Athletics Australia Chief Executive Officer, Phil Jones, has spoken firmly in the wake of the release of the second World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Independent Commission Report.
“The WADA Independent Commission Report issued today alleges a damning level of corruption at the highest level of the IAAF. The absence of a robust, overarching IAAF governance structure and clear lines of accountability has enabled practices that have compromised the integrity of the whole sport of athletics.
“The trust and confidence of all athletics’ stakeholders, most notably athletes, administrators, federations and fans, has been exploited through the existence of what we now understand was an “informal illegitimate governance structure” outside, but directly associated with the IAAF and its anti-doping unit.
“Athletics Australia considers the findings to set out today as the turning point for the IAAF’s leadership. We reiterate our unwavering stance against doping in sport and require that the IAAF, under the leadership of President Seb Coe, take all actions necessary to deliver a level playing field for all athletes, worldwide. We want to see real action before Rio 2016.
“We acknowledge that there is an enormous amount to do to restore the credibility of the sport of athletics. We share the confidence that the President of the Independent Commission, Dick Pound, has placed in Sebastien Coe as the right person to lead the IAAF into a new era.
“Here in Australia, Athletics takes stringent measures to prevent the use of performance enhancing drugs in our sport all levels. These measures include:
- Clear commitment to adhere to all IAAF rules including in the anti-doping area
- Anti-doping commitment in the Athletics Australia Code of Conduct and other policies, including a mandatory requirement for all representative team members: managers, medical team, athletes and coaches to complete ASADA level 1 and 2 anti-doping courses
- Full assistance to ASADA if and when they request information or assistance on a potential anti-doping violation
- Athletics Australia Integrity Unit managed with complete independence from the Athletics Australia’s High Performance Unit.
“We will provide further comment on the contents of the WADA Independent Commission Report #2 after we have had the opportunity to appropriately consider the contents in full.”
The WADA Independent Commission Report #2 can be downloaded here.
The interview with Phil Jones on ABC News this morning can be viewed here.
This release is available online here.
