that view very much in unison with the "anti-doping is but a cudgel used against our valiant heroes" angle that often sprouts about in this forum. Yet the story takes another twist, because what was most interesting to me was Belda's own take. While echoing some of the same words about Puerto, he stated on a fairly recent podcast (in Spanish - it also has a nice little tidbit on why some races, i.e. San Luis, would be better served by delayed feeds) that: "I think [stopping doping] is very easy. It has to be the politicians, the legislation, that says...there's going to be a law, and whoever does the crime pays the time." Either dazzling display of either well-informed forthrightness or a steadfast belief that local tribunals will ultimately absolve their national sporting heroes: I don't think even Belda himself knows for sure. In any case it thought it was an interesting window on the Spanish sporting media culture.

 

[BullsFan22]

No whistleblowers in Spain to give ol' Haajo some information?