My Moment

November 21, 2017

By Paul Melia, CCES President and CEO -- 

We can all think of moments in our life when we received recognition for something we had accomplished – big or small. It feels good. It validates the time and effort we put into the task. As good as those moments may have felt though I’m thinking very few probably compare to the feeling an athlete has when they receive a medal at the Olympics or Paralympics following their event - in front of their peers, their family and their country.

Imagine you had spent 4, 8 even 10 years of hard work, and I mean hard work, preparing for the biggest moment in your life. You’ve sacrificed everything to be the best you can be in the sport you love. Your life has completely revolved around your training and competitions. Leisure time – you didn’t have any. You were relentless in your dedication and tireless in your effort. You left no detail to chance. You were prepared to test yourself against all others on a level playing field.

You had been assured that those running your sport, and those running the Olympic and Paralympic Games, had your back. You committed fully to anti-doping. They asked an enormous amount of you when it came to doping control and you complied; always providing your whereabouts, cooperating with doping control officers whenever they arrived at your home or where you were training, and providing samples of your urine and blood. In return, you were promised clean sport and the right to compete in sport that is fair and clean.

Too many athletes have been robbed of their moment to be recognized for their hard work and accomplishments at the Olympic and Paralympic Games because this promise was broken. Even though we work to assure you that your competition is clean, there are negative forces at work that wish to subvert the positive power of sport. We must oppose such forces.

In the wake of the biggest doping scandal in the history of sport, the CCES will work to fulfill the promise to athletes that was broken. Those who have the authority and responsibility for safeguarding athletes’ rights to compete in clean sport in PyeongChang must act now in support of clean athletes.

Check out the voices of clean athletes here… asking for their moments to be protected - www.my-moment.org