The 4th CHINADA international anti-doping symposium was held on 5th-6th November 2024 in Guangzhou. This is the first CHINADA symposium co-hosted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Testing Agency (ITA).

With the theme of “Education - the Future of Anti-Doping”, the symposium aims to provide a platform to share the experience and explore the best practice of education.

Liu Guoyong, Vice Minister of General Administration of Sport of China (GASC), showed China’s efforts in anti-doping legislation, scientific research, and education, “As one of the means to prevent doping at root, the importance of education can never be overstated,” Liu said. Witold Bańka, President of WADA, gave a speech via video to thank CHINADA for organizing the symposium, and pointed out that clean sport is to raise the game for athletes of the world. Benjamin Cohen, Director General of ITA, introduced that the focus of anti-doping work was on testing in the past, and now would be education, especially education for minors. 

In the keynote speech, WADA Vice President Yang Yang gave a view that education was the single best long-term solution for protecting the values of sport. “We need to balance the anti-doping system between ‘catch and punish’ and ‘support and prevent’,” Yang said. 

Li Zhiquan, Director General of CHINADA, presented CHINADA’s recent progress by sharing figures. In 2023, CHINADA collected 29,388 samples as testing authority (TA). With the comprehensive pre-game testing program, there was no AAF for Team China athletes attending international games. The anti-doping team, with 75 CHINADA staff, 323 provincial anti-doping team staff, 1,323 DCOs, and 1,763 educators, gave strong support to anti-doping work in China. A total of 2,431 lectures were carried out in 2023, making education fruitful. The budget of 67,183,600 RMB (nearly 9.43 million USD) promoted better anti-doping work. “We will strengthen compliance with the Code and actively engage in international exchange and cooperation to absorb valuable experience from the world and contribute China’s experience to the world,” Li said.

The 2027 ISE, as the foundation and guidance for education in the coming period, was one of the key points of the symposium. Dr. Mayumi YaYa Yamamoto, Director of WADA’s Asia/Oceania Office, gave explicit explanations of the proposed changes as well as roles and responsibilities for signatories of 2027 ISE, and an overview of the 2027 ISE updates on event-based education.

Wang Xinzhai, Deputy Director General of CHINADA, shared China’s anti-doping education program with the theme of “Promoting education based on the value of ‘Win Clean Medals’”. Relying on CHINADA’s “Three Pillars Anti-Doping Education System” (education model, education team and education platform), China carried out 4,048 education activities and covered over 760,000 people in 2023. Wang mentioned that CHINADA aims to protect the physical and mental health of athletes, the spirit of sport and clean sport through consistent efforts. “Education is a long-term and systematic project, which requires persistent efforts of generations of anti-doping practitioners to continuously explore in order to achieve better results,” Wang said.

For more interactive and “athlete-centered” communication, round-table discussions and an athlete panel were set up during the symposium. Participants were encouraged to engage in creative discussions about the education for educators, minor athletes, and ASP. Four athletes from different generations showed their feelings about education and gave advice on better implementation from their perspectives.

A visit to the Guangdong anti-doping education base was arranged during the symposium to show wisdom and experience from China provincial anti-doping teams. With exhibitions of general principles of the anti-doping work, prevention of doping, doping control and athletes’ rights and responsibilities, and the progress we have made for anti-doping work worldwide, the anti-doping education base received great impression and compliment from participants.

The symposium welcomed 114 in-person guests from WADA, ITA, NADOs, RADOs, China’s provincial anti-doping teams, the Education Committee of CHINADA, Beijing and Shanghai Anti-Doping Laboratory, and the organizing committee for the upcoming China-hosted 9th Asian Winter Games.

The symposium host city Guangzhou is also one of the hosts of the 15th China’s National Games next year and will carry out event-based anti-doping work with the guidance and collaboration from CHINADA.