Canadian Interuniversity Sport is stepping up its anti-doping testing of football players and is going after its most talented athletes.
CIS, in conjunction with the Canadian Football League and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, announced yesterday plans to conduct annual tests of the top 80 university prospects for the CFL draft, in addition to more than 185 random tests.
That testing will amount to a minimum of 15 per cent of all football athletes, a jump from the 89 tests — or five per cent of all football athletes — that were conducted last season.
“We think it will act as a deterrent,” said CIS chief executive officer Marg McGregor. “The fact that the CFL has introduced testing in their league, as well, signals a shift.”
The announcement stems from the one-year suspension of University of Waterloo’s football program earlier this year after testing of all 62 players at the school revealed nine positive tests.
CIS responded in May and June with 60 additional random tests of athletes from 22 of 27 football schools. Three positive results have been confirmed.
McGregor called those results “disappointing” and said they prompted an increase in testing.
Testing
• POSITIVE TESTS Third-year Acadia Axemen linebacker Taylor Shadgett of Barrie, Ont., was one of three confirmed positive tests in May and June. He tested positive for Stanozolol and admitted to ingestion of the steroid Winstrol.
• FOOTBALL Of random tests of CIS athletes since 1990, approximately 85 per cent of 58 positive tests have come from the sport of football.
