The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Triathlon Union (ITU) today launched the second installment of WADA’s Legacy Outreach Program series at the World Triathlon Grand Final in Chicago, which runs from 15-19 September.
The Legacy Outreach Program was created as a way to provide additional support to International Federations (IFs) in order to develop and deliver anti-doping athlete awareness programs, and to provide them with the tools, materials and ideas to carry out effective Outreach Programs in the future.
“After the Legacy Outreach Program’s successful start at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships earlier this year, it is hugely promising to see the ITU adopt the Program for the World Triathlon Grand Final in Chicago this week,” said WADA President, Sir Craig Reedie. “This type of initiative – using social media and other communication channels to spread the clean sport message – is one of the best ways to promote clean sport. I have no doubt that the ITU will be effective in carrying forward the message that doping is dangerous, threatens the very integrity of their sport and that clean athletes are pivotal to all they do,” added Reedie.
The Program, which is jointly run by WADA and the ITU in the Expo Center, has adopted the catchphrase ‘Love Triathlon – Love Clean Sport’. Athletes and volunteers will participate in the program, and in doing so help deliver the clean sport message to competitors and their entourages in an engaging way.
The Legacy Outreach team will interact with athletes, coaches and other support personnel on a one-on-one basis, providing them with useful information on all anti-doping matters. As part of the campaign, the ITU will launch a social media campaign highlighting the reasons why athletes love clean sport, and why a level playing field is important to them. Athletes will also have the opportunity to showcase their visual support by posing in a Chicago-themed picture frame developed specifically for the campaign. Competitors will also be able to pledge their loyalty to clean sport by signing the Clean Sport Pledge, an initiative that proved hugely popular at the FIS Legacy Outreach event earlier in 2015.
“As elite athletes, it’s important for us to know that our competitors and our sport are clean, because it keeps the playing field equal and fair. To have an anti-doping program like this launched at the World Triathlon Series Grand Final and World Championships reaffirms that clean sport is taken seriously by our governing federations, my fellow competitors, and the age-groupers and paratriathletes who will also be here racing for world titles this week,” said 2016 U.S. Olympic qualifier and 2012 Olympian Sarah True.
“I’m very proud that ITU has joined this campaign,” said ITU President and IOC Member Marisol Casado. “Education is a key component of ensuring triathlon remains a doping free sport and is something we as an International Federation take very seriously. But more than anything, it is the triathletes that have taken the responsibility to keep triathlon clean in earnest.”