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IOC president urges govts to pay up for WADA
Lausanne, Feb 03: IOC president calls on governments to pay their dues to World Anti-Doping Agency.
Lausanne, Feb 03: IOC president calls on governments to pay their dues to World Anti-Doping Agency.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge called on governments on Thursday (January 29) to fulfil their financial obligations to the fight against doping by paying their dues to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The independent Montreal-based body, set up in 1999, is funded jointly by the Olympic movement and national governments but has received only about 25 percent of its agreed funding for 2003. "I would say that the IOC, as you well know, is wholeheartedly supporting WADA -- that it has created in the beginning of '99 -- and I would like to commend (president) Dick Pound and all his colleagues for the excellent work they are doing," Rogge told a WADA symposium in Lausanne. "WADA definitely means a major progression in the difficult fight against doping. WADA is doing this in difficult circumstances. WADA is doing this with a limited budget and therefore I repeat my appeal to say that governments must pay their dues and that I would wish that governments would underwrite (them) as soon as possible."
WADA has launched an anti-doping code which harmonises rules and regulations across all sports in all countries and will give WADA, international federations and in certain cases the International Olympic Committee the right to appeal cases at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Rogge told the symposium: "Definitely this strengthens and reinforces the position of the International Olympic Committee that says that there is no place in the Games for those who do not want to support the WADA anti-doping code."
WADA President Richard (Dick) Pound presented Rogge with the first copy of the agency's Anti-Doping Code, which will be given to the Olympic Museum.
Pound said: "The code will be implemented within the Olympic movement by the time of the Games in Athens later this year and we have got 22 or 23 already of the sports signed up, the others are in progress and they understand that they have to be ready. And governments will be ready by Torino (Turin) in 2006 so I think you will see for the first time in Athens all the sports playing off the same set of rules."
The WADA president announced that basketball had signed up.
"Well we're very pleased, you know, while the media is all here in Lausanne to have a very important sport, basketball, actually formally sign the code today, so that's a very important step forward for us, not only because basketball is an important Olympic sport but because there is a professional basketball component and we hope that this is the beginning of persuading professional basketball to adopt the same rules," he said.
Pound said he thought the code would act as both educator and referee and he reiterated Rogge's call that governments pay the money they promised and apply the rules in their own countries.
"Governments you need two things; you need their support as a reflection of the public; we need their money, their share of the money, to fight against doping in sport; and we need them to be ready to change the rules that apply in their countries in order that their country will be the same as all the others," Pound said.
FIFA announced on Wednesday that it is to adopt the World Anti-Doping Code in May. FIFA president Sepp Blatter met Pound in Zurich and they agreed to finalise a formal agreement on doping matters. Cycling is now the only major Olympic sport outside the WADA agreement.
The agreement with FIFA appears to bring to a close a long war of attrition between the two organisations who have been close to, and then far from agreeing on a deal for almost a year.
Last November Pound said that an agreement had been reached with FIFA over sanctions for players caught using illicit performance-enhancing drugs. But Pound then criticised FIFA and football in general for the way the Rio Ferdinand case had been handled.
IOC president Rogge welcomed the decision by the world soccer governing body to sign up to the anti-doping code.
"It is a very strong sign in the fight against doping because FIFA is the world's biggest federation, it is the most popular sport in the world, so I think it was very important that FIFA sign this accord. We encouraged it and I congratulate (FIFA President) Sepp Blatter and Dick Pound for this agreement," said Rogge.
Bureau Report
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge called on governments on Thursday (January 29) to fulfil their financial obligations to the fight against doping by paying their dues to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The independent Montreal-based body, set up in 1999, is funded jointly by the Olympic movement and national governments but has received only about 25 percent of its agreed funding for 2003. "I would say that the IOC, as you well know, is wholeheartedly supporting WADA -- that it has created in the beginning of '99 -- and I would like to commend (president) Dick Pound and all his colleagues for the excellent work they are doing," Rogge told a WADA symposium in Lausanne. "WADA definitely means a major progression in the difficult fight against doping. WADA is doing this in difficult circumstances. WADA is doing this with a limited budget and therefore I repeat my appeal to say that governments must pay their dues and that I would wish that governments would underwrite (them) as soon as possible."
WADA has launched an anti-doping code which harmonises rules and regulations across all sports in all countries and will give WADA, international federations and in certain cases the International Olympic Committee the right to appeal cases at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Rogge told the symposium: "Definitely this strengthens and reinforces the position of the International Olympic Committee that says that there is no place in the Games for those who do not want to support the WADA anti-doping code."
WADA President Richard (Dick) Pound presented Rogge with the first copy of the agency's Anti-Doping Code, which will be given to the Olympic Museum.
Pound said: "The code will be implemented within the Olympic movement by the time of the Games in Athens later this year and we have got 22 or 23 already of the sports signed up, the others are in progress and they understand that they have to be ready. And governments will be ready by Torino (Turin) in 2006 so I think you will see for the first time in Athens all the sports playing off the same set of rules."
The WADA president announced that basketball had signed up.
"Well we're very pleased, you know, while the media is all here in Lausanne to have a very important sport, basketball, actually formally sign the code today, so that's a very important step forward for us, not only because basketball is an important Olympic sport but because there is a professional basketball component and we hope that this is the beginning of persuading professional basketball to adopt the same rules," he said.
Pound said he thought the code would act as both educator and referee and he reiterated Rogge's call that governments pay the money they promised and apply the rules in their own countries.
"Governments you need two things; you need their support as a reflection of the public; we need their money, their share of the money, to fight against doping in sport; and we need them to be ready to change the rules that apply in their countries in order that their country will be the same as all the others," Pound said.
FIFA announced on Wednesday that it is to adopt the World Anti-Doping Code in May. FIFA president Sepp Blatter met Pound in Zurich and they agreed to finalise a formal agreement on doping matters. Cycling is now the only major Olympic sport outside the WADA agreement.
The agreement with FIFA appears to bring to a close a long war of attrition between the two organisations who have been close to, and then far from agreeing on a deal for almost a year.
Last November Pound said that an agreement had been reached with FIFA over sanctions for players caught using illicit performance-enhancing drugs. But Pound then criticised FIFA and football in general for the way the Rio Ferdinand case had been handled.
IOC president Rogge welcomed the decision by the world soccer governing body to sign up to the anti-doping code.
"It is a very strong sign in the fight against doping because FIFA is the world's biggest federation, it is the most popular sport in the world, so I think it was very important that FIFA sign this accord. We encouraged it and I congratulate (FIFA President) Sepp Blatter and Dick Pound for this agreement," said Rogge.
Bureau Report