SPAIN: DOPING - World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) elects Australian John Fahey as its new chairman

The newly-elected chief of the sports' World Anti-Doping Agency, Australian John Fahey, pledges to forge stronger ties with governments in a bid to enforce a new doping code and crack down more effectively on cheats. Fahey's appointmentweeks of turbulent negotiations which upset European stakeholders and dented WADA's reputation. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) elected, with four European abstentions, former Australian Finance Minister John Fahey as its new chairman in Madrid on Saturday (November 17). Fahey's appointment ended weeks of turbulent negotiations which upset European stakeholders and dented WADA's reputation. Fahey, who in the end was the only candidate, won 13 of the 17 public authority votes and was then backed by the 18 Olympic movement votes. The European public authorities who opposed Fahey abstained after asking Pound to postpone the vote for six months until a consensus candidate could be found, a request Pound rejected minutes before the vote. Maude de Boer, deputy secretary general of the Council of Europe, said the European bloc of public authority representatives wanted a postponement as a consensus among all public authority representatives had not been reached. "What happened now must not affect the relationship of Europe with WADA. We are constructive about it, but it must come from both sides so that remains to be seen," De Boer told journalists after the vote. The election put an end to a few difficult days for Australian Fahey. "I'm very honoured and privileged to follow in the footsteps of President Pound and to have the opportunity to serve sports in the fight against drugs in sport," he told a news conference. Outgoing Pound said he understood the Europeans' frustration after Lamour pulled out, and their consequent abstention. He told Reuters that he didn't foresee further problems and that he saw their abstention as a dignified way of putting the issue behind. "No, I think this was a particular difficulty that arouse out of the fact that their candidate shot himself out of the water -himself, nobody else did it. I think they were embarrassed and they would have liked a second opportunity to pick the ball after the second bounce but that wasn't the process everybody had agreed to," said Pound, who is stepping down on Dec. 31. Fahey joined the race after WADA vice-president Jean-Francois Lamour was picked by European governments as their choice to succeed Pound, a Canadian lawyer who has held the post for eight years. Shortly afterwards, Lamour withdrew unexpectedly, accusing WADA of being ineffective and surprising his backers who scrambled to find another candidate as they opposed Fahey's nomination. A last-ditch effort to get former French sports minister Guy Drut to stand as a consensus candidate for interim president failed hours before the vote. Minutes after winning a vote which European governments tried to block and then abstained from, Fahey, elected for a three-year term starting on Jan. 1, said all the pre-election wrangling was now a thing of the past. "I'm not surprise about anything. Look, they had a perspective and whether I agreed with that or not that really is irrelevant. I spoke to so many European ministers and government members in the course of working it through and again everytime none of them expressed any objections to me. There was some expectation for many in Europe that there would be a European President but democracy is a funny thing, it works in funny ways sometimes not necessarily in the way you might want it to. In that case I believe I went through the democratic process and I'm now looking forward to doing the work that's necessary" he said. The newly-elected chief WADA pledged to forge stronger ties with governments in a bid to enforce a new doping code and crack down more effectively on cheats. "I've indicated I come from the government side -clearly I believe there is a need to show there is a need greater government commitment," Fahey, a former Australian finance minister, told reporters. Fahey won all but four votes -- all abstentions from Europe -- and said the time had come for governments to play a greater role in fighting doping in sport. Only 71 of 191 countries have adopted WADA's anti-doping code through the ratification of a UNESCO convention. The European public authorities had opposed Fahey and then abstained after asking Pound to postpone the vote for six months until a consensus candidate could be found, a request Pound rejected minutes before the vote. Fahey, backed initially at least by Oceania and the Americas, joined the race after WADA vice-president Jean-Francois Lamour was picked by European governments as their choice to succeed Pound, a Canadian lawyer who has held the post for eight years. Shortly afterwards though, Lamour withdrew unexpectedly, accusing WADA of being ineffective and surprising his backers who scrambled to find another candidate. A last-ditch effort to get former French sports minister Guy Drut to stand as a consensus candidate for interim president failed hours before the vote. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it welcomed Fahey's appointment and looked forward to working with him. Swedish IOC member Arne Ljungqvist was elected WADA vice president. Earlier, WADA had officially adopted its new code which Fahey calling valuable, new "weaponry". The code foresees tougher bans for first-time offenders, doubling suspensions from two to four years, depending on the case. Aggravating circumstances include being part of a large doping scheme, taking drugs for a long period of time, taking a cocktail of banned substances or using drugs that remain in the body for years. However, it also offers reduced bans for athletes offering information on drugs in the form of plea bargains. The maximum reduction in these cases though would not exceed three-quarters of the ban, WADA said. More leniency is given to athletes who have taken a banned substance without intent to enhance their sporting performance, who could avoid sanctions altogether.

ITN Source | November 18, 2007

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