Held as part of the Play True 2020 initiative, a section of the Tokyo 2020 legacy project Sport for Tomorrow, and co-hosted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA), the forum involved over 100 young Japanese athletes.

They were accompanied by WADA Athlete Committee members Claudia Bokel, who was recently appointed head of the Hamburg 2024 Board of Trustees, Tokyo 2020 director of sports Ben Sandford and and 2004 Olympic hammer gold medallist Koji Murofushi. 

“It is great to see the legacy project for the Tokyo 2020 Games coming into place,” Bokel, who is also chair of the International Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission, said.

“The values in sport are very important, playing true, saying no to doping is a major part of it.

“We need to protect clean athletes and ensure the right environment for all athletes to be able to compete in fair and clean surroundings.

“Anti-doping education is best to start when athletes are young, so that they are aware of threats in sport, but also for them to be able to resist possible negative influence when they grow older.”

Play True 2020, which is now under the management of JADA, aims to build stronger anti-doping networks and capacities, designed to help protect the values of sport.

The youngsters involved with the forum took part in practical sessions and activities related to anti-doping, aimed at improving their education on the subject.

The two-day forum, which began yesterday and was largely conference based, also saw the launch of Sport for Tomorrow’s Play True 2020 Torch Relay, which gives athletes the chance to inscribe their personal messages onto a Japanese scroll called a makimono.

“In the lead up to 2020, we want to bring together the ‘Truths’ of all the athletes, particularly the athletes of tomorrow,” Murofushi added.

“I would like to take this opportunity to assist athletes in achieving pride in themselves through sport and, from where beauty is bred, I would like to contribute to raising the value of sport in society.”

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