13/12/2025
IOC President Ms Kristy Coventry in her address at the Opening Ceremony of the World Conference, did a strong call for the anti-doping community to unite for the world's athletes. "I'm an athlete, and I remember standing on the starting blocks, knowing that I had trained keenly, and knowing that everything came down to that final moment. And what made it meaningful wasn't only the competition. It was the trust that everyone next to me had earned their place the same way.
That trust is what gives sport its magic. It's what brings people together across all of our differences. And it's what every clean athlete deserves.
We're all here because we share the same mission. To protect the integrity of sport and the athletes who make it possible. This is not easy.
The challenges are complex. New substances, new technologies, new pressures. But what we must never change is our commitment to fairness, honesty, and clean competition.
This shared commitment, our shared promise to protect clean athletes, is what unites us across organisations, roles, and borders. Each of us in this room has both rights and big responsibilities. WADA has the responsibility to set clear global antidote rules and ensure that they are respected.
NADOs have the responsibility to implement and enforce those rules fairly and independently. Public authorities have the vital role to play by supporting their NADOs, providing them right legal frameworks, giving them the resources to act, and living up to their commitments made under the UNESCO Antidote Convention. The Olympic Movement.
We too share rights and responsibilities to always support the code and uphold it, and advocate always for clean sport. When every partner delivers, the system as a whole becomes stronger. And that trust grows.
But when one part fails, that credibility of the entire community suffers."
