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The impression has been created for years that there are hardly any doping cases in Germany. It is now clearer than ever that this has nothing to do with reality.
The doping case of the canoeist Martin Hiller, whose name was not published by the National-Anti-Doping agency NADA after a guilty verdict in a completed doping procedure for data protection reasons, is an eye opener. In the past five years, after ARD research, there may be more than 100 more Doper from at least 18 Olympic associations, the names of which have never been given publicly.
First of all, the focus is on a simple question: How can it be that practically nobody knows about it? Sports politicians and sports officials have to ask themselves this question, but of course we also sports journalists. Didn’t we look exactly enough or listen to?
Basic principle of the Anti-doping fight levered
It is clear that data protectionists have levered the basic principle of the anti-doping fight for years due to the intervention of an individual amateur cyclist. This principle is: If you cheat, you have to fear that it is also being outlawed publicly. Should the European Court of Justice judge per data protection officer in a few months, the anti-doping fight may even be finally lost.
The specialist associations and the NADA are also responsible that almost nobody had this fact on the screen. Especially the NADA as the highest German institution for doping hunting should have dealt with the problem much more aggressively. She only named it soberly on the edge in annual reports or in specialist articles. But this is about much more than just legal specialist talking on data protection issues. The problem affects top sport, i.e. an area that is often illuminated to the last angle.
Refurbishment urgently needed
Athletes rightly look for the media stage, benefit from the ramp light and marketing contracts and often also from not inconsiderable grants from a public sector. At the same time, they often complain enough that their services are still not adequately appreciated.
Protecting personal rights is a high social asset. But it may not be that those who come with feet all the noble principles of sport may not be called by name if they have been exposed as a fraudster. It is understandable if the NADA shy away from significant, even financial risks due to data protection objections. However, the fact that one of the essential pillars of the anti-doping fight has been crumbling in Germany for five years because of a single procedure is a scandal and requires an urgent processing and correction.