Anti-doping discussion: NADA committee shows progress and challenges!

Anti-doping discussion: NADA committee shows progress and challenges!

Bergen, Norwegen - The sports committee of the National Council advised the annual report of National Anti-Doping Agentur Austria (Nada Austria) . In this context, sports state secretary Michaela Schmidt confirmed the commitment to clean sport and strict controls. The report shows that the number of doping samples in 2023 dropped by 15.8 %, which led to a total of 568 samples carried out. At the same time, the control activities in the national program rose by 3.6 % to 2,344 samples.

Schmidt emphasized that the focus is on the potential participant: inside the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The selection of the athletes: Inside for the national test pool is based on a "risk assessment". Close cooperation with international partner organizations is required to ensure a fair distribution of the tests. The NADA annual report in 2023 was unanimously accepted at the meeting.

political discussions and initiatives

As part of the session, sports policy concerns of the opposition were postponed, including initiatives by the Greens and FPÖ. The FPÖ called for reductions in the sports area and to create more planning security for sports associations. This includes a proposal for binding several years of performance agreements with clear targets. The Greens also strive for a legal anchoring of the sports report and an expansion of the daily movement unit.

Another topic was the revision of the 1975 Forest Act and the discussion about a mountain bike strategy. These initiatives were also postponed to gain more time to test and prepare.

international cooperation and prevention

Mag. Michael Cepic, Managing Director of Nada Austria, took part in an anti-doping conference in Bergen, Norway, which was organized by anti-doping Norway (ADNO) and the Council of Europe. The aim of this conference was to network European anti-doping organizations and to develop sustainable strategies to strengthen national control systems. In a press release from the ÖADR it was announced that the athlete Patrick Auer (American Football) was temporarily suspended.

The NADA also does important prevention work. This includes e-learning courses for doping prevention and medication query that provides information about the doping relevance of medication registered in Austria. This database is based on the valid ban on the world anti-doping agency (WADA) and identifies certain drugs that are relevant.

Austria takes a pioneering role in anti-doping policy in Europe. The European anti-doping convention has been part of the Austrian legal system since 1991, and in 2002 the additional protocol was ratified to the Council of Europe's anti-doping convention. The state has a responsibility to protect top -class sport from doping in order to protect the values ​​such as fairness and tolerance on which sport is based.

With various measures, such as the doping prevention plan, the NADA coordinates the anti-doping programs and develops individual packages of measures to guarantee the health of the athletes and their right to participate in doping-free competitions. Under the current anti-Doping Federal Act of 2021, information, educational and consciousness education programs are actively promoted for a doping-free sport.