(ATR) The nominee to become the next president for the World Anti-Doping Agency is expected to be named today.
Representatives of the public authorities who sit on the WADA Foundation Board meet in Montreal Tuesday to make a selection.
Two candidates are officially up for consideration. Witold Banka is the Poland minister for sport and tourism. He’s nominated by the European contingent on the WADA board.
Marcos Diaz, vice minister of sport in Dominican Republic is the nomination from the WADA board members from the Americas. He competed at an elite level in triathlon, swimming and surfing.
There were no nominations from Africa, Asia or Oceania.
Norwegian board member Linda Helleland could still be a factor in the contest. While she failed to secure the European nomination against Banka, Helleland never declared her campaign over. She stands ready for consideration if the public representatives can’t reach a consensus.
The 18 public representatives on the 36-member WADA Foundation Board will vote in secret in Montreal. The votes are split among the Americas with four, Europe with five, Africa with three and two votes for Oceania.
The winner will not take office until November at the World Anti Doping Forum in Katowice, Poland. But in the meantime, he or she will spend the next four months in the shadow of current chair Craig Reedie as a transition to the new regime.
The new WADA president will follow the rotation in leadership between a representative of sport and one from the public authorities. Reedie, an IOC member, has represented sport for the past six years at the helm of WADA. He is the third president in WADA history.
The decision on the presidential nominee comes ahead of two days of WADA meetings in Montreal, headquarters for the agency since its formation in 2000.
On Wednesday, WADA officials and leaders of the municipal, provincial and Canadian governments will sign the agreement that will keep the agency headquarters in Montreal for years to come.
Reported by Ed Hula.
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