Corruption Big Worry for Olympians

(ATR) Corruption and conflict of interest are big worries for athletes taking part in this week’s Global Athlete Forum in Calgary.

Organized by the World Anti-Doping Agency, the two-day gathering drew 104 athletes from 50 countries. The program included a series of closed-door panels and speeches, meant to allow candid exchanges.

The Canadian Olympic Committee played host.

Yulia and Vitaly Stepanov, the Russian doping whistleblowers who helped launch the inquiry into the country’s anti-doping program, spoke on the opening day by video. The two remain in hiding.

Other speakers included Jens Sejer Andersen from Play the Game, lawyer Richard McLaren, IOC member and former WADA chair Richard Pound and Canadian Olympic Committee President and IOC member Tricia Smith.

The forum produced a list of 13 outcomes regarding the fight against doping.

Corruption, conflict of interest and lack of independence were listed as the top three concerns for the anti-doping system. The list of outcomes also recognizes the impact of the Russian whistleblowers.

But as the forum opened, a series of letters from the chairs of athlete commissions in Africa, Asia and Europe complained to WADA about the way participants were chosen.

"Looking at the programme, there is no proper representation of any elected athletes," wrote Amadou Dia Ba, chair of the Athletes Commission for the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa.

"Worse still, far from being global, the huge majority of the speakers appear to be from one country. Apart from the IOC elected athlete representative, there is not a single African representative," Ba says in the letter to WADA executive director Olivier Niggli.

While there were 14 athletes from Africa in Calgary, Ba complained that among the panelists and presenters, only one was an athlete-elected representative, IOC Athletes Commission chair Kirsty Coventry.

"It is at best highly embarrassing for the global sporting movement which prides itself on its universality and stands for equality," says the Olympian from Senegal. Ba did registerfor the forum, but did not attend.

Koji Murofushi of Japan, the athletes-elected head of the Olympic Council of Asia Athletes Commission, also registered but was not able to appear. Still, he said the speakers for the forum should have been chosen more carefully.

"This does not represent the universality of global sports Movement," says Murofushi in a letter to Niggli.

European Olympic Committees Athletes Commission chair Gert Kanter offered his view to Niggli as well.

"On behalf of EOC Athlete Commission we are also sad that such are important forum will take place in Canada without presence and consultancy of elected athletes from different Continents," wrote Kanter.

The critics also took aim at the seeming preponderance of Canadian athletes on the program for the forum. WADA Athletes Commission chair and IOC member Beckie Scott, IOC member Hayley Wickenheiser and activist Mark Tewksbury were among the prominent Canadians on the program.

"All with opinions on anti-doping matters but not selected for their nationality," WADA chair Craig Reedie tells Around the Rings about the forum speakers.

In his written response to Ba, Niggli assured that there was no intention to exclude him or other colleagues from the forum.

"We didn’t invite anyone individually," WADA deputy director Rob Koehler explains further to ATR.

"We sent notices to national Olympic committees, national Paralympic committees, international federations, to select representatives to attend," Koehler says.

"Obviously we want to be inclusive, we don’t want to leave anybody out. Next year we’ll make sure they are all aware of the forum," he says.

Reported by Ed Hula.