May 07, 2010 Montreal, QC – The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recently announced the launch of its latest education and awareness campaign, Say NO! to Doping. The Campaign is intended to provide sport and anti-doping communities with a tool to draw attention to the commitment of athletes to compete free from doping by incorporating green sporting equipment into sport venues.

The color green, which represents WADA, evokes health, nature and, for many sports, the field of play. Click here for WADA’s Logo Story

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) will be the first International Sport Federation to implement the Campaign. The IIHF will officially launch, in partnership with WADA, its Green Puck Campaign during the opening game of the Ice Hockey World Championships, held from May 7-23 in Germany, where teams will warm-up using IIHF and WADA co-branded green pucks (normally black). Video clips of ice hockey players, coaches and officials promoting the message of clean sport, will be played in the arena during the game.

“Having a common, easily recognizable message and symbol of clean sport is a good way to unite athletes worldwide in the fight against doping in sport,” said WADA President John Fahey. “The Say NO! to Doping Campaign will provide sports with a platform for building a global community of athletes that show pride in playing clean. The Ice Hockey World Championships are a perfect opportunity for WADA to launch this Campaign since the initiative was born out of a strong collaboration between WADA and IIHF.”

“The IIHF was one of the very first International Federations who became compliant to the World Anti-Doping Code,” said IIHF President René Fasel. “It was never an issue and the most obvious thing to do. Although performance enhancing doping has been a rarity in international ice hockey, we realize that we are not immune to people who want to cheat by taking substances and hence find shortcuts to success. This is why the IIHF, together with WADA, has launched the Green Puck Campaign. Our main goal is to inform young hockey players and create awareness about the risks of doping.”

From May 7-9 WADA and IIHF officials will be on hand at the IIHF World Championships to provide information to the public about the fight against doping in sport. Spectators will have the opportunity to win their own green puck by answering questions about anti-doping.

While the IIHF is WADA’s first stakeholder to implement the Say NO! to Doping Campaign, others have shown interest, including the International Football Federation (FIFA) and the Olympic Council of Asia.

For more information about WADA’s Say NO! to Doping Campaign, visit our Web site by clicking <http://www.wada-ama.org/en/Education-Awareness/Say-No-to-Doping/>here and follow WADA’s activities at the World Championships on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit IIHF’s Web site here for more information on their Green Puck Campaign.