• Rise in the Athlete Voice tops the Agenda at “most inclusive and progressive event on the anti-doping calendar”
• Former Head of WADA David Howman also confirmed to address the current state of clean sport at a time when global regulator is facing unprecedented scrutiny
• PCC Conference heads to London for the first time in April, as it prepares to host its 5th Edition

January 31, 2019: The Partnership for Clean Competition 2019 Conference is set to take center stage in London, England this April as international athlete figurehead Beckie Scott headlines an all-star cast of athletes, sports administrators, scientists and legal experts at the Conference which is taking place on British soil for the first time.

Scott, a former Cross-Country Skiing Olympic Champion and current World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Athlete Chair, will be alongside Rio 2016 Paralympic Silver Medalist and prominent athlete voice, Ali Jawad in the Promoting the Athlete Voice session on the opening day of the April 16 – 18 Conference; and is also joined by an array of top athletes including Olympic Champion Cyclist Callum Skinner and leading American long-distance runner, Kara Goucher.

With an athlete focus unprecedented for an anti-doping event, the Partnership for Clean Competition (PCC) has positioned the athlete voice at the heart of this year’s Conference, following a growing surge in competitors speaking up for reform of the anti-doping system – a trend which commentators have described as an athlete-led revolution for clean sport.

Far from being exclusively athlete-focussed, PCC 2019 is pleased to be staging an open forum for voices from across the world of sport and anti-doping to speak freely and honestly about the number one threat facing sport today: doping. With the top legal minds in professional sport, world-leading scientists, anti-doping commentators and internationally-renowned journalists, PCC 2019, unlike other Conferences on the anti-doping calendar, promises to be a thought-provoking, authentic and “no holds barred” debate crunching the major topics facing the anti-doping movement.

The PCC – a non-profit partnership organization founded by the U.S. Olympic Committee, the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency – is also pleased to announce that the internationally-respected David Howman will open on Day One of the three-day event. The New Zealander, who led WADA as Director General from 2003 – 2016, will kickstart proceedings with a forthright address on The Current State of Anti-Doping.

“I am delighted to be speaking at PCC 2019 as it makes its debut across the pond in London this April,” said Beckie Scott. “As someone that has long championed the importance of the athlete voice in the clean sport cause, it’s both refreshing and humbling to see athletes given an equal platform with other clean sport champions at the heart of this essential debate for the soul of sport.”

“For many years, athletes have been striving to have their views heard, and I believe that we may now finally be on the cusp of a significant shift in how our our voices are heard and respected. I look forward to joining so many esteemed names from the world of sport and discussing how we can continue to embrace athletes’ contribution to clean sport at an event which continues to grow and grow,” added the Canadian.

Hosted by King’s College London, the PCC has, in contrast with other events on the sports integrity calendar, become known for its candid, lively and open debate on the most pointed topics in anti-doping, ensuring that speakers reflect a wide cross-section of views on the future of clean sport and that all participants have a key role to play at a critical time for the anti-doping cause.

PCC 2019 will explore its core topic of scientific challenges and research through a Day One session with Professor David Cowan OBE, the co-founder and former Director of the U.K.’s only WADA-accredited laboratory, the Drug Control Centre; and include Breakout Sessions for participants to discuss Science, Social Science and Legal issues. One standout panel will see Olympian Kara Goucher and Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Vice President of Drug, Health & Safety Programs Jon Coyles debate the future of anti-doping.

The final day will see leading legal figures Adolpho Birch of the National Football League (NFL) and Travis Tygart of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) exchanging views on Protecting the Clean Athlete. Recognising the rise in media attention on doping in sport, the PCC has also added a new Meaningful Anti-Doping Public Relations and Communications session featuring renowned journalists Bonnie Ford of ESPN and Martha Kelner of Sky News, as well as former Commonwealth Games Federation Director of Communications and head of Media Relations for WADA, Ben Nichols.

As a further incentive to participants and media, the PCC will also for the first time be offering exclusive tours of the WADA-accredited London Laboratory on Day Two of the Conference.

“London 2019 will be the biggest PCC Conference yet,” said PCC Executive Director, Michael Pearlmutter. “The move to the U.K. is a clear sign of our continued growth profile as we cement our position as the most comprehensive, unbiased and progressive event on the anti-doping calendar” said PCC Executive Director, Michael Pearlmutter.

“We pride ourselves on being a sports integrity event with a difference. For an industry that can often get caught into the minutiae and technical detail of the complexities of anti-doping, we stand-out as an event that crunches the big topics in an inclusive and authentic forum where free speech is championed, and every perspective is welcomed; it is only through embracing diverging opinions that we will progress with the clean sport cause. Giving athletes an equal footing alongside sports leaders, lawyers, scientists, ethicists, journalists and other commentators is a clear indication of how we differ from other anti-doping events. We hope that PCC London 2019 will progress the debate around the vital role that athletes play in our collective goal to make sport clean and fair,” added Pearlmutter.

To read the full PCC 2019 Agenda, click here.
To register for PCC 2019 visit http://bit.ly/PCC2019

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About PCC
Founded in 2008 by the U.S. Olympic Committee, the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the Partnership for Clean Competition is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization working to protect the integrity of sport and public health by engaging and supporting the world’s top scientists and innovators in high-quality anti-doping research and development. By combining the resources and expertise of America’s leading sports entities, the PCC supports non-partisan and independent scientific research by making targeted grants to various universities and other world-class research institutions. PCC-supported research contributes to a movement in addressing doping’s root causes and ultimately decreasing the use of performance-enhancing drugs by all participants in all sports at all levels of play.

Registration Information
Online registration is available while tickets remain via http://bit.ly/PCC2019. For questions or wait-list information please email Jenna Celmer via jcelmer@cleancompetition.org

Media Information
Media interested in covering PCC 2019 (or for further information on interview opportunities at PCC 2019), please contact Jenna Celmer via jcelmer@cleancompetition.org or 719-866-3018