The University of Queensland will host the Queensland session of the Australian Olympic Committee’s (AOC) Olympic Sport and Education Forum.
The forum, entitled The Olympic Ideal and Athletes in a Global Age, will discuss the challenges facing modern athletes including drugs and also the relationship between athletes and other groups such as coaches and sponsors.
UQ Centre for Olympic Studies Director Associate Professor Ian Jobling and dual Olympic gold medallist Susie O’Neill will use the forum to tackle the issue of drugs in sport.
As an IOC Athletes Commission representative Ms O’Neill will share the work she is undertaking and the contribution she is making with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
“Anything that publicises anti-drug taking is a good thing,” Ms O’Neill said. “Drug testing is one way but education is another big part.”
Ms O’Neill said she would also discuss WADA’s Athlete Passport concept. Athletes who were handed these passports at major competitions such as the Commonwealth Games had the opportunity to sign up and show that they supported WADA.
Dr Jobling who is also a member of the WADA Education and Ethics Committee said guest speakers at the forum would explain the values of the Olympic Movement and give feedback to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“The reports from the forum will go to the AOC, which then go to the IOC,” he said.
Other guest speakers will include Olympic medallists Steven Bradbury, Kim Cooper, Debbie Watson, Michael Wenden and Marlene Mathews.
The forum, which will be presented by the Queensland Olympic Council and UQ’s Centre for Olympic Studies, will take place in the Abel Smith lecture theatre at the University’s St Lucia campus on Wednesday, November 20 at 9am.
Australia’s first indigenous representative to attend the International Olympic Academy in Greece Keith Sambo will speak about the Olympic Movement and his ideas about the future.
Dr Jobling said participants under the age of 35 qualify for selection to attend the International Olympic Academy in Olympia, Greece in 2003, a two-week trip with all travel and expenses paid by the AOC and the IOC.
The registration fee for the forum is $10, with nominations closing on November 13.
Media: For further information, contact Dr Jobling on (telephone 07 3365 6766, mobile 0417 192 531) or Ian Guiver at the Queensland Olympic Council (telephone 07 3217 2111).
