President Diack’s Speech to World Conference on Doping in Sport
Posted November 17th, 2007 at 3:12 PM by Martin Kennedy
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Drugs In Sports
On the second day of the third World Conference on Doping in Sport organised by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which is taking place in Madrid, Spain, IAAF President Lamine Diack made the following speech addressing the IAAF’s position with regard to the revision of the World Anti-Doping Code :
The occasion of this third World Anti-Doping Conference, and a first revision of the World Anti-Doping Code, marks a new chapter in the modern day fight against doping and is an appropriate time to reflect not only upon what has been achieved since the introduction of the Code four years ago but also to examine some of the key areas which still need to be addressed.
The Role of the Governments
The first of these key areas concerns the position of the Governments. It is clear that Sport cannot hope to win the fight against doping on its own and that the Governments are fundamental to its ultimate chances of success. It was for this reason that the IAAF emphasised in Copenhagen the need for adequate measures to be taken to ensure that the Governments would be legally bound to the Code. Four years later, the UNESCO Convention against Doping is in force and this is certainly a notable achievement in the time period. The fatal flaw in the Convention however is that the World Anti-Doping Code and the International Standards are not an integral part of the Convention itself and they do not create binding obligations on the Governments as a matter of international law. The Convention commits the Governments only to the principles of the Code and the IAAF would respectfully suggest that this falls some way short of the type of legally binding commitment that was called for in Copenhagen and which is so fundamental to the principle of harmonisation that the Code is intended to achieve. As the leadership of WADA passes to the Governments for the next four year period, this is an issue of critical importance that must be addressed through amendment to the UNESCO Convention itself.
Investigations/Non-analytical cases
One area where the role of Governments is so important to the fight against doping is in the developing area of investigations into non-analytical cases. Whilst athlete testing remains a core activity in any anti-doping program, experience over the last 4 years has shown us that investigating the so-called ‘non-analytical’ cases (use, possession, trafficking, administration, evasion and missed tests) is an increasingly important tool in the anti-doping fight. The problem that Sport faces in this regard is that it does not possess the same powers of investigation that are available to public agencies acting under national laws and it is critical therefore that WADA does all that it can to facilitate a framework of mutual co-operation and information sharing between Sport and Government. The IAAF’s close co-operation with USADA and the public agencies in the United States in connection with the Balco doping conspiracy serves as an excellent example of what can be achieved if effective partnerships are established between anti-doping organisations working together with a common aim.
Athlete Support Personnel
The IAAF is pleased to note a further broadening of the scope of the Code to encompass athlete support personnel. Experience has shown us that athletes rarely operate in isolation and that, behind every athlete who tests positive, there is usually a coach, team doctor or agent who is responsible for supplying the drugs in question. Sport for its part must ensure that it has clear jurisdiction to take action against all such persons operating within sport and, if they are found guilty of an involvement in doping, that they are brought to account. Equally, however, Governments must ensure that, where the ‘upstream’ offenders commit non-sporting violations, there are meaningful sanctions in place at national level. It is unacceptable, for example, that the person who masterminded the Balco doping conspiracy, is already back in business when the athletes to whom he distributed the illegal substances are serving much longer periods of exclusion from sport.
National Anti-Doping Programmes
Another ongoing concern for the IAAF is that there remain countries which continue to be successful on the sporting stage but which do not yet have effective anti-doping programmes in place at national level. This situation needs to be addressed urgently. The IAAF recognises the work of WADA in establishing a number of Regional Anti-Doping Organisations worldwide and endorses WADA’s target of having every country in the world committed to the fight against doping by 2010 either through a national or a regional anti-doping organisation. The goal must be to ensure that all athletes competing in elite sport are subject to the same minimum level of supervision, whatever their country of origin. After 1 January 2010, the IAAF for its part will only accept bids for World Championships in Athletics from countries where the government has ratified and acceded to the UNESCO Convention and where the national anti-doping agency is in compliance with the Code.
Sanctions
I would like to close my remarks on the important topic of sanctions.
The IAAF has long since advocated an increase in sanctions for serious first-time violations to 4 years and, whilst the standard sanction in the 2007 Code will remain at 2 years, there is now the possibility to increase up to 4 years in individual cases where aggravating circumstances are deemed to be present. What might constitute aggravating circumstances is to be determined on a case by case basis but the comments to the new Code make it clear that conduct such as engaging in doping plans, either individually or in concert with others, taking multiple prohibited substances or prohibited substances on multiple occasions or taking substances likely to have a performance enhancing effect beyond a 2-year period may all constitute legitimate grounds for an increase in the standard sanction up to a maximum of 4 years. The clear policy of the IAAF Congress is that increased sanctions should be sought in such circumstances and the IAAF is committed to carrying out this mandate in all cases of serious doping that arise in Athletics in the future.
At the other end of the spectrum, there is now greater flexibility in the new Code to reduce sanctions from 0 to 2 years in the case of specified substances where an athlete can establish that there was no intention to enhance performance. Whilst the IAAF understands the policy rationale behind this change, it would sound a general note of caution in its implementation. The new provision must only be applied where a reduction in the 2-year sanction is clearly warranted by the objective circumstances of the case and both International Federations and WADA need to be scrupulous in monitoring the application of this new provision at national level.
Where there is already a concern that the current regime of 2-year sanctions poses an insufficient deterrent to doping, any weakening of the sanctions position under the new Code in other than in the clearest of mitigating cases will undermine the strict liability principle that has been so enshrined in the fight against doping and is likely to have serious consequences for the future of clean sport.
This is a heavy responsibility but one which we all in attendance at this Conference must shoulder equally.
Via: IAAF
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Tags: anti doping programmes, athlete support, BALCO, doping, drugs, government, IAAF, International Standards, investigations, lamine diack, madrid, performance enhancing drugs, spain, speech, track and field, UNESCO Convention, USADA, WADA, world anti doping code, world anti doping governments, World Conference on Doping in Sport
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