“The sport we want” is the theme of an international conference on doping in sports beginning Sunday evening in Calgary.
“The idea for the theme came from a conversation I had with my friend and former teammate, Sara Renner,” Olympic cross-country ski champion, Beckie Scott, told me. “I’m really pleased to see how many people involved in sports, including people from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), responded to the invitation to come and present at this forum.”
The list of visitors is headed by Sir Craig Reedie, president of WADA, and by Richard McLaren, the legal counsel from Western University who wrote the report on the Russian doping scandal.
“I think, too often, the voices of those who want clean sport are not heard,” Scott told me. “This forum is going to change that. It’s going to give those who believe in clean sport a chance to be heard.”
On Friday, WADA published a revised standard for the protection of privacy and personal information, to take effect immediately. The new standard lays out the rules by which athletes’ personal data and corresponding rights are protected. It includes a provision that athletes must be provided with all relevant information, including with whom their personal information is being shared, for how long and for what purpose, and who they can contact in the event they have a complaint or question regarding their personal information.
A number of members of the International Olympic Committee, including Canadians Richard Pound and Tricia Smith, will be taking part in the symposium. Indeed, Canada has been a world leader in the anti-doping movement since the Ben Johnson incident at the Seoul Olympics thirty years ago.
While the conference sessions are closed to the public and to the media, it will be interesting to see what comes out of the two days of discussions. The fact that a number of national team athletes from around the world are taking part in the sessions speaks to the importance that at least some athletes, sports governing bodies and international federations are attaching to the theme of “the sport we want.”
LISTEN: Former Olympic cross-country skier, Beckie Scott, speaks about a major conference on doping in sport taking place in Calgary this coming week.
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