ASADA boss leaves drug agency in better shape

Ben McDevitt will leave ASADA in a far better state than he found it three years ago.

Outgoing CEO of the Australian Sports Anti-Drug Authority Ben McDevitt

Chief executive Ben McDevitt will leave the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority in a far better state than he found it three years ago, according to close observers of the anti-doping campaign.

Former Australian Federal Police officer McDevitt announced yesterday that he would leave the authority when his three-year term concludes in May.

Founding ASADA chief executive Richard Ings said McDevitt had taken over the agency “at its lowest ebb’’ when it was mired in the Essendon and Cronulla doping scandals.

“It was an agency mired in an incomplete investigation, it was inexperienced and it was out of its depth and he realigned the agency and he got an important case to CAS (the Court of Arbitration for Sport) and he got a result,’’ Ings said. “For someone to go in with no background in this area, with the huge political and media pressure that was on the case, it was bumpy for him early but he got there.

“The reputation of ASADA hinged on that CAS outcome (of the Essendon case), and while it may not have vindicated the process (of the investigation), it did vindicate the pursuit of the case because the evidence was there that there was an anti-doping ­violation.’’

Ings said once the Essendon case was resolved, McDevitt had become a strong leader of the peak anti-doping body.

“In the back half of his term, he was very solid,’’ he said.

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates also praised McDevitt as “a person of the highest integrity and a most effective CEO of ASADA”.

“Under Ben, ASADA worked closely with the AOC to ensure we had the most comprehensive out-of-competition testing ever of our Olympic teams.’’

The announcement of McDevitt’s departure comes just weeks after the federal government appointed a new sports minister, Greg Hunt, but he was at pains yesterday to make it clear that he had not pushed McDevitt out the door.

“Mr McDevitt’s departure is entirely of his own choosing,’’ Hunt said in a statement. “As ASADA’s chief executive officer, Mr McDevitt brought extensive experience particularly in investigations and intelligence, which has been invaluable to ASADA’s work in combating doping in sport and to protect the clean athlete.’’

McDevitt said in a statement that he had advised the minister last week that he would not be seeking a further three-year term.

“My time with ASADA has been both challenging and rewarding,’’ he said. “I have had the opportunity to work with people who are very passionate and committed to clean sport and I have no doubt they will continue this work in the face of new challenges domestically and globally.’’

McDevitt said he was proud to have overseen the enhancement of the agency’s intelligence and investigative capabilities. He warned that the doping threat to the integrity of sport was as grave as ever.

“It is more sophisticated, more readily available and harder to detect,’’ he said. “There are people willing to push the boundaries with experimental substances and methods which have not been clinically tested and approved for human use.’’

Ings said he hoped the search for a new CEO would coincide with a more transparent approach to the publication of the decisions in Australian doping cases.

“They are behind best practice on transparency,’’ Ings said, pointing to the US and British agencies’ practice of publishing all tribunal decisions on their websites.