The ITU Anti-doping Team would like people to be aware that the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) released their list of compliant organisations recently.  Their Compliance Report was approved by its Foundation Board at a meeting in Montreal, Canada on November 20, 2011.

The report reconfirmed that the ITU is in compliance with the WADA Code. The WADA Foundation Board also announced a budget freeze and approved Social Science Research of which ITU’s Anti-Doping Director, Leslie Buchanan, helps to approve as a member of the WADA Education Committee.

According to the WADA press release, “the compliance report follows the conclusion of a three-year monitoring process whereby WADA assessed the anti-doping rules and regulations of signatories to the Code.

“WADA is all too aware that in this current economic climate it is sometimes difficult to implement changes at the speed within a normal timeframe,” said WADA President John Fahey.

“We have had regular communication with all signatories listed as non-compliant, and we are encouraged by the fact there exists a will to achieve compliance, even though the reality is proving much harder.

“Despite this, it is WADA’s responsibility to make sure that the required standards are met and we must not shy away from the fact that some national anti-doping organizations still have a way to go before reaching compliance.

“WADA will continue to work tirelessly with them in order to get them up to speed at the earliest possible time.”

More promising were the compliance results of International Federations (IFs) which are signatories to the Code.

There was 100% compliance for the 35 Olympic IFs, and 100% compliance for the 32 IFs that form the Association of IOC Recognized International Sports Federations (ARISF).

Furthermore, progress is also being made with SportAccord members, with 19 of the 24 signatories reaching compliance.

The full compliance status of WADA signatories can be found on WADA’s Website, click here.

Budget Freeze

The Foundation Board denied WADA Finance Committee’s recommendation of a 2% budget increase for the financial year 2012, despite accepting that the costs involved in WADA activities had increased.

After a detailed presentation on WADA’s financial spending in 2011, it was decided that in light of the current economic turbulence worldwide, the Agency would be asked to operate at the same level of funding.

“Clearly it is not an ideal situation to have our budget frozen at a time when associated costs have risen and when the rate of inflation in Canada is running at 3%,” said Mr. Fahey.

“But economies across the world are facing severe economic problems and WADA understands the harsh reality, which is that there is not much money to go around at the moment.

“WADA has always prided itself on prudent financial management and will rise to this additional challenge like so many of its signatories have had to do.”

Social Science Research

As is traditional at its November meeting, the Executive Committee approved funding for projects under WADA’s Social Science Research Program.

In total, $100,000 was allocated to projects that foster understanding of attitudinal and behavioral aspects of doping in order to enhance doping prevention strategies.

There will be an additional call for proposals for Social Science Research published in December 2011, with a deadline of early March 2012.

For more information on WADA, please visit here. For more on ITU Anti-Doping, please click here.