WADA has announced it will co-host the upcoming International Athlete Forum for 2020 ©WADA

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will co-host the 2015 “International Athlete Forum for 2020” with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA), it has been announced.

The forum will take place in Tokyo on October 1 and 2 and will be held as part of the Play True 2020 initiative, a section of the Tokyo 2020 legacy project Sport for Tomorrow.

It is set to be an athlete-focused forum, with members of WADA’s Athlete Committee and JADA’s Athlete Committee joining top athletes in discussing the importance of sport within society.

German International Olympic Committee (IOC) member and head of the IOC Athletes’ Commission Claudia Bokel is expected to be in attendance at the forum, as is 2004 Olympic hammer champion Koji Murofushi of Japan.

They will both take part in the first day of the forum, which is largely conference-based, with practical sessions planned for the following day.

The keynote speech at the event, which will also mark the launch of the Agency for Sport, a newly-created organisation in Japan, will be made by WADA director general David Howman as the forum will be staged along with the WADA regional office directors meeting.

WADA director general David Howman will give the keynote speech on the second day of the forum
WADA director general David Howman will give the keynote speech on the second day of the forum ©Getty Images

Howman is expected to address how the different regions have provided help and support in the fight against doping in sport and he will also praise how the world has come together to combat the issue.

On the second day, Japanese athletes will be involved in activity-based sessions designed to teach them the values of staying clean, and they will be joined by Olympians and Paralympians who will divulge their own personal experiences to the group.

During the forum, Sport for Tomorrow’s Play True 2020 Torch Relay will be launched, which gives athletes the chance to inscribe their personal messages onto a scroll.



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