The struggle against doping in sport is exemplary in this respect. There is little doubt that if it were merely a matter of States making each other promises, the syringes and tablets might stay in business for ever. Doping is not at stake primarily in diplomatic arenas. It is an issue in each gym changing room, where lethal hearsay buzzes around, in each sports academy, where competition pushes budding athletes to make Faustian pacts, in every stadium where champions leap forward, in every mountain pass where cyclists break away from the pack. Which is as much as saying that doping is a live issue in every stand and in front of every television set, where the imagery of sport takes hold and the striving is born towards self-sacrifice and performance, for oneself and for others.

Without an international framework for activities that are themselves increasingly internationalized, action against doping in sport has little chance of being effective. But without the participation of all, the most sophisticated and binding framework will simply whirr along in neutral.

This is why the International Convention against Doping in Sport is more than just a document. As shown by the dossier in this issue of SHS Views, only the commitment of a wide range of actors makes it possible to hope that the political will of States will have effects right down into the gym changing rooms where amateurs briefly feel like professionals. In order that flesh be put on an alternative conception of sport, national and international federations, Olympic bodies, sponsors, the media and educators all have a role to play.

Pierre Sané
Assistant Director-General
for Social and Human Sciences