World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chiefs on Tuesday ruled out immediate changes to out of competition drugs testing for athletes, underlining that the rules were new and softer than those used before.
WADA director general David Howman said he would continue talking with concerned athletes groups about the rules requiring notification of their daily whereabouts and availability for random anti-doping tests.
But WADA president John Fahey pointed out that the changes that harmonised the rules only came into force at the beginning of this year and appeared "less onerous" than what was practiced in many sports before.
Several high-profile sportsmen, including British tennis star Andy Murray, have attacked the 'whereabouts' rule which requires athletes to notify drug testers of their movements as an invasion of privacy.
"We're eight weeks into this. I don't know of anyone who has failed under whereabouts this year," Fahey told journalists. "It's too soon."
Fahey said it would be more appropriate to take stock of the new whereabouts rule and how it was working early next year.
Since the beginning of January, elite athletes are required to give notice of their location on a chosen one hour period each day, seven days a week under the world anti doping code.
Previously, the sports that had applied the practice often imposed round the clock availability, the WADA chiefs pointed out.
No formal complaints have been lodged so far this year, and Howman said that many fears appeared to be voiced by athletes whose sports had not applied the rule before this year.
Normally WADA only deals directly with international sports federations. Howman said he was happy to continue meeting players groups over the coming weeks and to listen to their fears, but up to a point.
"Those (complaints) which are based on emotion and lack of practice might be put in a separate basket," he said.
Howman suggested that tennis players should get used to informing anti-doping authorities of their whereabouts as a matter of course while they make their travel arrangements in between tournaments.
"It's not rocket science, it's just an SMS that'll take 45 second to complete," he added.
Andy Murray had labelled the new rules as "so draconian that it makes it almost impossible to live a normal life."
UEFA president Michel Platini also objected to the wherabouts requirement last week, suggesting a 20 day "holiday" period in the year while players rested.
Copyright 2009 AFP Global Edition
