It's done. After the Canadian Dick Pound, the Australian John Fahey and the Scot Craig Reedie, a fourth man will soon take the seat of president of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He is Polish. And his age could make him the son of one or other of his three predecessors.
Witold Banka, 34, the candidate from Europe, was chosen Tuesday May 14 in Montreal by government representatives to chair WADA from next year. He was preferred to the Dominican Marcos Diaz, 10 years his senior, the candidate from the American continent.
The Pole, current Minister of Sports and Tourism in his country, will have to wait until November 7 to be able to present himself to his interlocutors as the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency. His appointment must be ratified by the foundation board of the international body. A formality, nothing more. Happy coincidence: the foundation council will be held in Katowice, within the framework of the World Conference on Doping in Sport. At home, therefore, for the new strong man in the fight against doping.
Witold Banka did not wait to receive the keys to his future office to express his winning impressions. “ This is one of the most important moments of my career, he confided at the end of the vote, cited by theAFP. I will do everything possible not to lose the trust of public representatives and all stakeholders. I want to maintain the unity of WADA and improve its functioning"
Little known in the Olympic movement, discreet but skillful, Witold Banka made a career in athletics before entering politics. A 400m specialist, he won the bronze medal in the 4x400m with the Polish relay at the Outdoor World Championships in Osaka in 2007. Since then, he has been making progress. In 2015, he entered the conservative government of Beata Szydlo, combining the portfolios of Sports and Tourism. Only 31 years old.
During his campaign, he took care to stay away from the debate on Russia, unlike his rival for the European nomination, the Norwegian Linda Helleland. He preferred to opt for a more consensual approach, promising in the event of victory to change WADA's policy, to improve the system, to increase the number of controls and laboratories in the least well-endowed regions, and finally to set up anti-doping solidarity funds.
The arrival of Witold Banka at the head of WADA not only gives the organization a serious facelift. It brings into the game a new actor, without a past as a sports leader, a priori more independent of the Olympic movement, the IOC in priority, than his predecessor, Craig Reedie.
The Pole will begin a three-year mandate on January 1, 2020. He will be the last president of WADA chosen according to the rule of rotating governance, between governments and the sports movement. His successor, from 2023, must be a personality independent of the political world and the Olympic universe.
Presented at the start of the campaign as the favorite, Linda Helleland still had a chance to upset the announced course of things. He had to obtain, before May 31, the written support of at least one member of the WADA foundation board. She won't have it. The Norwegian admitted her defeat on Tuesday May 14 in a press release.
« Being so clear and frank in my demands towards those in power was not the best strategy for succeeding in international sport., she admits. I attacked powers who feared too much the values that I want to defend. " Not false.
