It is with great pleasure that we announce that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has officially accepted the IRF as a signatory of the WADA Code.
In his congratulatory letter to IRF President Joe Willis Jones, WADA Director General Olivier Niggli noted: “WADA congratulates you on this important step in the fight against doping in sport. Your determination to eradicate unhealthy and unethical practices is part of a worldwide effort to protect the integrity of sport and to permit athletes to compete fairly in a doping-free environment. We look forward to our continued cooperation with the International Rafting Federation in protecting the clean athlete.”
The IRF is now listed an official WADA signatory on the WADA website.
IRF President Jones commented “We are overjoyed at having been accepted by WADA as a Code Signatory. This important accomplishment comes after many years of carefully structuring the IRF Anti-Doping programme to align with WADA signatory criteria. We greatly appreciate WADA’s recognition, and the trust they have placed in us to continue to lead our sport by offering rafting athletes the assurance of competing in fair events.”
The IRF Anti-Doping programme was initiated in 2009 by the IRF Sport and Competition Committee under the direction of the IRF Board of Directors (BOD). Anti-doping activities required of the IRF by the WADA Code include conducting testing at international competitions and out-of-competition; providing education programs; and sanctioning those who commit anti-doping rule violations.
Doping tests were proposed for major IRF international rafting competition events from 2011 forward. In 2014, the IRF BOD approved race rules which required mandatory WADA Code compliant doping tests for all Category A (World Championship) level events.
The first Code compliant tests were conducted in 2014 at the IRF European Rafting Championship in Slovakia and again later that year at the World Rafting Championship in Brazil. The IRF implements a strict adherence to the Code to ensure a clean, healthy, and fair sporting atmosphere for all athletes.
Who is WADA and what is the importance of being a WADA signatory:
International Sports Federations (IFs) are responsible for the integrity of their sport at the international level. It is a requirement that all IFs recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) be a signatory of the WADA Code. Accordingly, any athletes who intend to compete at the Olympics must comply with the WADA Code. The IOC and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) are responsible for the testing process, based on the Code, during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, respectively. They also sanction those who commit anti-doping rule violations during the Games. The IOC, on behalf of the sport movement, provides half of WADA’s budget.
You can find details of the IRF’s Anti-Doping Committee and their work on our dedicated Anti-Doping page.
#playtrue #cleansport #thisisrafting #strongertogether
