President Banka is pleased with the quality of anti-doping work in Austria: "Austria is well on its way to becoming an international leader in protecting clean sport. It is very encouraging to see the progress made in recent years by the government, NADA Austria and the sports federations in Austria. I would like to thank to the Austrian government and to NADA Austria for their commitment to anti-doping work and for their willingness to work beyond their own borders with WADA and other organisations on several international projects. I am very grateful to Michael Cepic and his team for their continuous support and commitment. The seriousness with which Austria tackles the issue of doping in sport contributes not only to the protection of athletes in Austria, but also in the whole of Europe and beyond.
At the meeting with Austria's Vice Chancellor and Minister of Sport, Werner Kogler, national cooperation with investigating authorities was a central topic. In addition, WADA's position on the re-admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to major sporting events was discussed.
In order to give a voice to the most important people in anti-doping work, there was also a meeting with athletes from Austria, including Nadja Heigl (cycling), Andreas Onea (para-swimming), Lara Tiefenthaler (rowing) and Andreas Vojta (athletics).
During the meeting with representatives of Austrian sport, Agnes Sirkka Prammer, Chairwoman of the Sports Committee of the Austrian Parliament, Michael Eschlböck, Vice-President of Sport Austria and President of the American Football Federation Austria, Horst Nussbaumer, President of the Austrian Rowing Federation and Sonja Spendelhofer, President of the Austrian Athletics Federation and Vice-Chairwoman of the Ethics Committee of NADA Austria, exchanged views with the President of WADA.
The Managing Director of NADA Austria, Michael Cepic, gave a pleasant summary of the intensive day: "We are happy about President Banka's visit to Vienna. He has always supported the path of NADA Austria and especially the activities of CEADO. It has been great for us to have him here in Vienna, to brief him on our recent work and to discuss how to continue working together with WADA to strengthen the anti-doping system both in Austria and across the region."
Some of the key topics discussed during the visit were:
- WADA's activities and current areas of development and innovation, such as athletes´ involvement in WADA committees and scientific research;
- the increasing role of values-based education in the anti-doping work;
- International developments such as the admission of Russian athletes to major events;
- the harmonisation of the global anti-doping work.