Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue). Come early for coffee and conversation at 10:30 am.
Did you know that competitive athletes’ contracts prohibit them from accessing their own countries’ courts? Because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the self-proclaimed ‘supreme authority for world sport’, athletes must bring any dispute over gender, doping, eligibility, contracts or other sport-related issues to an arbitration body that it established in 1983, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). CAS has close ties with the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and there are serious conflict-of-interest and other ethical concerns arising from these linkages. In short, CAS decisions often penalize innocent athletes while guilty ones go free, and what happens at the highest levels of sport has impacts throughout the system. Thanks to the mainstream media, sport celebrities are admired and emulated by young and old, whether or not they deserve the status of moral exemplar (or in mediaspeak, role model).
Speaking on this topic, our featured speaker this Sunday will be Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Professor Emerita, University of Toronto and author of the book Gender, Athletes’ Rights, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Helen Jefferson Lenskyj grew up in Australia and has lived in Toronto since 1966. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 1983, and was a professor from 1986 until retiring in 2007. As well as writing books, she enjoys swimming and kayaking. Her website is www.helenlenskyj.ca
You can RSVP for this on our Meetup page at: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/jdmkqqyzdbfb/