World Anti-Doping Agency
From WikiRun
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is an international organization seeking to control performance-enhancing drug use in sport competition.
Contents |
History
Ancient Greek athletes are known to have used special diets and stimulating potions to fortify themselves. Strychnine, caffeine, cocaine, and alcohol were often used by cyclists and other endurance athletes in the 19th century. Thomas Hicks ran to victory in the Olympic marathon of 1904 in Saint Louis with the help of raw egg, injections of strychnine, and doses of brandy administered to him during the race. By the 1920s it had become evident that restrictions regarding drug use in sports were necessary.
In 1928, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) became the first International Sport Federation (IF) to ban the use of doping (use of stimulating substances). Many other IFs followed suit, but restrictions remained ineffective as no tests were performed. Meanwhile the problem was made worse by synthetic hormones, invented in the 1930s and in growing use for doping purposes since the 1950s. The death of Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen during competition at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome (the autopsy revealed traces of amphetamine) increased the pressure for sports authorities to introduce drug tests.
In 1966, UCI (cycling) and FIFA (soccer) were among the first IFs to introduce doping tests in their respective World Championships. In the next year the International Olympic Committee (IOC) instituted its Medical Commission and set up its first list of prohibited substances. Drug tests were first introduced at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble and at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico. In the year before, the urgency of anti-doping work had been highlighted by the death of cyclist Tom Simpson during the Tour de France. After the events that shook the world of cycling in the summer of 1998, the International Olympic Committee decided to convene a World Conference on Doping, bringing together all parties involved in the fight against doping.[1]
The World Conference on Doping in Sport held in Lausanne on February 2-4, 1999 produced the Lausanne Declaration on Doping in Sport. This document provided for the creation of an independent international anti-doping agency to be fully operational for the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Pursuant to the terms of the Lausanne Declaration, the World Anti-Doping Agency was established on November 10, 1999 in Lausanne to promote and coordinate the fight against doping in sport internationally. WADA was set up as a foundation under the initiative of the IOC with the support and participation of intergovernmental organizations, governments, public authorities, and other public and private bodies fighting against doping in sport. The agency consists of equal representatives from the Olympic Movement and public authorities.[2] In 2001 WADA's Foundation Board voted to move its headquarters from Lausanne to Montreal. The Montreal headquarters were inaugurated in April 2002.[1]
Anti-doping code
WADA has developed a Code - which standardizes the rules for enforcing "no drugs" policies across nations. WADA requires athletes to be available for random drug tests and to notify WADA of athlete's travel plans.[3] On March 5, 2003, at the second World Conference on Doping in Sport, some 1200 delegates representing 80 governments, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), all Olympic sports, national Olympic and Paralympic committees, athletes, national anti-doping organizations, and international agencies unanimously agreed to adopt the Code as the basis for the fight against doping in sport. The Copenhagen Resolution expresses stakeholder acceptance of the World Anti-Doping Code and was issued at the second World Conference.[4]
The Code and the International Standards became effective on January 1, 2004. WADA has a list of banned drugs. If an athlete needs to use one of the drugs on the list, WADA has a procedure to obtain a therapeutic use exception. WADA maintains an internet-based data base of all such exceptions, called ADAMS.[3]
Sanctions
The Code sets the standard for minimum and maximum sanctions, while providing flexibility for the consideration of circumstances of the case. The normative sanction for a first serious doping violation is two years; a second serious violation calls for a lifetime sanction.
The Code also provides flexibility to lessen or enhance the bans based on various matters including the type of anti-doping violation, the circumstances of the individual case (level or absence of fault or negligence), the substance in case of the detection of a prohibited substance, and repetition of an anti-doping rule violation.
In the adjudication of doping cases, the Code implements WADA's right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on rulings by anti-doping organizations operating under the Code.[5]
Funding
For the first two full years of operation (2000–2001), WADA was funded in entirety by the IOC; a total of US$18.3 million. The IOC made this decision to allow governments appropriate time to get budgetary approvals for their 50 percent contribution. In January 2002, the agreed co-funding of WADA began with Governments providing 50 percent and the IOC 50 percent. In addition, the International Intergovernmental Consultative Group on Anti-Doping in Sport (IICGADS - formed in November 1999), made up of public authorities from around the world, met in May 2001 to discuss anti-doping issues. At this meeting, the governments agreed to fund 50 percent of WADA. They decided to split the governments' share among the five Olympic regions of the world as follows:[6]
| Africa | 0.50% |
| Americas | 29% |
| Asia | 20.46% |
| Europe | 47.5% |
| Oceania | 2.54% |
For the Americas share, 50% is paid by the United States, 25% by Canada, and the rest by other nations under a formula adopted by the Organization of American States (OAS).
WADA's budget for 2008 is $26.5 million.[7]
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.wada-ama.org/en/dynamic.ch2?pageCategory.id=312 Retrieved 2008-08-03.
- ↑ http://www.wada-ama.org/en/dynamic.ch2?pageCategory.id=253 Retrieved 2008-08-03
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://www.wada-ama.org/en/dynamic.ch2?pageCategory.id=265 Retrieved 2008-08-03.
- ↑ http://www.wada-ama.org/en/dynamic.ch2?pageCategory.id=267 Retrieved 2008-08-03
- ↑ http://www.wada-ama.org/en/dynamic.ch2?pageCategory.id=267 Retrieved 2008-08-03.
- ↑ http://www.wada-ama.org/en/dynamic.ch2?pageCategory.id=401 Retrieved 2008-08-03
- ↑ http://www.wada-ama.org/rtecontent/document/2008_Budget_Expenditures.pdf Retrieved 2008-08-03.