NEWS

WADA’s Foundation Board met in Montreal

By Masa Takaya | 24 Nov, 2010

The World Anti-doping Agency’s Foundation Board (WADA) met in Montreal, Canada, on November 21, 2010, at WADA Headquarters. A number of items, including the Hon. John Fahey being endorsed for a second three-year term as the WADA President, were decided at the meeting. Please check out excerpts from the WADA website below.

“During its meeting today, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Foundation Board endorsed a second three-year term for the Agency’s President, the Hon. John Fahey, and Vice-President, Prof. Arne Ljungqvist.

John Fahey, representing governments, and Arne Ljungqvist, representing the Olympic Movement, were elected respectively WADA’s President and Vice-President during the Third World Conference on Doping in Sport in November 2007 in Madrid, Spain. They assumed their volunteer positions on January 1, 2008.

“I am very grateful to the Foundation Board Members for the trust they have placed in me and I am deeply committed to further advancing the global fight against doping in sport in the coming years,” said John Fahey. “Over the past three years, this fight has continued to make significant strides under WADA’s guidance and coordination.  As the first government representative to serve at the helm of WADA, I will continue to focus much attention on maximizing the role of governments for enhanced cooperation and sharing of information between governments and sport authorities. High-profile doping cases and investigations underscore the fact that no sport and no country are immune to the threat of doping, as well as the critical need for strong sport-government collaborative efforts in confronting doping.”

Mr. Fahey also emphasized the importance of education and youth activities in the fight against doping: “Doping in sport is a public health issue. Together, we need to continue to work hard to instil an indelible mindset on the youth that will never allow them to tolerate health and life destroying drugs in their sport.”

“I look forward to continuing to contribute to WADA’s mission of preserving the integrity of sport,” said Arne Ljungqvist. “The Olympic Movement has always supported WADA and will continue to do so in the future. WADA has come a long way since its inception eleven years ago. I am confident that, together, the sport movement and governments will achieve further success in providing a platform to clean athletes for the pursuit of their objectives.”

WADA is funded and composed in equal parts by the Olympic Movement and governments of the world. Under the Agency’s Statutes, the Presidency and Vice-Presidency alternate between the sport movement and governments, with a maximum of two three-year terms for the President and the Vice-President.

Click here for John Fahey’s biography.

Click here for Arne Ljungqvist’s biography.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced today that its Foundation Board has selected Johannesburg, South Africa, to host the Fourth World Conference on Doping in Sport in late 2013.

“The Fourth World Conference will be an important opportunity to take stock of how far the fight against doping has come and to identify its next critical tasks,” said WADA President John Fahey following meetings of WADA’s Executive Committee and Foundation Board over two days. “The World Conference will be the culmination of the next review of the World Anti-Doping Code (Code), which we will launch in 2012 based on the consultative model of the first Code review process conducted in 2006-2007. We look forward to working with the city of Johannesburg to prepare and host the event, and we thank all bid cities for their interest and the quality of their submissions.”

In addition to Johannesburg, WADA had also received formal bids from Dallas, United States, and Sochi, Russia. Kuwait City, Kuwait, and Ljubljana, Slovenia, withdrew their bids.

The First World Conference, held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in February 1999, conceived the idea of an independent international agency to assume responsibility for coordinating and monitoring the fight against doping in sport and led to the birth of WADA in November 1999. At the Second World Conference, held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in March 2003, the final draft of the World Anti-Doping Code – the document harmonizing anti-doping rules in all sports and all countries of the world – was unanimously approved by representatives from governments and the sports movement. The Third World Conference, held in Madrid in November 2007, marked the adoption of the revised World Anti-Doping Code following a broad and open consultation process.

Social Science Research
In other matters, the Executive Committee approved ten new social science research projects for funding. WADA’s Social Science Research Program aims to support the design of preventive anti-doping education programs using an evidence-based approach.

“It is essential that WADA’s anti-doping programs and initiatives be based on scientific knowledge and evidence,” said WADA Director General David Howman. “Understanding the behavioural aspects and value judgments behind doping help us to further develop and disseminate strong values-based anti-doping education programs.”

WADA received 25 applications, from 21 countries, for its Program this year. The Agency will commit US$307,000 to the ten projects selected. The Executive Committee approved an additional US$100,000 for target research in 2010. Since the creation of the Social Science Research Program in 2005, 34 projects have already been funded, totalling over US$1 million.

Budget
The Foundation Board approved US$26.4 million for WADA’s 2011 budget, representing a minor increase of two percent from the 2010 budget. This minor increase is the result of the development of projects such as the Athlete Biological Passport, the Anti-Doping Administration & Management System (ADAMS) and WADA’s growing role in non-analytical doping cases.

The Board was updated on the status of WADA’s funding. To date, for the third consecutive year, the Agency has received 98% of its annual budget. WADA is funded in equal parts by the Olympic Movement and governments of the world. The International Olympic Committee, on behalf of the Olympic Movement, matches dollar for dollar contributions made by governments.

“I am very pleased with the timely fulfillment of financial commitment of WADA stakeholders,” said Mr. Fahey. “This timeliness underlines our stakeholders’ strong support for our mission to preserve the integrity of sport.”

Next Meetings
The next meetings of WADA’s Executive Committee and Foundation Board will be held on May 14-15, 2011, respectively, in Montreal.”

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