All doctors are made aware of the implications when giving drugs to sportsmen but it is not always easy to get it right, a leading sports medicine expert says.
National women's football league player Kelsey Kennard (20) was banned from sport for six months by the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand on Wednesday, after she was found to have taken the prohibited substance Probenecid, which can be used as masking agent.
Kennard, who played for the Football South team, told the Otago Daily Times on Wednesday she did not know she was given Probenecid until she found out she had failed the drug test.
She was given the drug as a single pill, to combat a cellulitis infection.
Drugfree Sport New Zealand chief executive Graeme Steel said the onus was on the athlete to declare they were a high-class athlete when dealing with doctors.
"We want to raise the alert level with doctors in what they are dealing with and what they are giving to their patients,'' he said.
"But in saying that, the buck stops with the athlete. They should know they have to be very careful with whatever they are putting into their body.''
He said there was a high expectation on sports medicine doctors and their expertise in giving drugs for athletes.
"But when it comes to A & E clinics, we have to understand the pressure the doctors are on. They want to push people through and maybe only 5% of them could be top-class athletes, so it is hard.''
Kennard was playing for the Football South team in the national women's league.
The side she plays for receives minimal financial compensation in a competition played over three months at the end of last year.
But Steel said the team was still playing in a national league where the national team was an Olympic contender, so it had to be taken seriously and players had to have a high standard with regards to drugs in their system.
Drugfree Sport NZ tested 15 core sports, although it did not announce what events it would attending.
It is expected to be in action at this weekend's national track and field championships in Dunedin.
