Yang Yang said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency that this is trust and more responsibility. He will do his best to protect the rights and interests of clean athletes and create a cleaner competition environment in the future.
Xinhua News Agency, Lausanne, Switzerland, June 26 (reporter Ji Ye, Prince Jiang Gaopeng) Sir Craig Ridi, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), reported at the International Olympic Committee plenary meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland on the 26th, yang Yang, the first gold winner of China Winter Olympics, became the vice-chairman candidate of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Yang Yang said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency that this is trust and more responsibility. He will do his best to protect the rights and interests of clean athletes and create a cleaner competition environment in the future.
The International Olympic Committee held an Executive Committee in Lausanne in May this year and decided to nominate Yang Yang as the representative of the Olympic movement and run for the post of vice president of WADA. Meanwhile, the executive committee of WADA and the board of directors of the foundation decided to nominate Polish Minister of Sports and Tourism vitorde banka as the candidate for president of WADA.
Sir Ridi will step down as chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency at the end of this year. On 26th, he introduced to the plenary session of the International Olympic Committee: “Banka and Yang Yang will become the president and vice president of WADA in the election held in Katowice, Poland on November this year, and I wish them success. Obviously, these two are former athletes, (they are elected) will ensure the voice of athletes, and at the same time they will continue to protect the purity of sports. Athletes will become the core of WADA.”
WADA said on its official website that the newly elected chairman and vice-chairman will hold office for three years from January 1, 202020.
Yang Yang told Xinhua News Agency reporter: “It is trust and encouragement, pressure and responsibility to get the trust of the International Olympic Committee and all aspects and participate in WADA’s work on behalf of the Olympic movement. Since the announcement of the IOC executive committee, over the past month, I have been trying to understand WADA in all directions. This time I came to Lausanne, and I also met with all parties to understand the situation.”
Yang Yang said: “This time we put our athletes in the core position of (WADA). I believe that the voice and rights of clean athletes will be best guaranteed. I will also go all out to create a cleaner competition environment.”
Banka was once a 400-meter runner. Yang Yang won the first Winter Olympics gold medal for China in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
Yang Yang served as a member of the International Olympic Committee from 2010 to 2018. During that period, Yang Yang served as a member of the International Olympic Committee Athletes Committee and deeply participated in all aspects of the work of the International Olympic Committee, he also participated in the investigation of Russian doping incidents as a member of the IOC ethics committee.
The main task of the World Anti-Doping Agency is to examine and adjust the list of prohibited drugs, determine drug testing laboratories, and engage in anti-doping research, education and prevention.