As the issue of doping in sport continues to make waves at the Olympic Games in Rio, a new book provides a timely analysis of the legal impact of doping regulation and offers suggestions on how the system could be improved.

Doping in Sport and the Law, to be launched in Sydney on 17 August, is a collection of insightful reflections by experts on the interaction between theory, policy and law in the context of doping in sport. It is the first book to examine sports doping from a variety of different but very relevant legal perspectives that affect the stakeholders in sport at professional and grassroots levels. It is edited by Ulrich Haas, Professor of Law at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and Deborah Healey, Associate Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

Associate Professor Healey is the author of Sport and the Law, which has been continuously in print since 1989, and has written many other books, book chapters and journal articles. She has considerable experience as a chair and tribunal member across a number of professional and grassroots sports, including on selection, disciplinary and doping disputes for major professional sports and the Australian Olympic Committee. She is a board member of the New South Wales Rugby League and a member of the Independent Appeal Committee of Football Federation of Australia.

Each of the 14 chapters in Doping in Sport and the Law, written by leading academics, barristers and Court of Arbitration for Sport arbitrators, addresses doping regulation from a legal perspective, such as tort, corporate governance, employment law, human rights law or a scientific area. Areas that are explored include the contentious issue of cannabis testing, the employment law implications of doping regulation, the position of athletes harmed by doping, whether the World Anti-doping Code actually deters doping, and how commercial interests influence the development of international sports anti-doping regulation.

The book also offers guidance to sports administrators and offers suggestions to improve the system, such as including a more effective education program for all athletes, and reforms to enhance the transparency, accountability and integrity of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Former president of WADA John Fahey will launch the book and says it represents a significant resource for athletes and officials. “It should certainly be read by sport medical officers, coaches and club directors. Nearly all of the content will be easily understood and readily discernible by the average non-lawyer reader and I urge particularly club officials to use it for guidance and advice,” Fahey says in the book’s foreword.  

Doping in Sport and the Law, published by Bloomsbury, will be launched at 6pm on 17 August at Kennedys, Level 22, 85 Castlereagh Street, Sydney. To RSVP email d.healey@unsw.edu.au