Council of Europe Seminar: Best anti-doping program impementation models

The international Council of Europe “Best Anti-Doping Program Implementation Models” Seminar was conducted in Minsk on November 22, 2016. International anti-doping experts from Denmark, Germany, Finland and Russia delivered their presentations in the relevant fields. Representatives of the Belarusian sports movement including coaches, sports physicians, representatives of organizations subordinate to the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, National Sports Federations, National Sports teams and other stakeholders from the spheres of education and healthcare.

The First Vice-President of the NOC Mr Maksim Ryzhenkov opened the Seminar with a welcome note.

“The public awareness of the necessity for anti-doping program implementation and the inevitability of punishment for violations is ever-growing. The measures being undertaken are to discourage and deter those who try to achieve success by cheating. Our principled position is that sport is to stay clean and fair,” stated Mr. Ryzhenkov. It is better to become fifth or sixth and leave your print in the history of sport forever rather than win a medal which will be taken away with shame.”

During the opening ceremony words of welcome were also said by the Deputy Minister of Sports and Tourism Mr Dubkovsky Aleksandr, the Council of Europe program manager Ms Maryam Gafar-zada and the Director of the National Anti-Doping Agency Denis Muzhzhukhin.

Ms Gafar-zada delivered her presentation on «Compliance With Commitments Under the CoE Anti-Doping Convention».

The scientific consultant of Anti-Doping Denmark Mr Jakob Mørkeberg dedicated his «Testing at Major Events: RIO 2016» presentation to the issues of test-planning and conduction and ways of resolving them during Major Events such as the Olympic Games. The presentation mainly focused on the testing process during the Rio 2016 Summer Games where Mr Mørkeberg was part of the Independent Observers’ Program.

The «Challenges and Ways of the 2015 Code Implementation» presentation delivered by Mr Lars Mortifer – Legal Director of NADA Germany covered the legal aspects of Code compliance and Code compliance implementation within the scope of NADA Germany’s operations.

Mr Jacob Mørkeberg delivered a second comprehensive presentation titled «Athlete Biological Passport» which included scientific research data and statistics.

The issues of education in the fight against doping and ways of implementation of effective informational and educational anti-doping programs were covered in the «Three Steps To Better Anti-Doping Education» presentation delivered by the education manager of the Finnish Center for Integrity in Sports Mr Samuli Rasila.

The «Anti-Doping Activities In Pharmacological Maintaining Of National Teams» presentation was delivered by the anti-doping expert of the Russian Federal Research and Clinical Center of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation of Federal Medical Biological Agency Ms Veronika Loginova. Ms Loginova’s presentation reflected the main aspects and content of the sports’ physicians’ preparation program along with examples of implementing contemporary technical means of communication.

Seminar participants had the opportunity to communicate with the experts, to receive feedback from them concerning the relevant anti-doping issues and discuss current and planned anti-doping initiatives

Secretary-General of the Belarus Athletic Federation Mr Alexander But-Gusaim stated: “Generally speaking, all of the experts present at the Seminar were able to receive sophisticated answers to the relevant anti-doping questions. It was exceptionally nice to be present at this Seminar. The speakers, the organization and the interesting form of communication – everything was on a high level. The information on the testing figures during the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, the Athlete Biological Passport and the World Anti-Doping Code implementation issues was interesting to get acquainted with.”

The Director of the National Anti-Doping Agency Denis Muzhzhukhin expressed gratitude to the Council of Europe for assisting with the organization of the Seminar.

“Today Belarusian coaches and sports physicians had the opportunity to hear out what many high-level experts have to deliver. It is top priority for Belarus to comply with the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention and the means of the Council of Europe will help us achieve that. Belarus is constantly invited to become part of European projects and initiatives aimed at doping deterrence and the fight against doping in sport. We will have all proposals thoroughly studied” stated Mr Muzhzhukhin.

The Director of NADA Belarus also mentioned that the whole anti-doping system in based on the cooperation of many parties meaning that the participation of Belarusian experts in European projects is crucial from the view-point of gaining experience.

The organizers of the event were: the Council of Europe, Ministry of Sports and Tourism, National Olympic Committee of Belarus, National Anti-Doping Agency of Belarus

NADA Belarus expresses its gratitude to the Ministry of Sports and Tourism and to the Belarus Athletic Federation (photographer: Slava Patysh) for the photos.

All presentations from the Seminar can be download HERE:

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