Minister for Sport Mark Arbib today announced Australian athletes attempting to qualify for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games would face the most comprehensive anti-doping program Australia has ever put together for a major sporting event.

Senator Arbib said the Government through the Australian Sports Anti-doping Authority (ASADA) would invest more than $1 million in the word-class Pure Performance program to conduct more than 1000 blood and urine tests across Olympic and Paralympic athletes in the lead up to London.

“The Australian Government is committed to supporting Australia’s Olympic and Paralympic teams achieve great results in London,” Senator Arbib said.

“With five months to the London Games we want to ensure that our athletes belong to a culture free from doping, where performance is based on an athlete’s talent, determination, courage and honesty.

“Pure Performance is a world-leading anti-doping program that will give our athletes the confidence to proudly compete drug-free on the world stage.

“We don't want doping cheats to tarnish the great contribution that sport makes to our nation. Athletes who dope risk their health, risk their careers, and risk their reputation.

“We want to be able to look upon our athletes wearing the green and gold in London with pride knowing they‘ve undergone rigorous anti-doping testing.”

The Australian Government is investing $170 million in high performance sport, including the Australian Institute of Sport, to ensure Australia’s elite athletes are supported in the lead-up to the London Games.

Senator Arbib said the Australian Government owed it to the Australian public to protect this investment and the integrity of sport by ensuring that Australia has in place a world-leading anti-doping program.

“Internationally the net is tightening on doping cheats and athletes can be assured that the Australian Government is doing everything possible to protect their right to compete on an even playing field.”

ASADA’s chief executive Aurora Andruska said ASADA would apply more than 20 years of anti-doping experience to coordinate programs that deterred doping. This includes the best ASADA has to offer in the areas of testing; investigations and intelligence; education and awareness raising; and enforcement.

“We have given our assurance to the government, and the Australian Olympic and Paralympic Committees that we will provide athletes heading to London with the most comprehensive anti-doping program. This means testing anytime and anyplace, including overseas,” Ms Andruska said.

“The Olympic oath sworn by all competitors pledges a commitment to a sport without doping and without drugs.
“For Australian athletes to be true to the Olympic oath, ASADA will deliver pre-Games anti-doping programs that I believe are world’s best practice.”

Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) President John Coates AC said ASADA’s Pure Performance Program had the AOC’S full backing.

“These tests will be part of a global effort to weed out the cheats before and during the London 2012 Games,” Mr Coates said.

“The AOC is not embarrassed when a doping cheat is uncovered. It proves the testing and the other procedures in place are working. Our policy has not changed - it is one of zero tolerance.”

Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) President Greg Hartung said it was fitting that the 2012 Australian Paralympic Team, the largest ever sent by the APC to a Paralympic Games overseas, would be provided with Australia’s largest ever anti-doping program.

“The APC fiercely protects the rights of all Australian Paralympic athletes to compete in doping-free sport, and acknowledges ASADA’s ongoing commitment to detect, deter and prevent doping in sport,” Mr Hartung said.

London 2012 – quick facts:

• More than 10,000 athletes will compete across 26 Olympic and 20 Paralympic sports.
• Australia aims to qualify a team of approximately 420 Olympic athletes and 165 Paralympic athletes.
• The 2012 London Paralympic Games will see the largest Australian team ever sent to a Games.
• London officials have publicly stated that the 2012 Games will have the toughest anti-doping program in history.
• The London organising committee has worked closely with the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency and UK Anti-Doping to ensure the most comprehensive testing program is in place at the Games.
• Fifty per cent of the athletes will be tested at the Games (some 5,000 athletes), and all the medallists will be tested.
• A minimum of 10 per cent of tests at the Games will be blood tests.
• Anti-doping staff at the Games will include 700 chaperones, 230 doping control officers and 100 blood control officers.

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Australia and the United Kingdom have reached an historic agreement uniting the intelligence and investigation strengths of two of the world’s leading anti-doping organisations to protect the integrity of sport.

Federal Minister for Sport Mark Arbib today announced the signing of the agreement between the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) and UK Anti-Doping.

Senator Arbib said the agreement would harness the intelligence and investigations capabilities of the two organisations to greatly improve global anti-doping efforts.

“This agreement goes beyond information-sharing, it provides a framework for the organisations to use their combined expertise to assess doping issues and trends and work out how to best deal with them,” Senator Arbib said.

“It will allow ASADA to work with UK Anti-Doping on their testing programs and support anti-doping investigations, which can catch cheats who haven’t recorded a positive test.

“This arrangement will make it even harder for athletes to hide if they are doping.

“I am very pleased that we have this agreement in place in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to support efforts being made globally to catch cheats before, during, and after the Games.

“The net is tightening on doping cheats, and athletes can be assured that everything possible is being done to protect their right to compete in sport played fairly and where all players are giving their best.”

Under the agreement UK Anti-Doping could potentially advise ASADA that a new performanceenhancing substance is being used in the UK.

ASADA could then apply new technology to retrospectively analyse an Australian athlete’s sample stored in their long-term storage facility or introduce warnings into their education program.

UK Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson said drug cheats had no place in sport and it was important to do everything possible to ensure that they don’t reach the start line.

“Sharing information, intelligence and best practice is crucial to help us in that fight and take a unified global approach. This agreement between UK Anti-Doping and ASADA will do exactly that,” Mr Robertson said.

“We are taking a no-compromise, zero tolerance approach to doping at London 2012 and this partnership will strengthen our efforts in the run up to hosting the greatest sporting show on earth.”

ASADA Chief Executive Officer Aurora Andruska said Australia had been at the forefront of antidoping efforts for the past two decades and this agreement with UK Anti-Doping was another example of how united the world had become to eradicate doping in sport.

“Whether it is importation issues, using intelligence for testing programs, or detecting doping trends in sports played by both countries, this agreement is a catalyst for ensuring pure performance,” Ms Andruska said.

“There are many athletes from Australia and the UK who now train and compete in both countries, so we owe it to them to have this inter-agency arrangement in place.

“The world is becoming smaller and we need to become smarter in what we do, so I believe a global intelligence-led approach to catching cheats is the way of the future in anti-doping.”

UK Anti-Doping Chief Executive Andy Parkinson said the Memorandum of Understanding allows UK Anti-Doping to strengthen its intelligence-led approach.

“To tackle the problem of doping in sport, we must work collaboratively and on a global scale. This latest Memorandum of Understanding is a significant addition to our intelligence sharing capabilities in the countdown to 2012 and beyond,” Mr Parkinson said.

“By using an intelligence-led approach in all aspects of our anti-doping programmes, the UK and Australia stand a greater chance of deterring those tempted to dope and of catching those who do. I have great confidence in the impact we will have in the next year, particularly as a result of such partnerships.”

Since 2006, about one-third of Australian athletes entered onto the Register of Findings for an anti-doping rule violation were caught as a direct result of ASADA’s intelligence and investigations capability.

The agreement will complement ASADA’s other domestic information-sharing relationships with government law enforcement bodies, non-government agencies and sporting administration bodies.

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Minister for Sport Mark Arbib today announced appointments to the first advisory group to the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA).

This is the first full panel to act as a consultative forum for ASADA's CEO on matters relating to deterring, detecting and enforcing doping issues in sport.

Accomplished sports lawyer, Mr Brian Ward OAM will Chair the Advisory Group whose members include:

• Ms Kate Palmer - Netball Australia Chief Executive.

• Mr John Drury PSM - Former Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Customs Service.

• Professor David Handelsman - Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology and Andrology, University of Sydney and Director of the ANZAC Research Institute at Concord Hospital, Sydney.

• Ms Anne Gripper - Triathlon Australia Chief Executive Officer and former Director of the Anti-Doping Foundation at the International Cycling Union.

• Mr Steve Moneghetti - One of Australia’s greatest marathon runners and Chef-de-Mission at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

 
Senator Arbib said each member of the Advisory Group had earned the utmost respect within their chosen field and their knowledge and experience would serve ASADA well into the future.

“The group is made up of experts in the areas of the law, sport, health, law enforcement and education,” Senator Arbib said.

“It will play an important part in further strengthening Australia’s anti-doping efforts which serve to protect the integrity of sport and the health of our athletes.

“The Australian Government, through ASADA, aims to develop a sporting culture free from doping in which performance is based on an athlete’s talent, determination, courage and honesty.”

ASADA is Australia’s national anti-doping organisation and offers the most fully integrated anti-doping framework in the world. Its work involves sample collection, education, investigation, presentation of cases at hearings, sanction recommendations and the development, approval and monitoring of sporting organisations’ anti-doping policies.

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The global effort to eliminate doping from sport has been given a boost following the completion of the first international anti-doping intelligence course run by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA).

Minister for Sport Mark Arbib said anti-doping agencies from Qatar, Singapore and Japan were given special insight into how ASADA uses intelligence to maximise the detection of possible anti-doping rule violations.

They were also advised of the importance of information sharing between anti-doping authorities and law enforcement agencies.

“The Australian Government wants to play our part towards building the anti-doping capacity of other countries so when Australian athletes travel overseas to compete they do so on an equal footing,” Senator Arbib said.

“There is increasing evidence that doping in sport is becoming more sophisticated and remains a real threat to the integrity of sport around the world.

“Using intelligence to catch drug cheats is the way of the future in anti-doping and to help achieve a world-wide harmonised approach to anti-doping we are delighted to share what we have learnt in this area with the international anti-doping community.

“Australia has been at the forefront of the fight against drug cheats for the past two decades and Australia’s John Fahey is the current president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).”

ASADA Chief Executive Officer Aurora Andruska said ASADA focused on acquiring intelligence from a number of sources, including law enforcement agencies, to complement its more traditional testing program and to assist with its investigations of non-analytical cases.

Ms Andruska said ASADA’s anti-doping program involved a range of information-gathering strategies to support efforts to prove the use, possession and trafficking of prohibited substances.

“Not everyone would be aware that in Australia during 2009–10 about a third of the athletes banned from sport for doping violations were caught without ever returning a positive result on a traditional doping test, and intelligence played a key role in that,” Ms Andruska said.

“Other athletes caught by a traditional doping test may also have been target-tested based on intelligence received from other agencies.”

Yeo Say Po, General Manager of Anti-Doping Singapore said Australia was very sophisticated in the use of intelligence in anti-doping and that the information shared in the course had been invaluable.

“Intelligence has increasingly become a critical feature of effective anti-doping activities in all countries and this type of course is vital as we implement international best practice into our own testing program,” she said.

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A hard-hitting poster showing an athlete injecting a prohibited substance is at the centre of a new anti-doping awareness campaign launched today by the Minister for Sport, Kate Ellis.

This new campaign by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) targets both up-and-coming and elite athletes with the message: You can never win your reputation back.

“This confronting poster sends the important message to athletes that doping is never okay and that your reputation, once lost, is something you can never get back,” Ms Ellis said.

“Doping can ruin an athlete’s health but it can be just as damaging for an athlete’s reputation and ultimately has the potential to end careers.”

Ms Ellis met with elite athletes who have thrown their support behind the campaign at Parliament House this morning.

Olympic and World Champion rower Amber Halliday, Western Bulldogs star Robert Murphy and Paralympic swimmer and world record holder Matthew Cowdrey have all been named as Campaign Ambassadors.

Ms Halliday, who has moved into cycling following her rowing career, agreed that the campaign message had to be spread at a grassroots level.

“I can relate to the pressure young athletes are under while trying to carve out a career in sport,” Ms Halliday said.

“This campaign highlights the fact that no matter how good athletes get—no matter how many races they win or goals they score—it will all come crashing down if they have cheated through doping.”

The Australian Government, through ASADA, aims to develop a sporting culture free from doping in which performance is based on an athlete’s talent determination, courage and honesty.

To achieve this, the Government works to provide a comprehensive anti-doping program for the Australian sports community, encompassing deterrence, detection and enforcement activities.

ASADA has developed its campaign based on research that shows reputation is a major concern for athletes when contemplating doping.

The You can never win your reputation back campaign will run through June and July and encourages everyone involved in sport to visit www.asada.gov.au and find out more about the risks and repercussions of doping.

“We want to remind athletes that this risk is real and that doping in sport is simply not worth it,” Ms Ellis said.

Schools or local sporting organisations that are interested in ordering posters for display in classrooms and/or change rooms should call the ASADA Hotline on 13 000 ASADA (13 000 27232). Any Australian can play their part and stamp out doping by confidentially reporting suspicious doping activity to 13 000 ASADA (13 000 27232).

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The Minister for Sport Kate Ellis has announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive for the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority.

Ms Aurora Andruska will soon take the reins of the Authority, under a new governance structure introduced earlier this year.

Ms Andruska is presently the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Centrelink and will bring extensive public service and corporate governance experience to ASADA.

“Ms Andruska has the experience and skills that ASADA needs to maintain Australia’s reputation as an international leader in the fight against drugs in sport,” Ms Ellis said.

ASADA is at the centre of anti-doping efforts in Australian sport, using its education programs, drug testing, investigations and enforcement to deter and detect drug cheats.

“Ms Andruska is an outstanding leader with a strong track record of building positive relationships and achieving results,” Ms Ellis said.

Ms Andruska said she’s delighted to have the opportunity to work with the sporting community and lead the ASADA team.

“The 30 years plus experience I have in the public sector will stand me in good stead to meet the challenge of maintaining the integrity of Australian sport,” Ms Andruska said.

“Under my leadership the community, athletes and sports organisations can have confidence that ASADA is keeping Australian sport on a level playing field,” she said.

Ms Andruska takes over from Richard Ings. Since 2005, Mr Ings has served as the CEO of the former Australian Sports Drug Agency, the Chair of ASADA and the CEO of ASADA.

“I thank Mr Ings for his leadership through this period of growth and transition for Australia’s peak anti-sports doping agency. I wish him well in his future pursuits,” Ms Ellis said.

Ms Andruska’s three year appointment starts on 10 May.

The CEO of ASADA is the statutory office holder responsible for administering the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Act 2006. Last year, the Parliament passed amendments to strengthen the Act, which took effect this year.

The amendments reflect the recommendations of the independent review of ASADA in late 2008 and provide new structural and governance arrangements to ensure the efficacy of ASADA's anti-doping programs. The changes also allow a new independent Anti-Doping Rule Violation Panel.

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Minister for Sport Kate Ellis today launched the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority’s (ASADA) new website, which features an online tool to help athletes check medications.

“Australia has an international reputation of taking a tough stance against performance enhancing drugs in sport. This website is another way we’re promoting that message and educating Australian sportspeople,” Ms Ellis said.

The new online resources will help Australian athletes, doctors, coaches and support personnel to anonymously and immediately find out if their medications and substances are permitted or prohibited in sport.

These resources will give Australian athletes, and international athletes visiting Australia, the means to feel confident about what they put into their bodies.

“We know that understanding what is and isn’t allowed can be confusing for some athletes and the people who advise them. This is a way we’re educating and informing sportspeople so that they can make well-informed decisions,” Ms Ellis said.

“In the run up to major international sporting events like the Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Games, it’s the perfect time to talk about the importance of staying informed about doping.”

The latest survey of athletes, support personnel and national sporting organisations, showed that the ASADA website is the most popular way to receive anti-doping information and 77% favoured the Internet for checking drug information.

Ms Ellis said that ASADA had listened to athletes and the sporting industry who wanted a simpler, easier and more accessible way to get reliable anti-doping information.

“The new-look website caters for our younger tech-savvy athletes who are at an age where getting the anti-doping message is important,” Ms Ellis said.

“ASADA’s investment in new technology shows its commitment to meeting the changing needs of athletes and the sporting industry now and into the future.”

The new website and online medication checking tool are www.asada.gov.au

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