No headway in WADA meeting on budget

OSLO, NOVEMBER 16: Convinced of the need to stop doping in sport, representatives of governments met here on Wednesday to hammer out their...

OSLO, NOVEMBER 16: Convinced of the need to stop doping in sport, representatives of governments met here on Wednesday to hammer out their respective financial contributions to the battle. The World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) has so far been financed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) who donated $ 25 million to the fledgling body for its first two-year budget. With a view to reduce the dependence of WADA on IOC, it was originally suggested that the US government would donate 50 percent of the subsequent budget till 2002, an estimated $ 6.25 million. But the meeting could not decide on the contribution that each member country would have to make.

“The American propositions have provoked a lot of reaction in Europe. Some of their estimates suggest that Europe’s contribution should be around 60 percent,” Olivier Meier, a technical director at the debate said.

Notwithstanding this deadlock officials at the meeting appeared confident that they would arrive at a mutually acceptable solution very soon.

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The meeting also saw the Australian delegation suggesting a system whereby WADA could be funded by all member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) paid via the United Nations.

On Tuesday, WADA also released a shortlist of cities in contention to house their eventual headquarters that is temporarily housed in Lousanne, Switzerland. The contenders include Bonn, Lausanne, Lille (France), Montreal, Stockholm and Vienna.

Those shortlisted will have until March 1, 2001 to present their proposals and a decision will be taken mid-2001 with a view to having an operational office by January 2002.

French Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet confirmed at the meeting that the European Union has formed a liaison committee to agree on a European candidate by the end of November. Two cities will then remain, the European one and Montreal which is supported by the United States.

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WADA was founded in November 1999 on the recommendation of the World doping conference that followed the 1998 Tour de France doping scandal.