Yves Kapa: "Athletes have a big responsibility in the fight against doping"

Sport News Africa: Yves Kapa, positive doping tests among Congolese athletes are making headlines. After the Francophonie Games, another case has emerged at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Does that mean the Congolese national anti-doping committee is not doing its awareness-raising work properly with athletes?

Yves Kapa: Awareness-raising is done very well in the DRC. The CNAC has been doing it for a very long time. It's true this is not the first case, but the CNAC has even stepped up its awareness work with its website, which holds all the information on the products banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. We have even innovated by creating an app that we have made available to athletes who have registered.

You have often met with the athletes who were in Kinshasa. But the one who tested positive in Paris was not in Kinshasa. He prepared in Senegal. Does that imply that your awareness work stops at local level?

We have a database with the names of all the athletes who qualified for the Paris Olympic Games. We did the job as we should. For those who were in the country, we spoke with them and that continued all the way to Paris. But as we keep saying, the athlete is solely responsible for everything they consume.

Beyond telling athletes that doping is bad, has the CNAC given them the names of all the products banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency?

Yes, the list of banned products is available on the World Anti-Doping Agency's website and we have also put all of them on the CNAC website. We have even produced an update covering products that are often consumed here in Congo. For athletes who have registered, everything is available. The CNAC website is www.cnac.org.

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The scientific names of these products can be hard for athletes to understand. Have you tried to match these names to the names of products, natural or not, commonly used in the country, so that an athlete who thinks they are taking a natural product does not dope without knowing it?

We have done a lot of work on the app we created. We have tried to explain all of that. Apart from that, we have linked the products banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency to the various pharmaceutical products sold in the country.

Technical coaches can act as a bridge between you and the athletes. Does the CNAC run refresher workshops for them?

We have already taken part in several seminars with the technical staff of several federations. They are well equipped, and we too keep raising their awareness.

A message for Congolese athletes?

Doping is cheating, doping leads to death, and above all, they should register with the ADAMS system so they are kept informed of everything they need to fight doping.