The Wada president, Craig Reedie, has called on sponsors to help fund the fight against doping and promised better protection for whistleblowers.
Reedie’s comments echo those made to the Guardian by the former cyclist turned anti-doping campaigner David Millar in the wake of Maria Sharapova’s positive test for meldonium.
“Sponsors should pay an economical price if one of their athletes does make a mistake because you would be amazed at the difference that would make,” Millar said. “They would become more proactive, they would actually have to buy into the fact they are there to prevent and not just external bodies that have nothing to do with it.”
Reedie told a World Anti-Doping Agency conference in Lausanne that recent controversies had provided a wake-up call for sport and called for greater funding in the fight against performance-enhancing drugs.
Athletics was rocked last year when Russia was suspended from the sport after a Wada investigation revealed a state-sponsored doping programme and football’s governing body Fifa was shaken by the worst scandal in its history.
“The public’s confidence in sport was shattered in 2015 like never before, the public mood has soured and there is a general feeling that they’re all at it,” Reedie said.
“Sport has had its wake-up call. Sport must ensure better governance if public and athletes are to uphold confidence in the system.
“Now is time to look at how we get greater funding for anti-doping,” he added. “TV broadcasters and sponsors could help fund clean sport.
“We will continue to work hand in hand with whistleblowers and the media and enhance measures to protect whistleblowers better.”
