Beckie Scott – FIT IS A FEMINIST ISSUE

I’m in Ottawa right now at a conference hosted by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport in partnership with the World Anti-Doping Agency. The focus is values-based education, “bringing together researchers and experts to examine how anti-doping organizations can enhance education programs to strengthen the global fight against doping in sport.”

I joked on Facebook that as a cyclist at an anti-doping conference I feel a bit guilty by association. Almost all of the powerpoint presentations about doping have images of my people on bikes!

But it’s exciting to be at a conference with anti-doping officials and educators from all over the world. It’s making me rethink, a bit, how I’ll teach the topic next week in my sports ethics class.

Along with ideas, I plan on sharing my conference loot with my students. So much conference swag.

I’ve got World Anti-Doping Agency sunglasses, a rubik’s cube, playing cards, and even a True Sport frisbee. (Philosophy conferences don’t usually ever have conference goodies.)

One of the highlights was the keynote address by Beckie Scott, a Canadian athlete whose name is also the answer to a Trivial Pursuit question. She’s the only athlete that’s had all three Olympic medals in only one race.

Here’s her bio from the Canadian Encyclopedia:

Beckie Scott, cross-country skier (b at Vegreville, Alta 1 Aug 1974). An ardent and public advocate for drug-free sport, Scott holds Canada’s only medal in CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING, and is the only Olympian to win gold, silver and bronze medals in the same event. Scott began skiing at age 5 when her parents enrolled her in the local Jackrabbit League in Vermilion. She began racing at age 7. At age 13, under the tutelage of coach Len Parsons, she won her first Junior National competition at 110 Mile House in British Columbia. By age 16, she was a regular competitor at world junior competitions.