Sport: Doping and Illegal Gambling

Lord Holmes of Richmond Excerpts

Wednesday 24th February 2016 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Courtown]

My Lords, the noble Lord refers to criminalisation of doping in sport. As he mentioned, a review has been in progress and it has just been finally put together. One must also remember, however, that criminalisation of doping is not a panacea that will suddenly make all doping disappear. The noble Lord will no doubt be aware that France, for example, where criminalisation does take place, is on the watch list of countries that have had problems in the past.

[Lord Holmes of Richmond (Con)]

Does my noble friend agree that UK Anti-Doping is doing excellent work to ensure that the Great British teams that compete in this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio will be not just successful teams but clean teams?

[The Earl of Courtown]

My Lords, I could not agree more. My noble friend makes a very good point. UK Anti-Doping’s “100% me” education programme has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. This has had workshops tailored to each stage of an athlete’s pathway, right from grass roots up to the top professional level.