The United States Anti-Doping Agency is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti-doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent doping in the United States with a performance-enhancing substance, the USADA provides education, leads scientific initiatives, conducts testing, and oversees the results management process. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USADA is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code, which harmonizes anti-doping practices around the world, and is widely considered the basis for the strongest and strictest anti-doping programs to prevent doping in sport.
In competitive sports, doping is the use of banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs by athletic competitors, as a way of cheating. The term doping is widely used by organizations that regulate sporting competitions. The use of drugs to enhance performance is considered unethical, and is prohibited by most international sports organizations, including the International Olympic Committee. Furthermore, athletes taking explicit measures to evade detection exacerbate the ethical violation with overt deception and cheating.
The World Anti-Doping Agency is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key activities include scientific research, education, development of anti-doping capacities, and monitoring of the World Anti-Doping Code, whose provisions are enforced by the UNESCO International Convention Against Doping in Sport. The aims of the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention and the United States Anti-Doping Agency are also closely aligned with those of WADA.
Competitors at the Olympic Games have used banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs.
Cheating at the Paralympic Games has caused scandals that have significantly changed the way in which the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) manages the events.
Sandor Earl is a former New Zealand Māori international rugby league footballer who played on the wing for the Sydney Roosters, Penrith Panthers, Canberra Raiders and the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League (NRL). He was banned for four years for a doping violation in 2013.
Stephen Dank is an Australian biochemist who worked as a sports scientist at several professional sports club. He is known for his key role in two major sports drug cheating scandals, the Essendon Football Club supplements saga and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks supplements saga, where he injected players with illegal substances to improve their performance.
Australia has been at the forefront in the fight against doping in sport. It was one of the first countries to establish a sports anti-doping agency and is a member of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Australia abides by World Anti-Doping Code. In 2010, Australian John Fahey was re-elected as President of WADA for a second and final three-year term which finished at the end of 2013. Australia like other major countries has been embroiled in major doping in sport controversies and issues.
The organisation of sport in Australia has been largely determined by its Federal system of government – Australian Government and six states and two territories governments and local governments. All three levels play an important role in terms of funding, policies and facilities. Each major sport is managed by a national sports organisation, with state counterparts that manage community sporting clubs. Umbrella or peak organisations represent the interests of sports organisations or particular sport issues. Education sector plays a small role through universities and schools. Private sector's involvement is extensive in professional sport through facilities, club ownership and finance/sponsorship.
The Essendon Football Club supplements saga was a sports controversy that occurred during the early- and mid-2010s. It centred around the Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne and playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was investigated starting in February 2013 by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over the legality of its supplements program during the 2012 AFL season and the preceding preseason. After four years of investigations and legal proceedings, thirty-four players at the club were found guilty of having used the banned peptide Thymosin beta-4 and incurred suspensions.
The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks footy supplements saga was a sports controversy which began in 2011. The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, a professional rugby league club playing in the National Rugby League (NRL). The NRL later offered all five players a one-year ban, backdated to an effective six-month suspension, if they pleaded guilty to taking a banned substance. Sports scientist Stephen Dank provided sworn testimony about what involvement he had at Cronulla and which Staff and coaches were involved.
The Australian Football League (AFL) started in 1897 and was originally called the Victorian Football League until the name was changed in 1990 due to the expansion to the other Australian states. AFL is seen as an iconic Australian sport which attracts large crowds averaging around 35,000 people per game. It is a very popular industry to be in since there are so many different job positions and roles.
Richard Henry McLaren is a law professor at Western University in Ontario, Canada, specializing in sports law. In 2015, he was one of the three members of the WADA Commission, an independent panel commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russian sports. He was awarded the Order of Canada with the grade of officer in 2015.
Grigory Mikhailovich Rodchenkov is the former head of Russia's national anti-doping laboratory, the Anti-Doping Center. Rodchenkov is known for his involvement in the state-run doping program in Russia.
Systematic doping of Russian athletes has resulted in 48 Olympic medals stripped from Russia, four times the number of the next highest, and more than 30% of the global total. Russia has the most competitors who have been caught doping at the Olympic Games in the world, with more than 150.
The practice of doping in tennis involves the use of prohibited, performance-enhancing substances listed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The practice is considered unsportsmanlike and unethical, with punishments for such offences ranging from official warnings to career bans, depending on the severity of the offence.
Bronson Xerri is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays as a centre for the Canterbury Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL).
The National Sports Tribunal was established by the National Sports Tribunal Act 2019 to hear and resolve sports-related disputes in Australia. It provides national sporting organisations, athletes and athlete support personnel with "a cost-effective, efficient, and independent forum for resolving sports-related disputes, consistent, transparent and accountable services and a range of resolution methods: arbitration, mediation, conciliation or case appraisal".
Sport Integrity Australia is an executive agency of the Australian Government which commenced operation on 1 July 2020. The agency was established by the Parliament of Australia from the recommendations presented in the Report of the Review of Australia's Sports Integrity Arrangements, completed by the Department of Health.
The International Testing Agency, often referred to by the acronym ITA, is an independent organisation constituted as a non-profit foundation which implements anti-doping programs for international sports federations, major event organizers or any other anti-doping organisation requiring support. The organisation was created in 2018 under the supervision of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to promote independence, expertise and transparency in the global fight against doping. Its headquarters are located in the city of Lausanne in Switzerland.
