On the Medal Trail

Competition, Doping and the Challenge to Olympic Values

Tricia Smith, Olympic medallist and past chair of alumni UBC, is now president of the Canadian Olympic Committee. Internal controversy and an out-of-control international doping scandal has put the purity of the Olympic movement in question, but Smith still sees amateur athletics as transformative and is a strong believer in Olympic values. Before leaving for Rio, she spoke with Trek magazine.

When Tricia Smith was appointed president of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) in 2015, she was handed a major controversy. Allegations of harassment – sexual and otherwise – had crippled the organization, compromised its values, and created a toxic atmosphere for employees and athletes alike. In order to prepare for the Summer Olympics in Rio, it was essential that she attack the issues quickly and efficiently if the Canadian team was to find any success at all.

It points to Smith’s strengths as a leader, negotiator and diplomat that she was able to establish a positive path to healing in short order. Rather than point fingers and let charges fly, she opted instead to look inside the organization and fix it from within. She and her team conducted extensive interviews with staff members, guaranteeing their anonymity, to get a true sense of the extent of the toxicity, then set out procedures to eliminate it. The team, which included an outside consultant, came up with eight recommendations, all of which were implemented. They included an anonymous whistleblower mechanism, leadership training for staff to improve the employee experience, and a transparent method to resolve disputes.


Revelations about Russia’s systematic performance enhancement drug (PED) use policy has shaken the international amateur sports community.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has established stringent guidelines for the detection of banned substances, and each nation is responsible for setting up and maintaining drug testing for its athletes. Of course, some nations are more diligent than others in applying these rules, and revelations about Russia’s systematic performance enhancement drug (PED) use policy has shaken the international amateur sports community. If a huge competitor like Russia can operate state-sponsored doping of its athletes, what hope do smaller, more transparent nations have of competing fairly on the world stage?

In spite of rampant and, some would say, ultimately ungovernable PED use by athletes in virtually every sport, amateur or professional, some headway is being made to combat its growth. The science of detection, however, seems always to be a step or two behind the science of PED development. The current revelations of positive tests, however, are a result of the relatively new practice of saving samples from tested athletes for a 10-year period, during which time those samples can be tested with new detection methods as they are developed. Recently, retrospective testing of athletes from the 2012 London Games uncovered an additional 23 offending participants, and an additional 31 new positives from the 2008 Beijing Games.

Smith and her teammate, Betty Craig, won Silver in the Coxless Pairs event during the 1984 Olympics, losing gold to the Romanians. While there was no proof that the winning pair was using PEDs, Communist-era Romania was notorious for using enhancements in other sports.

As well, out-of-competition testing protocols have been established and applied worldwide, whereby athletes can be tested during lead-ups to events when they would most likely be doping. Individual countries are generally responsible for administering tests on their own athletes, and if they don’t report testing as required, the country can be considered non-compliant and be penalized.

Tricia Smith competed in rowing during the era when East German athletes were suspected of using PEDs, and saw doping on the ground. It was thought that many of the athletes from some Eastern European countries were using these enhancers, but few were ever caught. It wasn’t until the fall of the Berlin Wall, when secret records were made public, that the East German doping program was confirmed.

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Tricia Smith competed in rowing during the era when East German athletes were suspected of using Performance Enhancing Drugs.

Smith and her teammate, Betty Craig, won Silver in the Coxless Pairs event during the 1984 Olympics, losing gold to the Romanians. While there was no proof that the winning pair was using PEDs, Communist-era Romania was notorious for using enhancements in other sports.

Smith says since there was never any proof the Romanians or the East Germans cheated at the time, they did not dwell on suspicions. “We were disappointed not to win Gold, but the experiences I had in sport were amazing. I’d do it again in a second. There were many races in which we beat the East Germans and others who we now know may have been cheating. Overall we had great careers.

“There will always be people who try to gain some advantage through drugs or other means,” she says. “The majority of athletes are clean, and we’re putting a lot of effort in to protecting them and making sure those who cheat get caught. When people ask me about all the doping cases lately, I say ‘isn’t it great that we’re catching them?’” That, and the 10-year sample storage, she feels, will give pause to those who might be tempted to use PEDs.

In spite of the controversies, the doping allegations and the difficulties associated with the venues, Smith feels there’s an undeniable attractiveness about the Olympics. “It is 17 days of incredible performances, in every sport, and every single athlete has a unique story about the work and dedication it took to get them there. Every one of them is focussed on being his or her best in that moment in their event. No one is holding back or saving up for some other race next month. It’s all on the line. It’s magic.”

But things have changed over the last hundred years. Better training methods, enlightened nutritional ideas, great strides in health care and even a better understanding of sports psychology have all contributed to athletes being much stronger than those of even a few decades ago. So why not let athletes do whatever they can to improve their performance? Why not develop performance-products that won’t harm the body, but that can show the outer limits of athletic endeavour?

“There are many legitimate ways of improving performance,” Smith says, “and good athletes don’t find it attractive to cheat."

“There are many legitimate ways of improving performance,” Smith says, “and good athletes don’t find it attractive to cheat. When people ask me that question, I ask them a question back: Is that the kind of thing you want your kids involved in? There are already types of sport entertainment where anything goes, but that’s not the Olympics. The integrity that is behind the true Olympian performance is what makes it valuable, and makes it entertaining – which I see as different from entertainment. What’s the value if cheating is involved? No one feels good about winning by cheating.”

Tricia Smith firmly believes in the value of sport, in the process of training young athletes, and in helping them to compete at the highest levels. She has seen the benefits of such experiences in her own life and in the lives of athletes – and of communities – all over the world.

“And if you believe in the process, and in Olympic values,” she says, “you can’t just sit back and hope it survives. You have to step up.”


A record twenty-nine current and former UBC student athletes are part of Team Canada’s roster for Rio, while another 17 members of the UBC community will be in Brazil as coaches, management, support staff, and medical and paramedical personnel for Team Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee. In July, a send-off event was held at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Images: copyright UBC Athletics.


UBC Olympians and Paralympians (students and alumni) in Rio

Wheelchair Rugby
Byron Green
Travis Murao

Swimming
Yuri Kisil
Martha McCabe
Emily Overholt
Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson
Markus Thormeyer

Men's Field Hockey
David Carter
Taylor Curran
Gordon Johnston
Ben Martin
Mark Pearson
Keegan Pereira
Matt Sarmento
Scott Tupper

Rowing
Hillary Janssens
Max Lattimer
Lauren Wilkinson

Track and Field
Maria Bernard (3000m Steeplechase)
Luc Bruchet (5000m)
Evan Dunfee (race walk)
Elizabeth Gleadle (Javelin)
Inaki Gomez (race walk)
Mike Mason (high jump)
Ben Thorne (race walk)

Women's Beach Volleyball
Jamie Broder

Men's Volleyball
Blair Bann

Sailing
Nikola Girke
Luke Ramsey