Reaction To Russia's Suspension From IPF Competition

Reaction has been varied to the news that Russia has been suspended from IPF competition for a period of 14 months due to doping violations. Some find it to be great news and proof that the IPF is serious about drug free lifting. Others cite conspiratorial motives to create world events which America can win. Drug testing itself is criticized as being useless since everyone who is violating drug use rules aren't caught. Finally the benefit to the GPC and WPC of the news is argued.

Forum Discussion:
Go Heavy
Fortified Iron
CPU forum
USAPL forum

I hate to be a "party-pooper" - but someone has to say these things, so here goes - this is an extract from a message on this subject elsewhere on the internet:

'....So is it possible that an organisation such as the IPF, having being a major "part of the problem" for over 30 years, is now part of the solution? For as long as powerlifting has been in existence, and drugs have been an issue (i.e. the whole time) the IPF have been telling the world how committed they were to drug-free sport. No-one much has believed it up till now, so how impressed should we be with the latest tests in Russia & Ukraine? Here's a cynic's view: there is talk of IOC recognition of powerlifting, but only if the sport is seen to make serious attempts to clean up its act. So the IPF conducts a series of tests on two countries that happen to be under a major cloud. The result, not surprisingly, is a load of positives and a stack of refusals.
My guess is that the two countries in question will be put "on probation" or even banned for a year or two, until they come up with impressive-sounding strategies designed to persuade the IOC that they are taking the matter seriously. Then it will be back to "business as usual", only with far fewer people getting caught.
Why this cynicism? I was around in the strength sports before there was a drugs problem, when drugs were not even a topic of conversation in gyms. Along with others who were around at the time, I witnessed some of the spectacular shenanigans that went on, right up to official level. Here's an example: back when testing was still in the hands of the sports bodies themselves, a leading official in a UK sports body (I will not name either the body or the individual) was taking samples at a major competition. One of the competitors (a person believed to be totally drug-free by those who knew him) gave a sample as requested. The official then said that if the competitor was on drugs he should say so, so that the sample could be tipped down the sink! The point about this is that the official concerned was at the same time in regular attendance at all UK Sports Council seminars and conferences in beating doping in sport, shedding crocodile tears, wringing his hands and saying how hard his organisation was working to get to grips with the problem. That is why I remain to be convinced about these latest moves.
If anyone thinks that the IPF's problems are exclusively in Russia and the Ukraine, think again. A German IPF lifter recently took part in a WDFPF Europeans. This lifter caused raised eyebrows by virtue of his appearance, and uncooperative attitude at the testing. He failed the test and will be banned for life....'

The words "leopard" and "spots" come to mind.

ou're happy about this?

oh, yeah!
now americans got a chanse to win WORLDS...

I'we got some questions.

are there are WADA was in americans nationals?
Why americans newer shows his best results on international IPF competitions?

i think because americans got a lot dope, and haven't drugtests at nationals..

and I think it's bad work of WADA& IPF drugtesters...

long way for you!
two years are short time, RUSSIA come back to DOMINATE.

Just admit that Russia got caught badly for poor doping policy and serve out the suspension.

While I can't speak for others, I'm not happy that Russia has been suspended. I am disappointed that they were cheating. Now that they have been caught cheating, they have to pay the penalty.

No, WADA was not at our nationals this year but drug testing was done. At the men's nationals, typically all the winners in each weight class got tested. Go ahead and send WADA over.

USA lifters don't always perform at their best overseas usually because of travel issues. However, some American lifters have posted their best numbers overseas.

Well, it really doesn't look good to have alot of drug test failures. However, I applaud WADA and the IPF for enforcing their anti-doping rules.

Let Russia come back after their suspension and let's lift without the doping.

Well Tony, one thing that Nick probably does not realize is USA Powerlifting tests at ALL their nationals (minimum of 10%) and claims any and all World Records unlike Russia. And we do test to WADA standards, we wouldn’t be able to claim our World Records otherwise.

I highly doubt anyone at the USAPL Nationals would object if we had the IPF walk in to test.

I see that their Nations suspension only applies to Regional and International competitions, so I am sure we can watch their National championships continue to beat the existing IPF records, yet not claim them. Or maybe we can hope they continue to test their Nationals as well.

you put to rest these suspicions all federations of all sports should have 3rd party testing....no in house testing..

When American lifters show up for WORLD meets and talk to Russian lifters who openly discuss their 'cycles', why shouldn't there be some satisfaction when they get caught?

"you're happy about this?"

I do not think people are happy, but feel there is some justification.

"oh, yeah!
now americans got a chanse to win WORLDS..."

This has nothing to do with America. What do you think was going to happen with 7 failures at ONE meet and 6 failures last year?

"I'we got some questions.
are there are WADA was in americans nationals?"

Yes, drug test are done by WADA lab.

"Why americans newer shows his best results on international IPF competitions?"

Who does not show best? Siders? Hooper? Ribic? Try traveling across the world and perform at your best.

"i think because americans got a lot dope, and haven't drugtests at nationals.."

Once again there is testing at ALL levels in the USAPL.
Here is the drug test database: http://www.usapowerlifting.com/committees/drugtesting/drugtestingdb/index.php
Here is the suspension list:
http://www.usapowerlifting.com/committees/drugtesting/suspend.shtml

"and I think it's bad work of WADA& IPF drugtesters..."

Do you think more should have failed?

"long way for you!
two years are short time, RUSSIA come back to DOMINATE."

There will need to be major improvements in the Russian Federation before they will come back. Hopefully this is a once and only thing. Additionally, the results for the Ukraine are not in yet. There maybe another country suspended as well.

Eric....not at you, as such, but you mentioned that the USAPL
is open about it's testing.

I mentioned the "last date" that the openness appeared.

How open is "our" testing?

now IPF must kill Ukraine, Poland and
BinDarMin Sutrisno.

americans then got 100% first places.

Korea
Viet-Nam
Kuveit
Afganistan
Iraque
-are GOOOD for AMERICA

Russian & Ukrainean powerlifting - is a next step of american democracy.
next step to era of GOLDEN BILLION

What are you talking about? Sutrisno is one of the most beloved international lifters by our team. You and your countrymen need to so a level of personable responsibility for what happened. Russia was warned at last years IPF congress that they would face increased testing if failures continued to show up at an accelerated rate. It would be great to have WADA administer the doping controls at all International meets including regional championships.

THis actually might help the WPC grow. This might be a bad move for the IPF. If the Russians & Ukrainians were smart they'd join the WPC and leave the IPF in the dust.

I really don't see why everyone is all upset. The IPF has taken a drug free stance sice its inception. As tests have improved and restrictions grown tougher due to OC/WADA regulation more people are getting caught (especially due to out of meet testing which is SUPPOSED to be administered by the member nations). There has not been an American lifter test positive for strength enhancers at world events ( I think since the USAPL was formed from the ADFPA), only 1 failed test for ephedrine. So now we are supposed to feel somehow responsible for a country that has been repeatedly warned, has 6 lifters test positive at last year's world and has people fail every single year at worlds, was warned, then given another chance, and then failed miserably when the WADA showed up so that they could vindicate themselves after the last worlds? I really don't understand why some are blaming America. We do not run the IPF or the WADA. If you play by the rules then all is good, if you break them then there should be consequences. Unfortunatley this time you got caught and you will pay the price. If you do not want to, then join another fed where drug use is permitted. And why are people making some type of comparison to American wars and the IPF drug testing? SHould we mention all of Russia's wars or something? Were you not in Afganistan too, except for 10 years and still got beaten by a bunch of goat hearders? I see no relevance to what that has to do with anything.

this is great news, get the damn drugs outta there.

good step for the ipf, now they just need to test all of europe!

what a load of shit as if russia is the only one taking gear(rolls eyes)all that is,is a pathetic attempt to get rid of the best athletes so other countrys may actually start winning stuff now.
JUST DOWN RIGHT PATHETIC!
on another note sounds like i will have serious fucking competition in the GPC this year now if all the ipf guys will go and compete in different feds!

To be honest im a little shocked, its not as if the russians bang in 4g test a week and train a little and win, there routines are allways brutal. They work hard. Just looks like they are just being made an example of.

and randell you can shut the fuck up with naming those other countrys while pretending that the entire usa team is clean!

im not even from usa buddy. since 1984 usa has had only had 1 person suspened and it was ed coan and it was his third time, so hes gone for life, and brian siders has a warning for competiting in the same conest as coan. thats the only place usa is on the list from 1984. so it goes to show, that the mojaority of the juicers are in europe. mabe thats why u said that gpc is very popular over, gpc is untested right?

There are plenty of way to get around a drug test, not that I ever have or ever will (in the future).

oh yeah lol your in canada randall but you gotta understand only idiots get caught for gear theses days hell most stuff cant be detected now a days!...

damn randall we are getting very racist now arnt we???may be all euros are juiced and americans are clean,ok i wont even get started on this matter but i find that very offencive!!!!!may be IPF in america is pretty clean i will nearlly believe that judging by the numbers that are being lifted by those guys.

No GPC like WPC or many other feds are not tested because at the end of the day no one gives a shit how you got strong it is only the strongest that are the most impressive(you could go to IPF and use 20iu of gh and slin every day and not test posative so are you telling me your drug free and dont have an advantage over the guys on creatine?lol)

"what a load of shit as if russia is the only one taking gear(rolls eyes)all that is,is a pathetic attempt to get rid of the best athletes so other countrys may actually start winning stuff now."

Where did they say that nobody else is taking anything? did they stop testing because they were so sure nobody else is not following the rules? pathetic attempt to get rid of the best athletes? so if the best athletes are also the ones that are breaking the rules they signed their names to its not pathetic?

I take it when a lifter competes against you and breaks the rules but still beats you, that you think its great?

"could go to IPF and use 20iu of gh and slin every day and not test posative so are you telling me your drug free and dont have an advantage over the guys on creatine?lol)"

1) your not drug free, but obviously the russians were nto using Gh or insulin...
2) creatine isnt on the banned list so what is the issue there?

I dont care if people like to use whatever they want, but when they go into a federation that has explicit rules saying that you are not allowed to, thats the same as going into the GPC with a double ply open backed bench shirt would you be quite as accomdating to them?

well the comment where your man named a list of countrys that will be geared up that gives ME the impression he is saying that there wll be clean countrys.
well no as long as the lifts are done correctly i dont care this is a sport where the biggest lifts win i am not a little bitch who then goes and complains that some one is using some thing they shouldnt.
If you dont think the russians are the strongest nation of pl in the world then your kidding your self because there is no doubt that they are,of course there are superb athletes in every country but russia picks the best out of thousands of candidates so yes they are the best of the best!

of course they were and are using gh and slin but they got caught for steriods probably deca or some thing that results in a posative test for a long time.
i must say that it is suprising they didnt make sure they didnt fail the tests,they must have thought they were above the rules or some thing and that they would never be banned because if they did they would have made sure they wouldnt test positive!

Post1) hes not my man. Ukraine underwent the same drug testing that Russia did and teh results are still to come in.
post2) the russians only talk about steroids (as in openly at the world champs...) they are not rich people and gh aint cheap, insulin is but its also not a very fun way to die
post3) yes it will, if they wanted to use they shoulda gone there in the first place

gh is cheap especially when you have government funding.
you dont have to tell me about their shanigons i have seen those guys trying to swap dbol for a lifting suit at my own worlds.
slin=nice way to die(rolls his eyes)
the only way drug testing would work is if they would invent and lie detector which is 100% accurate and give every one a lie test.

If the CELEBRATING over a country being banned wasn't enough to make you sick, how about the bitching about the Japanese athletes' arches? Give me a break, adapt. A country that fails 7/11 of their athletes and gets banned deserves an "It's about damn time!", not a "Weeehaw, we can finally place!" I think there needs to be an attitude change. Train harder to win.

Random testing is much more realistic. The tests will get better, you can count on that. There will always be people who slip through the cracks, but I don't see why the rule book should be thrown out because of them.

And I'd just like to go on record saying that I'm tired of hearing this question and all of its variations: "How can it be cheating if everybody is doing it?" The answer is simple and undeniable: Because it is engaging a willful and knowing violation of the rules with the intent of gaining a competitive edge. That is cheating. Just because "everybody" is cheating doesn't somehow magically change the rulebook. The logic used in many arguments supporting the use of banned substances in tested federations parallels that used in the following sentence: "Everybody in the world killed themselves today, therefore nobody committed suicide, but none of that matters because you cannot prove they are dead." It just doesn't make any sense.

Face it: Some people, Priscilla Ribic is a good example, want to compete on the most level playing field available. They should have that right. And, not that this is the case with the IPF, many federations have been started with the intention of providing drug-free powerlifters the chance to compete against other drug-free lifters. Why anyone who takes banned substances would want to compete in these federations is beyond me. But if that is your choice, or if you simply cannot find another fed to compete in, don't try to justify your use of performing enhancing drugs by pointing out what other people are doing. Grow up and take responsibility for your own actions. If you can't deal with the moral implications of what you are doing, then you shouldn't be doing it.

Borg, you already know why users who compete in supposedly 'drug-free' feds do it, they cant otherwise win against other lifters, clean or 'dirty' (they're not honest with themselves, they're lazy, they're egos outweigh their ability or character, many other reasons, pick one...). Simple as that. I'm not dissing users, far from it, i always thought roids were kinda cool. I'd bet all my favorite athletes are cranking. I just gravitate towards extremes i guess. I'll just not use 'em myself. For whatever reasons, hell, i probably couldn't afford (do it PROPERLY) to if i wanted to anyways. I'll never begrudge anyone who uses drugs to any real effect, just those fucking morons who crank because they're too lazy to work hard for their gains like the rest ov us. Darwin usually ends up taking care ov those clowns anyways...

As for myself, if i DID compete, it'd likely be in the IPF, but not for one second would i assume i was competing against other clean lifters. In Canada, i'd say most CPU members are actually clean, and fopr many reasons; We're definately 'sport-poor', our country does NOT support its athletes or seem to have any interest in them at all. We're also a lot more spread out population-wise than other countries meaning that there is less ov the support for lifters trying to learn some cool tricks. Our officials are definately more obsessed with lording the IPF rulebook over the land than sending 'better' lifters to the world stage. I'm not saying we're morally superior, far from it, just 'sport-poor' and, well, anal. However, there are a few i strongly suspect are using, and a couple (ranking lifters) that i KNOW are. A couple are so fucking obvious that i really cant imagine how seriously the CPU takes its 'drug-free' mantra. There are random tests, there are OBVIOUS cranking lifters, uh... maybe we should USE some ov the 'random tests' on those individuals??? Nah, that would cost too much money...

I'll never compete in the CPU, but if i DID want to, i'd do it to win, and theres NO way i'd bring a knife to a gunfight. You want me to lift clean? Make the other guy do it too. If you let him slip through the cracks, then thats how serious you take it, and dont expect me to take you any more seriously. I think thats pretty damn fair. Anyone who thinks that good intentions and the honor system will ever change things is a fool, and if they bring a knife to the fight they'd better duck while me and the champion shoot at each other...

If I am correct....that may be the single most important event ever to happen in International Powerlifting History. Personally i think it is bigger possibly than inclusion of powerlifting into the Olympics. When Shawn and Jamie were talking a month back or so of drug testing marshalls showing up at their nationals and therefore many of them heading for the exits i personally thought that is really nice...but...but...can you guys take the next and most important step....have you got fortitude to carry it on and out. They just did !!!! They just did what any of us would really like to do with the whole mess. The landscape has taken quite a shift and will continue to be worked and re-worked. For Canadian powerlifters the course is starting to be set for what all of you have really wanted.... the COURSE towards a level playing field and extremely serious ramifications for participants and countries that do not want to wake up and see the program for what it really is now. It should be interesting to see how cheating countries and individuals respond and adapt to this...this may be just the beginning..but it looks the IPF has probably already anticipated any such reactions and probably will completely not only stick to their guns but even turn up the heat. Now Canadian lifters that are willing to train hard and properly can actually dream the Big Dream....an honest to God shot in time at being a World Champion. Time will tell but i cannot imagine a bigger event that has taken place in the sport...bigger than Olympic berth because there was still big drug issues and besides also very big qualifting standards that very few would meet anyways. The ducks are being lined up....get your heads up and smile and starting thinking about how great you can become. Turn the glass over and mark today's date and time....you just saw History being set and a new beginning.

This is a great day for our sport and our Federation.
It took a lot of guts for the IPF to go above and beyond what the Powerlifting World expected.
I for one was pleasantly surprised.
WAY TO GO IPF!

Extremley comical how Suslov was shooting off his gate for months how the Russians are far superior.Then # 1 he is a cheater and #2 dumb enough to get caught.

A truly great day for our sport, i am curious to the results of the tests from Hungary.

I wish the IPF would adopt the CPU protocol & take away all world records from suspended lifters that they set in the past when they were "cleaned up"-that would kick them again in their shunken nuts--again awesome to here this news--good comments Dennis & Eric--this is as big as USPF being removed from IPF & replaced with USAPL in 1996--Russia gone for a while:good--now what other countries are known for cheating in the IPF?(besides Ukraine, Poland & Hungary--which have suspensions currently)

While reading Go Heavy a thread about the Russian Powerlifting Federation being
suspended from international contests due to failures. Of course this is a
great thing for drug testing and the IPF as it shows it's serious about testing
its contests. The inquiry was also made on Go Heavy about WADA paying a visit
to a USAPL national event. I am curious as to how WADA decides what events it
tests at? Now this is NOT an invitation to bash the Russians or a discussion on
who might be gassed up at the USAPL Nats. However, the USAPL IMO has not
enjoyed its rock solid reputation in drug testing as its done in years past.
Having WADA perform the same testing at our event as they did in Russians would
provide an excellent chance for us to reinforce our reputation as a drug free
federation leader.

I am amazed and delighted that the IPF took significant action against Russia.
My views about drug-use in the IPF have been changed. I retract my "controversial" opinions that I shared a month ago, as I have a renewed faith in the IPF.