Latest news with #Hovell
Otago Daily Times
7 days ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Amendments discussed
Changes are coming for the way the country handles waste, but will the potential changes leave smaller councils in a tough spot? Central government is asking councils for feedback regarding proposed amendments to the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 and the Litter Act 1979. These amendments would cover changes to the way the water levy is allocated to territorial authorities and what they can spend money on, clarification of roles, improved tools for compliance and other controls for littering and other waste. WasteNet Southland, a joint initiative between Southland District Council, Gore District Council and Invercargill City Council, compiled a list of submissions put forth to the Gore assets and infrastructure meeting last night. The submission was noted as generally supportive of the proposed amendments. However, it asked for a few changes — for example, an adjustment of the method of allocation in funds for the Waste Levy, to account for and reduce discrepancy between councils. Cr Hovell put his hand up in support, stating traditionally the 50% the government had taken, it had put back in to the waste sector. Discussion between councillors ensued. Cr Hovell explained the 50% was similar to recycling schemes, where businesses could apply for funds when applicable due to the minimisation of waste. Cr Hovell also mentioned the importance of a local voice being heard in Wellington, and said there was a distinct way Southland did things. "I think it's important to reinforce to government we do things slightly different here and that needs to be recognised," he said. Cr Fraser seconded this, and said it was important to be vocal despite being a minority compared to larger councils. "When you're fighting numbers, we need to be quite the best we can be," he said. Cr Phillips put a recommendation WasteNet speak to its submissions, which was seconded by Cr Fraser, and the call to approve the submission was carried unanimously.
Irish Examiner
02-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Elite athletes warned to avoid one-night stands over risk of failing drug tests
Elite athletes have been warned against having one-night stands because of the risk they could be contaminated with banned drugs from engaging in casual sex. The warning came as top lawyers and anti-doping experts debated contamination cases in sport before highlighting the hidden dangers for the Tinder generation. Mark Hovell, a sports lawyer and the independent chair in the Jannik Sinner anti-doping case, raised the issue of the French tennis player Richard Gasquet, who was cleared after testing positive for cocaine after showing it came from kissing a woman in a nightclub. 'Gasquet managed to get her to come and give evidence to say: 'Yes, I'm a cocaine addict. I use cocaine,' Hovell added. ''I kissed him in this nightclub.' But with a one-night stand, how are you going to be able to find that person again? That's the problem.' Asked whether an elite athlete was opening themselves up if they didn't get a phone number of the person they slept with, Hovell nodded before saying: 'They might not have the evidence they need.' Another panellist, Travis Tygart, the head of the US Anti-Doping Agency, cited the case of the American boxer Virginia Fuchs in 2020. Fuchs tested positive for prohibited substances, but was cleared after proving that the metabolites detected in her sample were consistent with recent exposure via sexual transmission with her male partner. 'I think based on the cases we've seen, watch who you kiss and watch out who you have an intimate relationship with,' Tygart told the Sports Resolutions conference. Tygart also called on the World Anti-Doping Agency to raise the minimum reporting level of substances that could be sexually transmitted, such as clostabal and ostarine – so that if anti-doping laboratories found a trace amount in an athletes' sample they would not risk a sanction. 'I think it's a pretty ridiculous world we're expecting our athletes to live in, which is why we're pushing to try to change these rules to make it more reasonable and fair,' said Tygart. The Guardian
Indian Express
02-05-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
‘Watch who you kiss': Elite athletes warned casual sex could lead to doping bans
Elite athletes have been issued an unusual but urgent warning: steer clear of one-night stands or risk failing a drug test. At a high-profile anti-doping summit, leading sports lawyers and experts unpacked a growing trend of athletes being caught in doping scandals due to intimate encounters, particularly in the Tinder era where fleeting hookups are harder to trace back. Mark Hovell, a top sports lawyer and the independent chair in tennis star Jannik Sinner's anti-doping case, cited a notorious example: French tennis player Richard Gasquet, who tested positive for cocaine in 2009. Gasquet was later cleared after successfully arguing that the substance entered his system when he kissed a woman in a nightclub. 'Gasquet managed to get her to come and give evidence to say: 'Yes, I'm a cocaine addict. I use cocaine,'' said Hovell. ''I kissed him in this nightclub.' But with a one-night stand, how are you going to be able to find that person again? That's the problem.' When moderator Jacqui Oatley asked if athletes needed to at least get a phone number to protect themselves, Hovell didn't flinch: 'They might not have the evidence they need.' US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) chief Travis Tygart backed Hovell's view, referencing the case of American boxer Virginia Fuchs in 2020. Fuchs tested positive for banned substances but was exonerated after proving the metabolites came from sexual transmission via her male partner. 'I think based on the cases we've seen, watch who you kiss and watch out who you have an intimate relationship with,' Tygart told delegates at the Sports Resolutions conference. He urged the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) to act fast by raising the threshold for trace substances like clostabal and ostarine, compounds that can be passed through sexual contact. Without such reforms, athletes risk bans for minuscule amounts they may not have knowingly ingested. 'I think it's a pretty ridiculous world we're expecting our athletes to live in,' Tygart said. 'Which is why we're pushing to try to change these rules to make it more reasonable and fair.' He added, 'The onus is always on the athletes. We as anti-doping organisations need to take some of that responsibility back. And I worry how many of the intentional cheats are actually getting away because we're spending so much time and resources on the cases that end up being someone kissing someone at a bar.'
Times
01-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Avoid one-night stands to prevent drug contamination, athletes told
Elite athletes have been warned against one-night stands and other forms of casual sex by anti-doping experts because of the risk of being contaminated with banned drugs. At a conference in London on Thursday, experts called for a change to anti-doping rules to make a clearer distinction between intentional cheating and forms of contamination, including via sexual transmission. But until the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) code has addressed the issue, athletes are being reminded that they could find themselves in trouble under strict liability rules if they attempt to blame a sexual encounter but cannot produce a witness to support their defence. In 2009, the top French tennis player, Richard Gasquet, was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after it was accepted that his positive test for a metabolite of cocaine was 'probably' caused by kissing a woman in a nightclub. The woman in question gave evidence, which proved crucial. In 2020 Virginia Fuchs, an American boxer, was also cleared of doping by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) when it emerged that her male partner was using therapeutic doses of GW1516, a banned drug that boosts endurance. The metabolites detected in her sample 'were consistent with recent exposure to the substances via sexual transmission'. At the Sports Resolutions Annual Conference in London, Mark Hovell, a leading sports lawyer who chaired the independent panel for the doping case between the International Tennis Integrity Agency and the world No1, Jannik Sinner — who maintained his innocence but accepted a three-month ban from Wada after two failed tests— cited the Gasquet case. 'He managed to get her to give evidence,' Hovell said. 'To say, 'I used cocaine and I kissed him in this nightclub.' But with this one-night stand, how are you going to be able to find that person again? That's the problem.' Hovell was then asked if, by that, he meant an athlete might have a problem if they could not find the person they were blaming for the contamination. 'They might not have the evidence they need,' he said. Travis Tygart, the chief executive of Usada, said: 'It's so pathetic that we're having this conversation. But I think based on the cases we've seen, watch who you kiss. Watch out who you have an intimate relationship with. 'To tell that to elite athletes, I think it's a pretty ridiculous world we're expecting our athletes to live in, which is why we're pushing to try to change these rules to make it more reasonable and fair. The onus is always on the athletes. We as anti-doping organisations need to take some of that responsibility back. 'And I worry how many of the intentional cheats are actually getting away because we're spending so much time and resources on the cases that end up being someone kissing someone at a bar. 'Really, it's incredible to think that you have to tell athletes to be careful who they may have intimate relationships with. And it's why we have to change the system, so that's not the world that elite level athletes are expected to live under.' Tygart explained what changes needed to be made, among which would be classing such cases as atypical findings rather than adverse analytical findings. 'There's a handful of substances that you could say at certain levels, and we're talking very, very low levels, you put in an MRL [minimum reporting level],' he said. 'Wada is already doing it for clenbuterol, meat enhancers, and diuretics. Add a few more substances to that, Clostebol would be one of those, because we know it can transfer between people through intimacy. Ostarine is another.' Tygart has been at the forefront in criticising Wada for its handling of the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who went unpunished despite testing positive for Trimetazidine (TMZ) before the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. Wada accepted the Chinese anti-doping agency's explanation that the positives were caused by mass contamination in a hotel kitchen. Usada now estimates the participation of the Chinese swimmers in both Tokyo and last summer's Paris Games had an impact on 96 medals. 'It has been a year since China's failure to follow the rules resulted in no consequences; Wada didn't do anything about it,' Tygart said. 'Arguably, they should have gotten four years. TMZ is in the category of four years, unless they prove source and they prove no intent. Unfortunately the process wasn't followed. They were swept under the carpet. 'People are still talking about the restoration of medals from East Germany, going back 40 or 50 years. And yet we now have evidence that 96 potentially were impacted. And the system, for whatever reason, is not willing to get to the bottom of it in a real and meaningful way.' Wada appointed an 'independent prosecutor', based in Switzerland, to review the evidence but Tygart said the Americans, who have withheld their government funding of Wada, want a prosecutor not selected by the agency to study the evidence and determine if the rules have been followed. 'We called from the beginning for an independent prosecutor, not a hand-selected reviewer,' he said. 'The US government has asked, and we support, for an independent code compliance audit. Because it's not just these Chinese cases that we're concerned about.'
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Elite athletes warned to avoid one-night stands over risk of failing drug tests
The head of the US Anti-Doping Agency called on the World Anti-Doping Agency to raise the minimum reporting level of substances that could be sexually transmitted. The head of the US Anti-Doping Agency called on the World Anti-Doping Agency to raise the minimum reporting level of substances that could be sexually transmitted. Photograph: Michele Limina/AFP/Getty Images Elite athletes have been warned against having one-night stands because of the risk they could be contaminated with banned drugs from engaging in casual sex. The warning came as top lawyers and anti-doping experts debated contamination cases in sport before highlighting the hidden dangers for the Tinder generation. Advertisement Mark Hovell, a leading sports lawyer and the independent chair in the Jannik Sinner anti-doping case, raised the issue of the French tennis player Richard Gasquet, who was cleared after testing positive for cocaine after showing it came from kissing a woman in a nightclub. Related: Inside the dirtiest race in Olympic history: 'It wasn't fair. I wasn't on a level playing field' 'Gasquet managed to get her to come and give evidence to say: 'Yes, I'm a cocaine addict. I use cocaine,' Hovell added. ''I kissed him in this nightclub.' But with a one-night stand, how are you going to be able to find that person again? That's the problem.' Asked by the moderator Jacqui Oatley whether an elite athlete was opening themselves up if they didn't get a phone number of the person they slept with, Hovell nodded before saying: 'They might not have the evidence they need.' Advertisement Another panellist, Travis Tygart, the head of the US Anti-Doping Agency, said he agreed with Hovell's assessment and cited the case of the American boxer Virginia Fuchs in 2020. Fuchs tested positive for prohibited substances, but was cleared after proving that the metabolites detected in her sample were consistent with recent exposure via sexual transmission with her male partner. 'I think based on the cases we've seen, watch who you kiss and watch out who you have an intimate relationship with,' Tygart told the Sports Resolutions conference. Tygart also called on the World Anti-Doping Agency to raise the minimum reporting level of substances that could be sexually transmitted, such as clostabal and ostarine – so that if anti-doping laboratories found a trace amount in an athletes' sample they would not risk a sanction. Advertisement 'I think it's a pretty ridiculous world we're expecting our athletes to live in, which is why we're pushing to try to change these rules to make it more reasonable and fair,' said Tygart. 'The onus is always on the athletes – we as anti-doping organisations, need to take some of that responsibility back. And I worry how many of the intentional cheats are actually getting away because we're spending so much time and resources on the cases that end up being someone kissing someone at a bar.' Tygart also reignited his feud with Wada over the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for the banned drug TMZ before later being cleared. It came as Usada said it had worked out that 96 medals at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics could have potentially have been affected by the cases, and that Wada had a responsibility to clean athletes to do more. Advertisement 'It's basically been a year since China's failure to follow the rules that resulted in no consequences,' Tygart said. 'And you run the numbers from the 2021 Summer Olympics and the 2024 Summer Olympics in swimming, and potentially 96 medals have been impacted by those swimmers who had, 23 swimmers who had positive tests. 'And arguably, they should have gotten four years. TMZ is in the category of four years unless they prove source and no intent. And unfortunately the system, for whatever reason, is not willing to get to the bottom of it in a real and meaningful way.'
