CLEANING UP THE GAMES A LONG BATTLE
Canadian Olympic gold medallist Scott continues to lead struggle against doping
There is this global majority of athletes who are clean who feel their right to a level playing field is not being upheld and protected in the way it should be. We really took that seriously. Beckie Scott
Beckie Scott’s anti-doping mission — and there is no better way to describe it after all these years — began with a petition.
The document was crafted on a laptop in the early spring of 2001 by Scott and Sara Renner, who was then also a member of the Canadian cross-country ski team. It was a demand that the Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) give the World Anti-Doping Agency power over drug testing; and a reaction to the stunning news that six Finns tested positive for the banned blood expander Hemohes at the world championships in Lahti, Finland, that February.
WADA conducted unannounced tests at those worlds, exposing the Finns, while FIS was responsible for testing at World Cup events.
“We were both so shocked and devastated by the notion that such a large amount of the women we were competing against were doping and cheating that we were really mobilized,” Scott said in December. “It really galvanized us, I think.
“We had always sort of held the Scandinavian countries in a higher regard. Russian doping was an open secret in our sport. There was no question. That wouldn’t have been a surprise. That it was Finland was a surprise to us and a huge disappointment. We had respect for their results and their performances. To discover it was all a fraud was devastating.”
Few athletes went beyond expressing shock and disappointment at the time, but Scott and Renner were motivated to do something about the rot in their sport. More than 115 skiers from all over the globe — including some who would go on to test positive — signed the document.
“I think North Americans in general were more questioning of what was going on,” said Renner. “And also because we were being tested all the time. Americans, Canadians and Japanese, we would see each other in the testing room, and we were wondering, ‘why aren’t they testing anyone else?’ ”
Renner said the general feeling was that “lots was being swept under the carpet.” Deciding to lead the charge put pressure on them, but they couldn’t keep finishing in the back of a dirty pack.
“That was the worst thing, to know that when you lined up at the start line, it wasn’t a level playing field,” said Renner. “As an athlete, you hear things. And before people were caught, we could have written it on a piece of paper. Which makes me think, if we knew then, someone else must have known.”
Scott and Renner knew little then about WADA, but thought an outside agency would prevent FIS from deciding who got caught and who didn’t.
“Even back then, we really had the sense that an international federation charged with attracting TV sponsor rights and sponsorship money is conflicted when they are also put in charge of making sure the sport is clean and fair for athletes,” said Scott. “We had the sense then that FIS was not doing everything it could to ensure a level playing field for athletes.”
In the aftermath of the worlds scandal, the atmosphere was ripe for change. Two Finnish team doctors resigned. The head coach, team manager and women’s team coach were fired after admitting guilt. The skiers were suspended by FIS; the Finnish government and ski association promised a crackdown on doping. A co-operative agreement with WADA was signed and FIS said it conducted more effective testing after the scandal.
The Canadian team, including Scott and Renner, immediately began to enjoy history-making success, but the sport’s drug problem was not eradicated. At the 2002 Olympics, Scott finished behind two Russians who would eventually be caught for blood doping and would lose their medals. Scott received her gold in 2004.
Almost 15 years later, and more than a decade after her retirement as an athlete, Scott is still fighting for fairness, as chair of WADA’s athlete’s commission. Though she was heartened by the partial ban on Russian athletes at Pyeongchang, she was gobsmacked by the enormity of the Russian doping system at Sochi and dismayed again last week when the Court of Arbitration for Sport struck down sanctions against 28 Russian athletes who had been banned for life from the Olympics for their role in the scandal.
“I would say it’s a dark day, maybe one of the first times I feel a little less hopeful about the future for clean sport,” Scott said. “It just doesn’t seem to be moving in the right direction with a day like today.”
The International Olympic Committee may not invite the 28 Russians to Pyeongchang, but there is dangerous precedent in the CAS ruling.
“There may be new standards defined in terms of establishing an (anti-doping rule violation) for athletes with this decision,” said Scott.
“The fact remains the proof was there with the expert witnesses and evidence brought forward ... proving beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of a state-sponsored doping system and these athletes’ active participation in that system.
“So how this cannot result in disqualification from the Olympic Games is very hard to understand. To really have no penalty or consequence for what happened in Sochi is difficult to digest.”
There have been other tough moments for her, including a lengthy period of turmoil in the summer of 2016 when she was accused of having seen the Richard McLaren report on Russian doping in advance of its publication. She had not, McLaren said as much, and it blew over.
“But at that point I felt the personal toll was getting to be too much. I couldn’t sleep. It was very stressful,” Scott said in December.
Two years remain in her term as chair of the athlete’s commission. Despite the disappointments, she is more comfortable and still committed.
“When I was tapped on the shoulder to do this role, I was quite nervous. I was unsure it was the right move for me. I had never seen myself chairing a committee, but once I got into it and realized how important the role could be and what it could mean for athletes, I took it very seriously and made every best possible effort to take that profile and that position and try to make a difference with it.”
When Sir Craig Reedie’s term as WADA president ends in two years, there is a chance Scott will run to replace him.
“People are saying that. That idea has been floated,” she said.
Is she ready to take on more responsibility?
“It remains to be seen. I would hate to leave it. I don’t think I could just walk away,” she said. “When you’re in, you’re in. You have a real passion for it and you care about it — it’s very hard to step away completely. My life has always worked out, one door closes and another opens. We’ll see.”
Richard Pound, WADA’s first president, said the organization would be wise to ensure Scott receives more seasoning before running for the top office.
“I think she is certainly capable of it and would be a very good president. You’ve got to hope that WADA would be smart enough to extend her term and give her that much more exposure and experience.”
In the interim, Scott will continue work on another important document close to her heart: an athlete’s charter of rights and responsibilities.
“There is this global majority of athletes who are clean who feel their right to a level playing field is not being upheld and protected in the way it should be,” she said. “We really took that seriously. Sport would not exist without athletes. Why haven’t they had a piece of paper outlining their rights? It’s outrageous.”
Though Scott declined to reveal details, it is believed the charter will likely outline financial penalties for athletes caught doping.
If that’s the case, Pound said it would get the attention of dopers.
“It may be that if you’re fined for an anti-doping rule violation, you can’t compete again until you pay that fine. That might have a very significant deterrence effect,” he said. “If you simply get a two-year ban and all the money is in the bank, you’re perhaps not too worried. To have to give money back, or you can’t participate again, if I were a doping athlete, that would certainly get my attention.”
He believes the mere existence of the charter is a good step, regardless of its teeth.
“I think it’s important because nobody has ever been able to get organized, at least at the athlete level, to take it on. And from the WADA platform, I think it’s very good,” he said. “It probably pissed off the IOC, because it likes to think it controls these things. It’s a good step. One of the ways you know you’re doing something right is a lot of the entrenched folks get mad at you.”
Scott, who said a draft of the document is nearing completion, mostly wants the charter to empower athletes. The petition she and Renner crafted 17 years ago certainly did that.
“To have an opinion as an athlete is really important,” said Renner. “Even more so now for clean athletes to have an opinion is really valuable. I think I’m almost disappointed now. Clean athletes now are racing World Cups with athletes who are banned from the Olympics in the field. That’s not right. I feel clean athletes don’t know the power that they have and they should use that power, because they can send a message that they’re relevant.
“Beckie is fighting on behalf of them, and they also have to fight for themselves, because no one is going to care as much as the people at the start line.”
Alain Masson, a former Olympic cross-country skier, said he isn’t surprised Scott has cared so deeply for so long.
“I think it takes a special personality to have the confidence, the conviction that you are doing the right thing,” Masson said. “I know Beckie Scott very well, as a friend and an athlete. She is that type of person who will always speak her mind regardless of the consequences. There are not many people like this and not many people like this in sport.”
Scott grew up in a socially conscious household in Vermilion, Alta. Her parents Jan and Walter taught right from wrong and, more than that, to stick up for what’s right. That life lesson sustains her in the fight against doping, even in the face of systemic cheating by Russia, even as the courts let dopers off the hook.
“I get to hear about everything she has been battling,” said Renner. “It’s actually quite raw. It’s so emotional. It’s so unfortunate because it’s a battle for clean sport and it’s a battle at the very top.
“But there is so much good in sport, and I see that good with my kids,” said Renner. “That bottom level is so inherently good. It’s worth putting your effort in, it’s worth protecting. And when I watch the Olympics, I still feel that same feeling in my heart, that this is human spirit at its very best.
“And so, despite everything that’s kind of gone wrong along the way, it’s something that still resonates with me and I would say, with Canadians in general. So it’s kind of like we’re at the point where we have to either s--- or get off the pot. We have to clean it up so we can keep that feeling.”