LONDON, England (AP) — Former Olympic hurdles great Edwin Moses has entered the race to become the next president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The two-time Olympic gold medallist in the 400-metre hurdles submitted his candidacy last week, become the third — and likely final — contender for the job, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said yesterday.Also in the running are IOC vice-president Craig Reedie of Britain and former IOC Medical Director Patrick Schamasch of France.The 57-year-old Moses, who won gold medals at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics, has been active in the anti-doping movement since retiring from competition. He has been chairman of the US Anti-Doping Agency since September 2012.Moses was the most dominant one-lap hurdler in the world for more than a decade, winning 122 consecutive races — including 107 straight finals — from 1977-87. His world record of 47.02 seconds stood from 1983 to 1992.It’s the turn of the Olympic movement to nominate a successor to former Australian government minister John Fahey, who steps down as WADA president in November after six years in the job.The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is sending a document summarising its position on the anti-doping fight to the three candidates, who have until August 7 to reply in writing.The IOC executive board will put forward one candidate for the WADA presidency at a meeting in Moscow on August 9 on the eve of the World Athletics Championships. The nominee will then be put up for formal election at the World Conference on Doping in Sport in Johannesburg from November 12-15.Reedie, who sits on the WADA executive committee, is considered the favourite.The election campaign comes at a time of increasing scrutiny on WADA, which was set up by the IOC in 1999 to lead the global anti-doping fight. The IOC and Olympic movement provide 50 per cent of WADA’s annual budget, with governments paying the other half.The role of WADA has come under fire in recent months, with sports federations saying the organisation is spending millions of dollars on drug-testing without catching the serious drug cheats. The IOC and federations have also insisted that WADA is a “service organisation” created to support the sports bodies, not to criticise them and order them what to do.IOC President Jacques Rogge has called for more targeted, out-of-competition testing in high-profile sports.Former WADA President Dick Pound recently submitted a report detailing the ineffectiveness of the current drug-testing system.Despite increased testing and scientific advances to detect more sophisticated substances, Pound said drug cheats are getting away scot-free because of a lack of will among sports organisations, governments and athletes. The report cited statistics showing that, of 250,000 drug tests per year, less than one per cent produce positive findings for serious doping substances.In this September 10, 2010 file photo, former Olympic hurdles great Edwin Moses speaks during a press conference before the Triathlon World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. (PHOTO: AP)View the original article here
Edwin Moses running for WADA president
