| Drug tests enter pro surfing contests |
| Monday, 02 January 2012 18:32 |
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The Association of Surfing Professionals will be running regular drug tests on pro surfers, in 2012. The decision will have impact in the upcoming Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, to be surfedfrom 25th February to 7th March 2012, in Coolangatta, Australia. The drug-testing policy will affect athletes, but also ASP officials. This is a measure that will definitely end up with the rumors and bad fame surrounding pro surfing since its roots. The Association of Surfing Professionals has always denied that this decision comes as an answer to Andy Iron's drug problem, which eventually led to his death, in 2010. Drug tests were also a decision of the pro surfing elite. The ASP World Tour competitors agreed it was time to show the world that surfing is clean and an exemplary sport when it comes to refusing drugs in high performance wave riding. "We believe this is a natural evolution in enhancing the professionalism of our sport", explains Dave Prodan, a spokesman for the ASP. "This motion has the full support of the surfers on tour as they want to be taken more professionally, and believe this is a step in the right direction." The International Olympic Committee, the world surfing community and even the Hawaiian congressman Fred Hemmings fought for a drug-free program in the pro surfing elite, but the path to a compulsory policy has been long, at least, from the 1980's. The new anti-drug laws will be unveiled soon and will surely comply with the testing protocol set forth by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Learn more about the history of drug in surfing, here.
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