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WADA announces candidates for 2026 National Anti-Doping Organization Expert Advisory Group elections

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Elections to be held in October

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is pleased to announce the candidates for the upcoming elections for WADA’s 2026 National Anti-Doping Organization (NADO) Expert Advisory Group (EAG). The elections will be held from 28 to 30 October, and the elected candidates’ terms will begin on 1 January 2026.

NADO EAG

WADA’s NADO EAG is comprised of ten members elected by NADOs via regional elections. Each of the five Olympic/Paralympic regions (Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania) elects two NADO representatives who all serve three-year terms. The ten members are responsible for reviewing anti-doping matters that impact NADOs, providing relevant guidance and recommendations to WADA to enhance its collaboration with, and development of, NADOs globally. The NADO EAG also represents the views of NADOs and brings them forward to WADA’s Foundation Board (Board) by electing their Chair and Vice-Chair, who in turn sit on the Board.

This election applies to all ten NADO EAG seats.

Candidates

The candidates that will be standing in the elections are listed below in alphabetical order by name (per region). The eligibility of candidates has been assessed by the independent election scrutineer, and we are pleased to report that the scrutineer concluded that all 15 candidates met the relevant eligibility criteria. A new document containing  candidate biographies is available here.

 NameRegionNADO
1 GALANT, Khalid Africa South Africa
2 GOMAA, Iman Africa Egypt
3 KOUKI, Hela Africa Tunisia
4 dos PASSOS, Emanuel Africa Cape Verde
5 GRIPPO, Diego Americas Argentina
6 MOREIRA, Anthony Americas Brazil (nominated by the Portugal NADO)
7 WEST, Denise Americas Jamaica
8 HIRAI, Chika Asia Japan
9 KWON, Rachel Asia Korea
10 LING, Lin Asia China
11 CEPIC, Michael Europe Austria (nominated by the Finland NADO)
12 MINDOVA, Sylvia Europe Bulgaria (nominated by the Cyprus NADO)
13 LAUSEN, Martin Holmlund Europe Norway (nominated by the Denmark NADO)
14 BUTLER, Chris Oceania Australia (nominated by the New Zealand NADO)
15 ROLLS, Rebecca Oceania New Zealand (nominated by the Australia NADO)

NADO Eligibility

The NADO EAG Election Procedure sets out the following criteria for a NADO to be eligible to nominate candidates and vote:

  • The NADO must be a Signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) and must at all times during the Preliminary Phase or the Election Phase fully retain its WADA Privileges (as defined in Article 24 of the Code);

  • The NADO shall not be at the same time a Code Signatory in another category; and

    1

  • The NADO shall not come from a country which has not paid its annual contribution to WADA for the year preceding the election.

The scrutineer has validated the eligibility of the NADOs that have put forward a candidate. In addition, a list of all NADOs (excluding NOCs acting as NADOs) and their eligibility status has been shared with NADOs in a separate communication.

Election

The election will be held virtually via an online voting platform from 28 to 30 October 2025. WADA will be in touch with eligible NADOs to confirm their interest in voting and to request contact details to finalize the list of voters for each region.

As a reminder, the following table sets out the timeline that will apply to the election:

Steps2025 Calendar
Introductory communication sent by WADA to all NADOs 3 June
Nomination of Election Scrutineer by WADA Independent Ethics Board By 2 July
Preliminary Phase opened with email to all NADOs requesting nominations from eligible NADOs 3 July
Deadline to submit candidatures 3 September
Review of candidatures by the Election Scrutineer 4 September to 25 September
Confirmation of the official list of candidates 26 September
Election Phase opened with email sent by WADA informing all NADOs of the official list of candidates in their region, voting procedure, and dates of the election 29 September (this communication)
Promotion of candidatures 29 September to 30 October
Vote 28 to 30 October
Confirmation of elected candidates by the Scrutineer 31 October
Successful candidates informed and publicly announced 3 November
Run-off round in case of tie results 3 to 5 November
Confirmation of elected candidates by the Scrutineer 6 November
Successful candidates informed and publicly announced 7 November
Newly elected members meet with outgoing NADO EAG members Before end of year

Should you have any questions, please feel free to direct them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please also note that any complaints regarding the election procedure can be addressed to Mr. Phil Hutchinson, the scrutineer nominated by WADA’s Independent Ethics Board for the NADO EAG elections (c/o This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Note:

(1) The entity shall be registered as Code Signatory within the NADO category and cannot be also registered under any other category of Code Signatories, i.e. International Federations, Major Event Organizations, National Olympic Committees, National Paralympic Committees or other organizations having significant relevance in sport.

The original press release can be found here: (https://www.wada-ama.org/en/news/wada-announces-candidates-2026-national-anti-doping-organization-expert-advisory-group)