Attending the RUSADA Conference...
What an honor, to pack the bag and travel to Moscow, representing Professor Arne Ljungqvist's Anti-Doping Foundation, and attend as a speaker at the international conference hosted by RUSADA...and to screen a short version of the film TWOD to the conference participants. The main reason for the visit was to launch Professor Ljungsqvist's book, now translated into Russian. RUSADA hosted an international conference with distinguished international speakers as yet another step to rebuild the structure and regain the confidence from within...and from the entire world of sports.
It is hard to imagine all the difficult challenges that was put on their table after the McLaren Report in 2016, but they have worked hard to get back on track and RUSADA was recently approved by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency). But, still with a lot of challenges to deal with of course...
The approval was not considered their final goal, it is one important step and the start of a new era. There are still lots of challenges to deal with and once again Professor Ljungqvist offers his help. He has been around helping nations get back on track while protecting the health of the athletes and fighting for clean sports for more than 45 years. With no plans to quit – by many considered nothing less than a rock star accomplishment.
The first international conference with RUSADA, after having been approved...
A video greeting from Professor Ljungqvist was shown to the participants...
All participants were given a copy of the book...
The book was introduced by Yury Ganus, Director General of Rusada. Then followed a personal video greeting to the audience from Professor Ljungqvist himself and I was then given the honor to give some remarks on the book and a short presentation of his anti-doping foundation... as well as screening a short version of the documentary film The War On Doping.
Screen a short version of the film...despite the fact that the film is from 2012, the story on the war on doping is still the same, and the story – history – is considered an important piece of the puzzle when educating new people about how to deal with the anti-doping structures of today and tomorrow.
RUSADA's Book Project Manager, Elena Barabanova, here flanked by Director General Yury Ganus to the right and Producer Bjorn Bertoft to the left.
"Coming back and re-build trust in the global community of sports requires a lot of guts from the people in RUSADA. I admire your efforts and I am grateful for the opportunity to have been invited to this important conference." Bjorn Bertoft
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