IWF anti-doping seminar takes place in Kazan

The seminar kicked off with a welcome speech by Russia’s Deputy Sport Minister Yury Nagornykh who stressed the importance of fighting doping in sport. “The idea of holding the seminar was brought forward by International Weightlifting Federation President Tamás Aján. The idea was strongly backed by Russia’s Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko,” Yury Nagornykh said. “The issue of doping and our fight against it is extremely important, especially in weightlifting. Tremendous work has been done in this regard and we are confident that the seminar will allow strengthening the fight against prohibited substances. After all doping is the threat to sport globally.”

According to Nagornykh, the fight against doping implies the understanding of the threat of banned substances and inevitability of punishment for their use. “We need to develop the educational component of our work. Sometimes the information is very abstract but we need to specify it so that it becomes easily understandable,” Nagornykh said.

International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Vice President, Alexander Gerasimenko, added that the issue of doping has a growing importance in these latter days. “The fight against doping is a priority area of activity for the International Weightlifting Federation,” Gerasimenko said.

The International Weightlifting Federation is an active participant in the global anti-doping fight that started in 1976, said IWF Director General Attila Adamfi. According to him, the Federation invests many efforts in holding anti-doping seminars throughout the world. “We fight against doping, first of all, for the sake of athletes’ health and for preserving the Olympic status,” Adamfi said. “Positive doping test results reflect poorly on athletes’ reputation and their country, and taints weightlifting’s Olympic status. We call on you to continue the cooperation,” Adamfi said to the seminar participants. “Single-handedly, the International Weightlifting Federation will not be able to achieve success. We need to fight together to ensure our athletes are clean.”

IWF Anti-Doping Commission Chair, Patrick Schamasch, thanked the Republic of Tatarstan for the opportunity to host the seminar in Kazan, which is, according to him, an obligatory measure in the fight against doping.  “I’m aware of the efforts that are undertaken in Russia to ensure clean sport,” said Schamasch. “The doping use is a really important issue and the seminar is an opportunity for a number of countries to change the situation and to make sure that their athletes are clean.”

Considerable attention is given to the fight against doping in Russia and all over the world, said Advisor to the Sport Minister of Russia, Natalia Zhelanova.  According to her, legislative measures should be made by the Government to establish liability for the doping use. “We are aware that the emphasis should be made on the personnel who work with an athlete. An athlete is always held responsible whereas usually the doping use is initiated by a coach, manager or other people from the team. It’s very difficult to hold them liable. In this fight, we cannot succeed without an active help of national federations. Only combining our efforts, we can complete the tasks assigned. We count on your support,” Zhelanova said.

During the seminar, members of national weightlifting federations and IWF executives discussed significant anti-doping issues.