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≡ IOC AT THE WORLD CONFERENCE ≡
International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) made an impassioned plea against doping in her address on Tuesday (2nd) to the sixth World Conference on Doping Sport in Busan (KOR).
She also asked the warring factions in the anti-doping community to work together in the future.
First, the anti-doping effort, which Coventry noted has to go beyond just the athletes themselves:
“We all know that athletes are not always the only ones responsible when doping occurs. Too often, they are pressured or enabled by those around them – coaches, doctors, agents, or officials. This is not just an issue of fairness; it is about the health, safety, and wellbeing of athletes. Sometimes, it is a matter of life and death.
“We must encourage athletes who have been pressured into doping to come forward – to show courage by speaking out and helping us expose those who exploit them. This is how we protect others from suffering the same fate.
“We need zero tolerance for anyone who enables doping. Take the example of a doctor found complicit in a doping case: as things stand, the only action we can take is to send that doctor home from the Games and exclude them from future editions. But when that person goes back home, they can simply continue their nefarious work without consequence.
“That cannot be acceptable. It sends the wrong message – to athletes, to parents, and to society. This is why we need the support of governments. Only public authorities have the power to take real, deterrent action – to ensure that anyone who betrays the health and trust of athletes faces serious consequences.”
But she transitioned into the conflicts within the anti-doping community:
“We all share the same responsibility: to build an environment where athletes can trust that they can compete safely and fairly. And that can only happen when we act together, as one team – as one global community.
“But we have to be honest with ourselves: this unity has not always been there in recent years.
“Too often, we’ve seen energy spent on division, finger-pointing, and competing agendas. It has been difficult to watch this divide within our community. There is only one fight that we should be fighting – and that is the fight against doping. But instead, at times, we have been turning on each other. The only people who benefit from this disunity are the drugs cheaters.
“For the sake of the athletes, we need to move past that.”
She continued with her plea for peace inside the anti-doping community, but offered no specific path forward:
“Every single person in this room cares passionately about protecting clean sport. Of course, we will disagree at times, but those differences must never get in the way of our vital objectives.
“If we truly want to be one global anti-doping community that athletes can trust, we have to put our differences aside and pull in the same direction. It’s too easy to point out what others are not doing well enough. The real challenge – the real opportunity – is to be honest about our own weaknesses, to lift each other up, to learn from the past, and to work together as one united team – for the athletes who depend on us to protect them, to protect their right to clean competition.
“We share the same purpose: to protect athletes, to uphold our values, but more importantly to ensure that the next generation continues to believe in sport. What matters is that we keep talking, listening, and challenging each other with mutual respect – always remembering that the next generation of athletes is watching us and holding us accountable.
“So if I have one main request this evening, it is: let’s promise to focus our energy on what truly matters. Let’s put the athletes first, let’s work as one global team, and make sure that our actions match our words.”
The World Anti-Doping Agency has been under pressure since German and American media reports in 2024 surfaced a January 2021 mass-positives incident in China in which 23 star swimmers tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine, but were not sanctioned by the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency, which claimed the positives resulted from contaminated food. WADA did not investigate the matter on its own and accepted the CHINADA explanation.
WADA later commissioned a report which concluded that the agency showed no bias toward China, but continuing criticism – led by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency – has been leveled at WADA for not pursuing the case more aggressively and for not following its own rules on provisional suspensions and sanctions.
In response, the U.S. Congress has held hearings on the matter and the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy has withheld dues of $3.625 million for 2024 and no indication has been made that 2025 dues have been paid either.
Observed: The IOC certainly could intercede if it desires; it contributes approximately 50% of WADA’s annual budget. But Coventry did not promise to intervene and the positions of the two sides has not changed in months, and shows little promise of movement unless more direct actions are taken by either side, or an outside force, which will apparently not – for now anyway – be the IOC.
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