ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC- Dominica has been commended by the Caribbean Regional Anti Doping Organisation (RADO) for its campaign to combat the use of illegal substances in sports.
Officials have been attending a UNECSO funded workshop here geared at promoting anti-doping habits amongst Dominican athletes.
However RADO chairman Dr. Adrian Lorde has listed Dominica among countries which do not have enough personnel to conduct anti-doping test and education as required by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
He told the workshop that doping is not only the presence of a substance found in an athlete’s urine but the definition goes further.
“It is also refusing to submit to doping controls when asked to do so by a doping control officer,” said Dr. Lorde. “Doping is also tampering or attempting to tamper with any part of the procedure of doping controls, just possession of any prohibited substance in your room, luggage is also considered as doping”.
Meantime Dominica’s sports minister Justina Charles has applauded athletes in her country for remaining drug free and said that the fight against doping stems from the very top.
Charles has also called for an ongoing advocacy campaign aimed at eliminating doping in sports. “The athletes and stakeholders must be made aware of the life threatening impact of doping such as heart disease amongst others,” she noted. “This is enough evidence for us all to join the awareness and advocacy campaign to ensure that we save lives of generations of athletes and maintain the integrity of sports”.
The workshop, under the theme “Building Awareness and Advocacy to Eliminate Doping in Sport” is part of a UNESCO sponsored project. Another workshop planned for next month is aimed at physical education teachers and coaches.
