WADA Announces Candidates for Athlete Council Election

Montreal, November 12, 2024

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is pleased to announce the candidates for election to the eight athletes who will form Group 2ⁱ of the WADA Athlete Council for 2025-2027. In response to WADA's communication of September 11st inviting all Athletes’ Commissions (ACs) of eligible International Federations (IFs) signatories to the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) to submit candidates, the Agency received 26 applications; each of which was reviewed and deemed eligible by the election scrutineer. As a reminder, candidates and IF ACs had to meet several eligibility criteria, all detailed in the Election procedure.

WADA Athlete Council Chair Ryan Pini and WADA Athlete Engagement Manager Karine Henrie were both pleased to see that the call for applications attracted a significant number of excellent candidates. “We are delighted to see the high level of interest in joining the Athlete Council,” they said. “WADA Athlete Engagement works closely with the Athlete Council to ensure that the athlete experience is considered in everything we do. We look forward to working with the new and/or re-elected Group 2 members to deliver several key athlete initiatives in 2025. Good luck to all applicants.”

The 26 candidates are listed below in alphabetical order by last name. Please note that candidate biographies will be published on our website and social media on Tuesday, November 19.

Group 2 election procedure 

The election will take place virtually via an online voting platform between the December 10 and 12, 2024. Only CAs of registered FIs deemed eligible will be able to vote.

The rules governing the election are found in the Election procedure and include in particular:

• the eligibility criteria of the CA of the FI;
• the role of the electoral scrutineer;
• the voting procedure; and
• provisions relating to a possible violation of the procedure and the protection of personal information.

The official list of candidates was communicated directly to all IF Board Chairs that are signatories to the Code earlier today, at which time they were asked to indicate whether they wished to vote in the election and, if so, to confirm that they were eligible to vote. To be eligible to vote in the election, all IF Boards must meet the same criteria as an IF Board that nominates a candidate.

The elected candidates will be confirmed by the electoral scrutineer and then announced publicly by December 20, 2024.

We wish all candidates good luck with their campaign and election, and we encourage all eligible FI Boards to vote!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Athlete Engagement Team at the following email address: athlete@wada-ama.org. To learn more about the Sports Council, please visit our website.

Note:

(i) The Council is composed of representatives of athletes chosen by athletes and grouped as follows:

• Group 1: Five athletes nominated by the athletes' commissions of the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee;
• Group 2: Eight athletes elected by the athletes' commissions of the international federations; and
• Group 3: Seven additional athletes, selected by a nomination committee composed of a majority of athletes, to fill gaps in skills and diversity.