Australia represented on newly established ‘Unintentional Doping’ Taskforce

A new taskforce has been established by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) with a focus on unintentional doping.

WADA announced in November 2024 the seven members of the taskforce, which includes Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) Director of Education, Alexis Cooper.

Cooper said it was important for Australia to have representation on the taskforce and noted “unintentional doping is a real risk facing athletes in Australia.

“When I first started in the education role back in 2018, around one in three anti-doping cases were the result of athletes being caught out when there was no intent to cheat.

“Back then, this was largely due to supplements, but unintentional doping can also occur from accidentally taking a medication with a banned ingredient, by failing to update whereabouts information, or not following the rules around urine collection.”

Sport Integrity Australia advises that Australia’s representation on the taskforce is testament to progress made in mitigating unintentional doping over time.

It also provides an opportunity to help reduce risk even further for Australian athletes.

Cooper added “every time an athlete is sanctioned for a doping violation when they had no intent to cheat, it can have a bigger impact than we realise.

“These cases can erode confidence in the system, and they can also significantly impact athletes’ wellbeing.

“The ultimate aim of the Taskforce is to reduce unintentional doping across the entire global system, for the benefit of every clean athlete who competes.”

The Taskforce will seek input from the anti-doping community and other relevant groups to:

• Conceptualise the multifaceted nature of unintentional doping and its underlying behaviours.

• Create a behavioural map that identifies behaviours that can lead to, or prevent, unintentional doping.

• Determine the scale of unintentional doping by developing a global coding monitoring system.

• Assess the global incidence and prevalence of unintentional doping.

• Further understanding of the various risk pathways associated with unintentional doping, along with its corresponding preventative strategies.

• Identify problematic situations to be able to warn athletes and athlete support personnel before they engage in potentially compromising behaviours.

Cooper said the taskforce aligns with her biggest passions – protecting athletes, helping them understand the rules and ensuring the system can focus efforts on stopping deliberate cheats.

“I’m a big believer that athletes want to compete clean, and the majority of Australian athletes have no intention to dope,” Cooper shared.

“It’s heart breaking to see athletes locked out of their sport for mistakes with supplements or medications, not understanding or adhering to the rules to their full extent, or any other form of unintentional doping.

“However, we also need to recognise that very few athletes under investigation for doping ever admit to doping on purpose, and that "i didn’t know” or “i didn’t mean it” can be a convenient excuse used by athlete to try to get out of a ban, even if they knew full well what they were doing.

“For that reason, it’s important that the system has the right balance of athlete accountability, with flexibility to recognise unintentional doping is a risk, and an understanding of how to manage and prevent it.”

While Australia has had recent success in reducing the number of unintentional doping cases caused by supplement use, Cooper said it’s important to never rest on our laurels noting “the threat of unintentional doping remains ever-present in Australia. Recent research shows supplements in Australia are still a serious risk to athletes, and we still have too many unintentional cases caused by illicit drugs, for example, cocaine.

“The risk of contamination is also real in Australia.

“There is much we can learn from experts across the system on this subject. Being one of the four National Anti-Doping Organisations at the table on this Taskforce puts us in prime position to learn, improve and be better.”

It’s hoped the taskforce will help provide guidance to all Anti-Doping Organisations on how to prevent unintentional doping and provide insight on other parts of the system that may need adjusting.

Cooper advised “we’ll soon be putting out a Call for Contributions for any sport, coach, academic or athlete to contribute to, and I look forward to seeing how those views and experiences shape our work.”

Members of the Taskforce are:

• Susan Backhouse (United Kingdom/Chair)

• Derwin Chan (Hong Kong)

• Alexis Cooper (Australia)

• Olivier deHon (Netherlands)

• Dora Hegyi (Hungary)

• Annemarie Kristensen (Denmark), and

• Fredrik Lauritzen (Norway).

Image. Members of the Unintentional Doping Taskforce with WADA staff. Credit: Sport Integrity Australia