Norway's culture minister elected vice-president of World Anti-Doping Agency

Norway's Minister of Culture Linda Hofstad Helleland was elected vice-president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Sunday by the organization's Foundation Board, the government said.

"I am honored by the trust the WADA board has given me and I am excited to take on the challenge of promoting clean sports," Helleland was quoted as saying in a statement from the Norwegian government.

She said the international fight against doping is at a crossroad and there is a shared responsibility between governments and the sports movement to restore confidence in the integrity of the international anti-doping effort.

"We need to strengthen the ability of WADA to respond to current and emerging challenges in the field of anti-doping," Helleland said. "I am delighted to continue the great work done by the authorities and to cooperate closely with the sports movement."

At the WADA Foundation Board meeting in Glasgow, Britain, on Sunday, Briton Craig Reedie was re-elected president of the anti-doping organization for a second mandate of three years.

The 38-member Foundation Board is WADA's supreme decision-making body. It is composed equally of representatives from the Olympic Movement and governments. Helleland will be a global representative of the governments, the statement said.

WADA was established in 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland, as an international independent agency composed and funded equally by the sport movement and governments of the world. Since 2002, the organization's headquarters have been located in Montreal, Canada.

Its key activities include scientific research, education, development of anti-doping capacities, and monitoring of the World Anti-Doping Code -- the document harmonizing anti-doping policies in all sports and all countries. Endit