Dag Vidar Hanstad

The Establishment of the World Anti-Doping Agency A Study of the Management of Organizational Change and Unplanned Outcomes

This article examines the circumstances surrounding the establishment of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which was established following the World Conference on Doping in Sport convened by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and held in Lausanne in 1999. More specifically, the article draws upon Eliass game models to analyse: i) the way in which the IOC sought to manage this process of change in such a way that its longstanding position as the worlds leading anti-doping organization would be reinforced; and ii) the IOCs inability to control this process, with the result that the IOC failed to achieve any of its objectives, its position as the worlds anti-doping organization was actually undermined, and world leadership passed to a new organization which had a significant measure of independence from the IOC.

Elite athletes' duty to provide information on their whereabouts: justifiable anti-doping work or an indefensible surveillance regime?

Abstract In this article, we explain and reflect critically upon the athlete whereabouts reporting system in top-level sports initiated by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). This system makes it compulsory for athletes who are in a registered testing pool in their national and/or international federation to submit information about their whereabouts. In this way, athletes are required to be available for a no advance notice doping test throughout the year. If an athlete provides incorrect information or cannot be found when a no advance notice test is supposed to be taken (a missed test), he or she may be given a warning. In most sports and national anti-doping regulations, three such warnings within 18 months may be regarded as a violation of the doping regulations and may lead to exclusion from sport for between 3 months and 2 years. The system is controversial. In this article, we examine the key objections to the system and, more specifically, objections connected to ideas of justice and athletes’ autonomy and right to self-determination. The argument will be a practical ethical one informed by a survey on attitudes towards the whereabouts system carried out among 236 athletes belonging to the registered testing pool in Norway. We conclude that if the basic principles of anti-doping work are accepted, WADAs whereabouts reporting system represents nothing other than an efficient extension of this work.

Fit for the fight? Illnesses in the Norwegian team in the Vancouver Olympic Games

Background The development of strategies to prevent illnesses before and during Olympic Games provides a basis for improved health and Olympic results. Objective (1) To document the efficacy of a prevention programme on illness in a national Olympic team before and during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games (OWG), (2) to compare the illness incidence in the Norwegian team with Norwegian incidence data during the Turin 2006 OWG and (3) to compare the illness incidence in the Norwegian team with illness rates of other nations in the Vancouver OWG. Methods Information on prevention measures of illnesses in the Norwegian Olympic team was based on interviews with the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and the Chief Nutrition and Sport Psychology Officers, and on a review of CMO reports before and after the 2010 OWG. The prevalence data on illness were obtained from the daily reports on injuries and illness to the International Olympic Committee. Results The illness rate was 5.1% (five of 99 athletes) compared with 17.3% (13 out of 75 athletes) in Turin (p=0.008). A total of four athletes missed one competition during the Vancouver Games owing to illness, compared with eight in Turin. The average illness rate for all nations in the Vancouver OWG was 7.2%. Conclusions Although no definite cause-and-effect link between the implementation of preventive measures and the prevalence of illness in the 2010 OWG could be established, the reduced illness rate compared with the 2006 OWG, and the low prevalence of illnesses compared with other nations in the Vancouver OWG suggest that the preparations were effective.

Harmonization of anti-doping work: myth or reality?

In order to examine the implementation of the World Anti Doping Agencys (WADA) policy of global harmonization of anti-doping work, a survey was conducted among the members of the Association of National Anti-Doping Organizations (ANADO). It was revealed that in many countries, the Code was not implemented in accordance with the prescribed policy, with regard to (i) the requirement on national anti-doping organizations (NADOs) having a registered testing pool, (ii) the requirements of availability for testing of the athletes, and (iii) the requirements on sanctions. Only 23 of the 32 NADOs in the sample had a registered testing pool, only 11 NADOs required availability for testing every day, and one in five NADOs did not have any procedures for dealing with athletes who had not provided information about their whereabouts. Further, two in five did not count an incomplete test as a missed test, although this is WADAs definition. WADAs goal is harmonized anti-doping work. The implementation of anti-doping policy is challenging and is to a certain extent underpinned by processes of globalization. Even among NADOs that are considered to be among the global frontrunners in the struggle against doping significant variations exist. There is reason to believe that the global picture is even more diverse. One of WADAs key challenges is to define clearly and in operational terms which rules and sanctions are to be uniform and globally implemented, and which regulations can be open to interpretation depending on economic and socio-cultural contexts.

Doping in elite sport - do the fans care? Public opinion on the consequences of doping scandals

There are indications that commercial stakeholders are reluctant to associate with sports involved in doping scandals. A survey of 925 Norwegian sports consumers supports this reluctance, showing no tolerance for pure doping substances. The majority were in favour of tough responses to athletes and sports involved in doping. Older respondents were more negative towards doping. Those who were strongly interested in sport were more willing than others to accept doping.

Attitudes towards use of performance-enhancing substances and body modification techniques. A comparison between elite athletes and the general population

Medical and technological developments open up new possibilities for modifying the body and enhancing performance in various areas of life. This study compares attitudes among Norwegian elite athletes (n = 234) with attitudes in the general population (n = 428). Whereas vitamins, nutritional supplements and hypoxic rooms were accepted by more than 65% of both athletes and population the rejection of EPO, anabolic steroids and amphetamines were similarly clear in both groups. The athletes were in general more reluctant to use performance enhancement means and body modification techniques than the general population. A significantly higher percentage of the population than the athletes accepted a) means to avoid memory failure in old age (61.6 versus 43.2, sig. 0.000), b) means to avoid decrease in physical fitness among old people (48.6 versus 34.7, sig. 0.005), c) liposuction (30.1 versus 12.4, sig. 0.000), d) surgery for obesity (15.3 versus 9.4, sig. 0.035), e) silicon implants (9.9 versus 5.1, sig. 0.001). The athletes were significantly more satisfied with their bodies than the population (sig. 0.000). Males were more positive about the use of performance enhancement means, whereas females were more positive about body modification techniques. Males were significantly more positive about the use of a) means that increase strength and endurance (sig. 0.002, and b) means that increase sexual performance (sig 0.000). Females were significantly more positive than males about the use of liposuction (sig. 0.000), plastic surgery on the face (sig. 0.013), surgery to combat obesity (sig. 0.000) and silicon implants (sig. 0.000).

Change and Power in Complex Democratic Organizations. The Case of Norwegian Elite Sports

Abstract This article examines how models for elite sports are negotiated within sport organizations that combine mass and elite sport. The analysis is based on a qualitative case study of a decision-making process within the Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sport (NOC) in 2004–2006, where the autonomy of the elite sports unit was being debated. A theoretical perspective on radical organizational change, which focuses on the power and interests of sub-units, is used to analyze the processes of negotiation within the NOC and the outcome of these processes. It is concluded that the proponents of change failed in their attempt at giving the elite sport unit a more autonomous status, because this would be in opposition to deep-seated values and practices within the organization, first and foremost the principle of one single organizational model. This is explained through the concept of systemic power, a type of power that is taken for granted and that operates through daily practices and routines in organizations.

Politicians, bureaucrats and a voluntary sports organization : the power play of Norwegian sport policy in the matter of anti-doping

The aim of this essay is to understand the tripartite relationship between politicians and bureaucrats in the public sector and the leadership in voluntary sport organizations. In so doing, we conducted a case study of a specific incident in the history of sport policy, based on written texts (newspaper articles and books) as well as interviews (personal information) from those involved. With Eliass game models as the theoretical framework, we analyse the case where the General Director of the Department of Sport Policy (DSP) expressed his personal/political opinion about anti-doping in public, and played the game in two figurations. First, the game was played in the sport figuration, where the General Directors competitors were the leaders of the voluntary sport organization (the Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports, NOC). Second, the game moved up a level and was played in a political figuration, where the General Directors competitors were the political leadership in the DSP. While the Director General was used to playing one to one, the combination of a union sport figuration and the formal power in the political figuration led to an outcome that no one had intended, namely the resignation of the Director General.

Between two volunteer cultures: social composition and motivation among volunteers at the 2010 test event for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.

This paper argues that a reflexive, late modern volunteer culture coexists with a collectivist, traditional one at major sporting events. Those who regularly volunteer at such events and are affiliated with organized sport tend to be older and male, and have higher incomes. Those who are volunteering for the first time and are unaffiliated with organized sport resemble reflexive volunteers to a greater extent: they tend to be younger and female, and their incomes are lower than those of regular sports volunteers. A factor analysis identified sports interest, social motives and qualification/work-related motives as three motivational dimensions for volunteering at sporting events. The first two intrinsic dimensions were more important to event regulars and those affiliated with organized sports. Building qualifications and work-related experience were more important motives for first-timers and unaffiliated volunteers, indicating that these volunteers view event volunteering as an appropriate way of investing in social and human capital. The data come from an Internet-based survey (n=800, response rate 77) conducted prior to the 2010 test event for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo, Norway.

The sustainability of the Youth Olympic Games: stakeholder networks and institutional perspectives.

This paper explored the Youth Olympic Games’ (YOG) potential sustainability (survival and success) through an analysis of how actors exert various forms of pressure on the YOG. Given the impact of the Olympic Games and of youth on society, it becomes important to study the newest member of the Olympic Family. Combining stakeholder, network and institutional literatures, a case study of the first Winter YOG in Innsbruck (Austria) was built by means of observations and interviews. The stakeholder network analysis revealed three central stakeholders for the YOG’s sustainability: the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the media (press and broadcast), and the athletes’ parents. The institutional context was challenged by stakeholders’ changing levels of relative saliency, and notably by the parents’ emerging saliency. Practically speaking, YOG managers need to be diplomats in balancing pressures originating from the international (IOC) and local (parents) institutional contexts.