Olympic champ’s heartfelt speech marks end of an era at WADA

KATOWICE, Poland (AP) — only reason Beckie Scott’s going-away speech to World Anti-Doping ncy wasn’t her finest moment was because of all that led up to it.

Bruised, berated and criticized by some colleagues over a six-year tenure at worldwide drug-fighting ncy, head of WADA athlete’s committee left on her own terms.

“I’m going to remind you for one last time,” she said at Thursday’s board meeting. “You have thousands upon thousands of athletes counting on you to do right by m. t by any or stakeholder, but by m.”

Scott is a Canadian cross-country skier whose own moment of Olympic glory was diminished by dopers. She finished third in 5K pursuit but eventually ended up with a gold medal from Salt Lake City Olympics. She didn’t get it until 2004 — after cases were completed involving two Russians who were found to have been doping.

She received medal in an art gallery in Vancouver.

It wasn’t last time Russians would make a lasting imprint on her life.

Her experience in Salt Lake City, and many more that ors like her had endured, led her to seek a spot representing athletes at WADA.

One of her proudest accomplishments was getting an athlete charter of rights approved for entry into WADA archives. That happened Thursday, last day of her term as chair.

“My hope is that going forward, voices that challenge or dissent will be heard and taken into consideration rar than undermined or dismissed,” Scott said. “And my hope is that going forward, balance and independence will be restored to se tables, so that all interests and priorities here are aligned with equality of opportunity and fairness, rar than business of sport.”

She received applause at end of that speech.

That has t been rm.

She has been under near-constant pressure inside halls of WADA — largely dismissed, talked over and igred through years, especially as her voice grew louder in dissent of WADA’s actions in Russian doping scandal that has rocked ncy over past five years.

Last year, Scott resigned her position from ncy’s compliance committee, disgusted with its decision to reinstate Russia’s banned anti-doping committee in exchange for a promise of receiving data from its Moscow lab.

That data, received past a deadline WADA set and under conditions ncy had originally deemed unacceptable, has been tampered with; next week, same committee Scott resigned from will deliver ar recommendation about Russia’s fate.

But, Scott said, she stayed on in athlete-representative role, “because I thought it was a cause worth fighting for.”

It is t easy.

Roles in se worldwide sports organizations are accompanied by perks, new friends and expectations that don’t always align with priorities of people, especially athletes, who elect ir representatives. But once members are inside circle, if y don’t toe line, y receive messs — some obvious, ors more subtle — that ir recalcitrance is t appreciated.

It happened a lot to Scott over six years.

“You’re certainly treated very well, but I think with that comes expectations that you’re a member of club,” Scott said in an interview after her speech. “For me, I felt that I was here as a representative of athletes. And y’re t part of this club.”

athlete’s group Global Athlete put out a statement lauding Scott for standing up “to represent voice of majority — clean athletes of world.”

“That took cour and it took fortitude, but thankfully clean athlete community had a flag-bearer in Beckie,” statement said.

After meeting was adjourned, Scott smiled and bread deeply, maybe for first time in a long time. She had considered t giving speech, but once she got inside room, she realized it was her time.

What she really wanted to do, she said while standing outside meeting room, was to “remind m of what y’re here for and who y’re supposed to be making decisions on behalf of.”

“That’s been lost for years,” Scott said. “Geopolitics and business of sports have trumped athletes for too long, and it’s time to get back to representing athletes. And if that’s t happening here, n what’s point?”

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