WADA President and Director General give Press Conference during blitz visit at IWF
Upon the personal invitation of Dr. Tamás Aján, IWF President, WADA President John Fahey and Director General David Howman paid a 20-hour visit to Budapest on 25 February.
“The IWF’s anti-doping program has improved tremendously, year by year, and is very successful – as proven by the Beijing Olympic Games, when only one positive case was found in weightlifting,” declared Mr. Fahey at a Press Conference. “That was undoubtedly the success of the IWF’s extensive, clever and well-organized anti-doping program especially prior to the Games.”
The WADA President stated that the activities of WADA, celebrating the 10th anniversary of its foundation this year, had improved and it extended its tentacles to all corners of the world. He pointed out that 220,000 tests had been carried out last year of which two per cent came back positive. He concluded that the message was slowly getting to everyone that it was not worth cheating.
“Are we winning the fight against dopoing? – Yes, we are!” asserted the chief of WADA.
He and the Director General both emphasized that the whereabouts system was although sometimes admittedly uncomfortable still a key factor in the anti-doping battle’s success and praised the IWF’s and in particular WADA Foundation Board Member Dr. Aján’s contributions and co-operation in that regard.