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It was reported yesterday that World Olympians Association (WOA) chief executive Mike Miller sparked controversy when he made the suggestion that the use of microchipping athletes to combat doping in sport during a Westminster Media Forum on integrity in sport.
"Some people say we shouldn’t do this to people," Miller, a former senior sports executive with Channel 4 and the BBC, said.
"Well, we’re a nation of dog lovers, we’re prepared to chip our dogs and it doesn’t seem to harm them, so why aren’t we prepared to chip ourselves?
"We need to keep in front of the cheats.
www.islandstats.com emailed the World Olympians Association which Bermuda Olympian Patrick Singleton is an Executive Member to get a response and received correspondence in a form of a statement:
World Olympians Association (WOA) has made the following statement in relation to comments made by Chief Executive Mike Miller at the Westminster Forum on integrity and duty of care in sport:
World Olympians Association Chief Executive Mike Miller was invited to speak, in a session entitled ethics in sport, trust, enforcement and priorities going forward, to a select group of people in London, UK on Tuesday 10 October. In a speech entitled “We must strengthen trust in sport”, Mr Miller dealt with numerous topics on this important issue.
At the end of the speech Mr Miller suggested, as a way of fostering debate, that just as in business, where initial trials are taking place using chipping to help with employee ID, security and payments, the sporting industry could also use microchip technology in the fight against doping.
It was made clear at the time of speaking that this was a personal opinion, not a policy of the World Olympians Association.
WOA President, Joël Bouzou, said, “The WOA actively strives to serve the needs of Olympians at all stages of their lives and to involve them in service to society projects that benefit their local and national communities. Olympians want to know that all of their hard work and sacrifice is not in vain, that they can compete on a level playing field without having to contend with those who cheat by taking prohibited substances.
"We will always be at the forefront of anti-doping initiatives and welcome open and constructive debate on the best way to achieve doping and cheating free sport. However, the views expressed recently by our Chief Executive Mike Miller were of a personal nature, as Mike has made clear, and do not represent WOA policy."
World Olympians Association Chief Executive, Mike Miller, added, “It saddens me that such an important topic has been trivialised by taking out of context one comment among many made to foster debate on how best to strengthen trust in sport and drive the cheats out of sport. I made it very clear at the time that these were personal comments and not WOA policy and also that it was not something that had been discussed by the WOA.”
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