The third annual Conference for All-Russia Sports Federations “Anti-doping support in sports federations: challenges and opportunities” was held at the Innovation Center of the Russian Olympic Committee. The event was organized by RUSADA with the support of ROC and the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation.
In a welcoming speech to the participants and guests of the forum, the Director General of RUSADA, Yury Ganus, stressed that “at the moment all the athletes from Russia are in the zone of special attention, and we all have to be different in order to exclude negativity towards us.”
The President of the Russian Olympic Committee Stanislav Pozdnyakov focused on the positive changes that have taken place in the campaign against doping lately.
– In Russia, the national anti-doping agency has been completely reformed and reinstated. A completely new anti-doping model is being created in the country. We have to become the headliners of this work. Our task is to make Russian sports transparent and to restore the trust of foreign partners as soon as possible, – noted the head of ROC.
Furthermore, the Deputy Minister of Sports Igor Sidorkevich addressed the audience. As you know, one of the main tasks of the Ministry of Sports is the implementation of a set of measures as part of the National Plan to Combat Doping. According to Igor Sidorkevich, his department regularly holds round tables, seminars and other events aimed at developing effective mechanisms for the elimination of doping.
Margarita Pakhnotskaya, Deputy Director General of RUSADA, spoke in detail about the importance of the anti-doping strategy.
– The reinstated anti-doping agency on the national level continues to work closely with the Ministry of Sports, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as ROC and the Paralympic Committee. To help athletes and coaches quickly solve immediate problems, a mobile application has been launched – Anti-Doping PRO. It is available for download on any gadget and allows you to check the doping legitimacy of any drug before it is purchased. RUSADA is actively developing programs for training and testing athletes. Now the so-called national testing pool includes 771 people, but only 25 percent of athletes have gone online. This problem cannot be solved without the participation of sports federations. We hope for your assistance. An important milestone in the work of RUSADA will be a visit by a special WADA commission to Moscow to conduct an audit of our organization. We are waiting for our foreign colleagues on December 11-12, – said Margarita Pakhnotskaya.
WADA International expert Eva Lyukoshute-Stanikunene stated the need to create different platforms for training athletes, as required by the World Anti-Doping Code. The main goal of the information and educational programs, in the opinion of Ms. Lyukoshute-Stanikunene, is the prevention of potential anti-doping violations.
Representatives of the Russian Paralympic Committee, the Russian Football Union, federations of hockey, weightlifting and athletics also took an active part in the Conference. All speakers unanimously advocated compliance with the zero tolerance policy for doping and the application of the principle of inevitability of punishment to violators of anti-doping rules.
