INADO Criticizes IOC Doping Double Standard

(ATR) The Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations says the International Olympic Committee "can no longer be entrusted to both promote and police itself".

On March 16, the IOC Executive Board released a declaration consisting of 12 principles to reform the global anti-doping system. The principles include the IOC seeking to maintain its influence on the executive committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency, creating an Independent Testing Authority and establishing the Court of Arbitration of Sport as the sole sanctioning body for doping violations.

INADO rebukes this proposal of tripartite checks and balances and says WADA – as a completely independent body – should have the power to control all of these aspects. It is clear the IOC and iNADO stand at odds about the future of the global anti-doping system and where the locus of control should lie.

"Just as governments should never use their funding of NADOs to exercise influence that compromises operational autonomy, the IOC should not be in a position to use its funding of WADA… to exercise influence that compromises the operational autonomy of other anti-doping organizations," iNADO chief executive officer Joseph de Pencier tells Around the Rings.

While the IOC says it supports WADA being independent from the influence of sports organizations, iNADO leaders say the IOC’s new proposal to strengthen anti-doping efforts only seems to maintain the status quo.

"Since the sports organizations and the governments are both founding stakeholders on an equal basis, they must be represented equally on the WADA Foundation Board and Executive Committee," the IOC Executive Board said in its doping declaration on March 16.

WADA is currently chaired by IOC member Craig Reedie who is joined on the executive committee by fellow IOC members Patrick Baumann, Ugur Erdener and Tony Estanguet. Association of Summer Olympic International Federations president Francisco Ricci Bitti is also on the committee.

Leaders of iNADO say the status quo needs to change because the current system has "repeatedly failed to make the rights of clean athletes the primary concern".

The iNADO Board of Directors said they felt "compelled to respond" to the IOC’s statement given the expediency of the situation with the next Winter Olympics rapidly approaching in PyeongChang, South Korea next February.

"The inconsistency of messaging from the IOC on the matter of independence of WADA is confusing," iNADO says. "If it is serious about empowering WADA to be free from the influence of sports organizations, the IOC must step back from its efforts to maintain its operational influence."

De Pencier tells ATR he expects positive steps in that direction to be made at the WADA Foundation Board meeting coming up this May.

"At those meetings we expect to see a beefed-up WADA authority for sanctioning Code non-compliance, and a more targeted sanctions system," says de Pencier. "We also expect an initial report of the WADA Governance Working Group that begins to identify specific improvements to WADA governance."

Although positive developments could be on the horizon, de Pencier says iNADO will not stop working to give its proposals for positive reforms a place at the table with WADA’s other stakeholders.

"WADA governance should not be just for its funders," iNADO’s CEO tells ATR. "Because NADOs do the majority of anti-doping work world-wide, they should have a seat in any representative body of WADA by right. But we do not.

"To create that right for NADOs, iNADO will continue to make its voice heard and demonstrate the value of its contributions by constructive proposals and by forthright commentary. We will use the moral and logical force of our positions to ensure we cannot be ignored."

WADA executives and stakeholders will convene in Montreal on May 18 for the Foundation Board Meeting where these two competing proposals will be debated.

WADA Media Relations Chief Stepping Down

WADA media relations manager Ben Nichols is leaving the agency in May after four years as WADA’s chief spokesperson.

Nichols ran the global anti-doping agency’s media relations strategy during one of the more challenging periods of the organization’s history, navigating the rough political waters brought on by widespread doping investigations that rocked the Olympic world.

The Foundation Board Meeting in May will be Nichols’ final obligation to the organization. Nichols is moving back to the United Kingdom and will seek other senior communications opportunities in international sport.

Written by Kevin Nutley

Forgeneral comments or questions, click here.

25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about theOlympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribersonly.