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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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New unit to probe sport doping By Peter Kogoy and Peter Krupka November 19, 2004 AN independent drug investigation unit with widespread prosecution powers is to be established in the wake of a year-long probe into the Australian Institute of Sport cycling doping scandal. In a report tabled in federal parliament by Sports Minister Rod Kemp yesterday, former West Australian Supreme Court judge Robert Anderson QC recommended the power to investigate positive drug tests be taken away from sport's governing bodies. The recommendations received the backing of Senator Kemp and Australian Sports Commission chief executive Mark Peters. "Over the past 12 months, allegations in relation to elite Australian cyclists, including members of the Athens Olympic team, have highlighted the need for an independent and transparent process to investigate doping allegations in sport," Senator Kemp said. The Australian Institute of Sport's Del Monte complex in Adelaide was plunged into controversy in June when equine growth hormone, steroids, supplements and syringes were found in disgraced cyclist Mark French's room. [ErGs] Victorian cyclist French, 20, was banned from the sport for two years and fined $1000. In addition, the Australian Olympic Committee slapped French with a life ban from Olympic competition. Another rider implicated in the scandal, Jobie Dajka, a former world champion track rider, was kicked off the Athens Olympic team in July and is currently serving a six-month ban from the sport. Mr Peters said the proposed Independent Sports Doping Investigation Board was the only way to properly deal with drug scandals like the Del Monte affair. He said the current system was too easily derided for not being independent enough and it was also too expensive for athletes and struggling sports to be part of. "It will save sport a lot of anguish and time and us having to go through the saga we have in the last 11 months," Mr Peters said. "There are many, many dollars being spent by sports and athletes on lawyers at the moment because of the way the process runs. "What we've learned out of this process is that no matter who you appoint as an independent investigator, someone will try to perhaps say this investigation is not as independent as it could be. "The proposal for this independent investigator is that it would be a separate body. "It has its own investigator and if an incident is reported or there is a positive test result, then that independent body will do the investigation and determine whether there is a case to answer. "What it does is take a lot of the concern and innuendo away and puts it in the hands of (an) independent body." Mr Peters said with the level of support for a new independent investigation board into sport doping from the Government down to the various sport's bodies, Australia had the chance to develop a system that could be the envy of the world. He also said modern hi-tech investigation procedures like DNA testing were far too complex for sports bodies to deal with. "In some of these incidents we are starting to get into forensic science issues, and national sporting organisations aren't ready to cope with that sort of investigation." Mr Anderson's report also recommended further action be taken against French and Jobie Dajka.
This report appears on NEWS.com.au.
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