Over 70 athlete support personnel from sporting federations, associations and secondary schools from across the island participated in the annual Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) Symposium, which was held at the Jamaica Conference Centre (JCC) on Thursday, January 28, 2016, under the theme “Assessing the Impact of the 2015 World Anti-Doping Code.”
The symposium sought to get the feedback of participants on the effectiveness of the revised World Anti-Doping Code and how they can apply the Code in their day to day interaction with athletes.
Speaking at the event, Carey Brown, Executive Director said, “As we assess the impact of the 2015 World Anti-Doping Code, I encourage you to take a detailed look at the articles of the Code, reflect on how you can play your part to help the anti-doping effort and find ways to further improve your approach.” He further added, “The JADCO team is here to serve you and stands ready to partner with you to protect the rights of our clean athletes and Jamaica’s rich sporting history.”
Guest Speaker at the event, David Thomas, President of the Jamaica Badminton Association, made a presentation focused on how that association has been making changes in their operations since the Code was instituted on January 1, 2015. “The Jamaica Badminton Association collaborates with JADCO to educate our athletes, coaches, adminstrators and parents. We grant them access to our events and we make it a priority to respond to their invitations.” He further added, “When we collaborate with JADCO, it is Risk Management, because it mitigates the possibility of our athletes doping. Most importantly, it is free of cost to us and we are provided with information from the experts in antidoping.”
Dr. Hon. Glen Mills, President and Head Coach, Racers Track Club said, “A symposium of this nature is important to facilitate the dissemination of accurate information. It enables athlete support personnel to get the facts and to obtain clear and accurate information from the correct source. The turn out at the event was low and I encourage all stakeholders to make it a priority to support events of this nature.” He further added, “In regards to the revised World Anti-Doping Code, no aspect is more important than the other. If you fail in one area, it will still result in failure, therefore athlete support personnel should take the time to familiarise themselves with the Code. If they disseminate information they don’t know, the athletes can end up in trouble.”
Carey Brown, Executive Director, led the afternoon session, an open floor discussion which focused on the importance of filing whereabouts Information and the consequences faced by athletes who are delinquent in submitting this information.
Whereabouts Information is provided by athletes included in JADCO’s Registered Testing Pool (RTP) indicating their location at specific times. Athletes are required to make a quarterly whereabouts filing that provides accurate and complete information about their whereabouts during the upcoming quarter. This includes identifying where they will be living, training and competing, so that they can be located for testing at any time without advanced notice. Athletes can be included in the Registered Testing Pool of their International Sport Federation (IF) or National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO), or both.
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