BIRMINGHAM, England — World indoor hurdles champion Lolo Jones of the United States joined the growing group of athletes upset about WADA’s new drug testing rules.
Athletes need to give three months’ notice of their availability for one hour each day during out-of-competion drug testing under the World Anti-Doping Agency’s new rules, which started Jan. 1. The information is registered online and can be updated by e-mail or text message.
Jones won the 60-meter hurdles Saturday at the Aviva Grand Prix. Many athletes have called the new rules too invasive.
“Maybe in the future they will find a tag they can put on us like dogs have,” Jones said. “I’d rather wear a necklace that’s a homing device.
“Or I would like it if they used the new thing on Google where they can track you through your phone. They can just track me like the police and get rid of all the paperwork. As long as I have my phone on me, they know where I am at all times.”
Jones said notifying authorities of her whereabouts is harder than she thought.
“When we travel a lot of our flights are given to us at the last minute via our agents,” Jones said. “A lot of the time we take earlier flights, which means we are not going to be at our house at the time.”
Tennis stars Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and the international soccer governing body have criticized the rules. The 27-nation European Union raised questions about the compatibility of the whereabouts rule with its privacy legislation.
IOC president Jacques Rogge has said out-of-competition testing is a cornerstone of anti-doping controls. Previously, the rules applied only five days a week and athletes had to be at the stated location for only a portion of that hour.
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