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Abstract
Despite a greater effort by governments to test sportspeople for the use of performance-enhancing drugs in recent decades, major policy flaws by national governments remain evident. This article focuses on Australian government involvement in powerlifting, a sport where membership remains divided between tested and non-tested federations, despite public funded drug testing since 1990. The Australian government strategy, largely confined to recognizing the national affiliate of the International Powerlifting Federation seeking International Olympic Committee accreditation, has failed to address many reasons why powerlifters compete in non-testing federations. This article, utilizing a policy success evaluation approach, both highlights the policy failure and urges a more nuanced approach to reflect the complexity of issues evident within a multi-federation sport like powerlifting.
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful for helpful comments by the anonymous referees, and by Paul Koshy (Curtin University) and Chris Aulich (University of Canberra).
Notes
1. Powerlifting consists of three lifts: the squat, bench press and dead lift, either in single or in combined lift competition.
2. As of 2014, the IPF was not an IOC-recognised sport, but part of the Alliance of Independent Members of SportAccord (WADA Citation2013).
3. Although technically not a federation, Pro Raw Powerlifting (run by the President of GPC Australia, Markos Markopoulos), conducted six competitions between 2011 and 2014, with lifters from any federation eligible to compete. However, PA members are prohibited from competing or officiating in any non-PA competition or federation.