Drugs in sport to dominate pre-Olympic Commonwealth meeting
Commonwealth sports ministers are meeting today in Athens on the eve of the Olympic Games.
Top on the meeting’s agenda will be methods of stopping drug cheats, with Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, addressing the meeting.
Sports Minister Richard Caborn, who will chair the meeting, said that: “The millions watching this month’s Olympics need to have confidence that the competitors winning medals are doing so fair and square.
“I believe the Commonwealth has a big role to play in helping rid sport of drug cheats and I am sure governments will want to play their part.”
Ministers will be discussing measures to ensure that the World Anti-Doping Code is implemented effectively by national sporting associations.
The Commonwealth sports ministers meet every two years, prior to the Commonwealth and Olympic Games and today’s meeting will also provide an opportunity for Mr Caborn to canvas support for London’s 2012 bid for the Olympics.
Also up for discussion is the establishment of a Commonwealth Advisory Body on Sport, which will seek to promote sport as a tool for economic and social development.
Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon said: “Sport can play an important role in the economic development of Commonwealth member countries. It can empower people — particularly the young — and provide them with real opportunities to better their lives.”
He said he believed the meeting “will deliver practical results and confirm the role the Commonwealth can play in promoting the value of sport for the benefit of all Commonwealth citizens.”
Scottish Sports Minister Frank McAveety, speaking before the meeting, said that he will be taking the opportunity to “affirm Scotland’s commitment to supporting the World Anti-Doping Code, and achieving the goals of doping-free sport within the UK.
“The Code chimes perfectly with the Executive’s wider programme of ‘ethics in sport’, which aims to establish fundamental values such as integrity, respect, and equity amongst our sporting organisations.
“I will also highlight Scotland’s support for the positive promotion and formal recognition of women’s and girls’ sport in its own right.”
The Olympics will officially start on Friday, with 271 British athletes confirmed to be competing. Judo star Kate Howey will carry the British flag at the opening ceremony- only the third British women to be chosen.
