Lessons from the Slovak experience for the international sports community

 

PaedDr. Žaneta Csáderová, PhD.
Director of the Slovak Anti-Doping Agency (SADA)
https://www.antidoping.sk/

CORE MESSAGE

Negative phenomena in sport cannot be addressed in isolation. The Slovak experience shows that national anti-doping organisations can provide an effective platform for gradually building broader protection of sport integrity.

 

Sport is built on a simple but fragile idea: results should come from performance, talent, preparation, courage and respect for the rules. This is why sport has value not only for athletes, but also for society. It teaches children how to deal with success and failure, connects communities, creates role models and shows that competition can coexist with respect. Once trust in fairness, safety or the meaning of the sporting environment is damaged, sport gradually loses its educational, social and cultural value.

Why anti-doping alone is no longer enough

For many decades, the most visible symbol of protecting sport has been the fight against doping. National anti-doping organisations were created as a response to one specific negative phenomenon that threatened athletes’ health, equal competition and the credibility of results. Today, however, doping is only one part of a much broader spectrum of risks. Competition manipulation, corruption, violence, discrimination, abuse of power, insufficient protection of children and young athletes, unethical commercial pressures and the risky environment of unregulated supplements can damage sport integrity in equally serious ways. In some environments, these threats may even be more immediate for an athlete than doping itself.

National anti-doping organisations as a natural platform

From this perspective, the international sports movement faces an important question: should each negative phenomenon in sport be addressed by a separate institution, or should countries build a more coordinated model for protecting integrity? Both approaches have their place. Specialised bodies can bring deep expertise in a particular area. At the same time, excessive fragmentation may create unclear responsibilities and make it difficult for athletes, parents or clubs to navigate between different systems of prevention, support and reporting. The experience of anti-doping shows that national anti-doping organisations can serve as a natural platform on which a broader integrity model may be developed step by step.

The reason is practical. Anti-doping agencies already have structures that many areas of sport integrity still need: independent decision-making processes, links to international rules, prevention and education systems, experience with sensitive cases, procedures for handling confidential information, networks within sport federations and the ability to communicate with public institutions. They also understand that the protection of sport cannot rely only on control and sanctions. An effective system must combine prevention, early recognition of risks, safe reporting, expert assessment and clear rules on where a case should be referred.

The Slovak experience

The Slovak experience may offer a useful contribution to this wider international discussion. An amendment to the Slovak Act on Sport, effective from 1 July 2025, broadened the national framework for protecting sport integrity and confirmed this protection as a public interest. For the Slovak Anti-Doping Agency, this did not mean a sudden change of identity or an immediate transformation into an entirely new institution. Rather, it represented a natural extension of an existing mandate and a gradual use of the experience built in anti-doping over many years. SADA remains the national anti-doping organisation, while also becoming a coordinating and methodological partner in the broader protection of the sporting environment.

This approach is important because negative phenomena in sport are often interconnected. An athlete pressured to use prohibited substances may at the same time be exposed to an abuse of authority by a coach. An environment that tolerates non-transparent financial relations may be more vulnerable to competition manipulation. A club without basic safeguarding standards for children may fail to recognise risky behaviour by adults towards young athletes. Integrity is therefore not a collection of isolated topics. It is the way in which the sporting environment protects fairness, safety, trust and the dignity of all participants.

Gradual expansion, not mechanical copying

At the same time, extending the anti-doping model to other areas cannot be a mechanical exercise. Each negative phenomenon has its own logic, its own risk groups and its own spectrum of sports in which it appears most strongly. Doping is often linked to performance pressure in elite sport, but also to recreational fitness settings and the unregulated market for supplements. Competition manipulation may have a different dynamic in team sports, lower leagues or environments connected to sports betting. Safeguarding is particularly sensitive in relation to children, youth and vulnerable athletes, and requires a different language, different tools and a different network of experts than a classic anti-doping case. Corruption and failures of good governance are often linked more to organisational and management structures than to an individual athlete.

For this reason, a gradual approach appears to be the most appropriate. First, responsibilities must be clearly defined, trust must be built with sport federations and public institutions, and methodological support must be established. Only then should reporting tools, case-management pathways and referral mechanisms be developed. An anti-doping organisation does not need to replace the police, courts, disciplinary bodies of sport federations or specialised victim-support services. It can, however, create a clear entry point, provide expert guidance, connect relevant actors and help ensure that a report does not disappear within the system.

Education as common ground

Education is a key part of this model. Anti-doping organisations have a strong tradition of prevention programmes and of working with athletes, coaches, parents and schools. This experience can be extended to broader themes of safe and fair sport. Values-based education, critical reflection on performance pressure, prevention of competition manipulation, protection of children from inappropriate adult behaviour and a responsible approach to supplements should not be treated as separate worlds. Together they form a sporting culture in which rules are not seen as an external obstacle, but as a condition of trust.

Lessons for the international discussion

The Slovak experience does not yet offer a finished universal model. It offers a lesson that broader protection of sport integrity can be built on existing anti-doping foundations, provided that the process is realistic, partnership-based and respectful of the specific nature of each area. The future of sport protection will probably not depend only on testing, sanctions and isolated rules. It will depend on the ability to connect prevention, education, trust, professional procedures and international cooperation. If we want to protect the spirit of sport, we must look beyond one negative phenomenon. We must protect the whole environment in which athletes grow, compete and trust that sport still has meaning.

Short biography

PaedDr. Žaneta Csáderová, PhD., has served as Director of the Slovak Anti-Doping Agency since 2014. She has worked in anti-doping since 1999, first as a doping control officer. She graduated from the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport of Comenius University in Bratislava, where she also completed her doctoral studies in sport humanities with a focus on doping in sport and anti-doping measures. As a representative of the Slovak Republic, she regularly participates in international anti-doping structures of the Council of Europe and UNESCO. Her professional focus includes anti-doping policy, education, good governance in sport and the gradual development of broader tools for protecting sport integrity.

This Expert Voices contribution reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily represent the views, position, or editorial opinion of IPSEI.

 

Cite this Expert Voice

Please use the suggested citation below when referencing this article in institutional websites, reports, academic materials, newsletters or professional profiles:

Csáderová, Ž. (2026). From Anti-Doping to the Broader Protection of Sport Integrity. IPSEI Expert Voices. https://ipsei.org/from-anti-doping-to-the-broader-protection-of-sport-integrity/