Drugs in Sport - A Time for Re-Evaluation? A Symposium on Legal and Ethical Issues.
Royal College of Physicians, Regents Park, London - 23rd April 1999
Sport in crisis?
Sport is a truly global phenomenon. As a social activity whether it is in terms of participation as a
recreational pastime, competitive playing at amateur levels or the world's elite and mainly professional
level or in terms of spectating, sport assumes immense cultural significance. Sport is also a global business;
a multi-billion dollar industry. Athletes who test positive for performance enhancing drugs not only challenge
prevailing social values such as cheating is wrong, they also threaten to undermine the continuing profitability
of the sports 'industry'. The banning of Ben Johnson in 1988 questioned whether track and field athletics could
be described as genuine sporting competition. However, in recent years, it has become clear that very few
sports are drug-free. The positive drug tests announced during the 1998 Tour de France are merely the most
recent in a worryingly long list of drug revelations. Sport's response to these revelations has been mixed.
Calls for the relaxing of the doping rules are met by demands for greater punishment. Indeed, national governing
bodies in Australia and Greece and the Republic of Ireland have suggested the taking of performance enhancing
drugs should be criminalised. The issue reached a head in February when the International Olympic Committee
met to consider possible solutions to the doping crisis.
The Symposium
The aim of this one-day symposium is to draw upon the knowledge and experience of a range of people
in sport such as athletes, administrators, medical experts, lawyers and academics in an attempt to identify
the problems and possible solutions to the doping crisis. Issues under examination include:
· The I.O.C. Response · The philosophy of drug taking · Retrospective disqualification · Naming and shaming
· The view of the governing bodies · The wrongly accused athlete · Drug-taking and the employed athlete ·
Punishment or rehabilitation?
Speakers will include:
· Tony Banks MP, Minister for Sport;*
· The Honorable Michael Beloff Q.C.;
· Michele Verroken, Head of the Doping Control Unit of the U.K.Sports Council;
· Nick Gillingham M.B.E., Double Olympic Medallist and former World Record Holder;
· John Stevens, Chief Executive, The National Coaching Foundation;
· Malcolm Brown, Director of Medical Services, UK Athletics;
· Andy Gray, Head of Legal Affairs, Amateur Swimming Association;
· Anthony Morton-Hooper, Mischon de Reya, (Diane Modahl's Solicitor); and
· Simon Eassom, Senior Lecturer, De Montfort University.
* To be confirmed
Anglia Sports Law Research Centre
The symposium has been organised by the Anglia Sports Law Research Centre.
The growing interaction between sport and the law has created a need for a greater
understanding of how the law relates to the sporting world. The Centre based at the
Anglia Polytechnic University in Chelmsford been in existence since mid-1996. As a
University designated research centre it is the first of its kind in Britain. The Symposium
is part of the Centre's commitment to inform the practice of Sports Law with rigorous theoretical
analysis of the legal regulation of sport within a contemporary socio-economic and cultural context.
Venue
Royal College of Physicians, Regents Park, London
Date
23 April 1999
9.00 Registration
Price
£188 including VAT
Academic Information
John O'Leary, Research Fellow, Anglia Sports Law Research Centre. Tel. 01245 493131, ext. 3305
e-mail [log in to unmask]
Bookings
Marian Manning, Enterprise and Innovation Office, Anglia Polytechnic University, Victoria Road South,
Chelmsford CM1 1LL.Tel. 493131 ext. 3163 e-mail [log in to unmask]
Bookings required by 16th April
----------------------
Simon Gardiner
Director
Sports Law Centre
Anglia Polytechnic University
Tel: +44 (0) 1245 493131 x3332
Fax: +44 (0) 1245 493132
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.sportslaw.anglia.ac.uk
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