Position Statement: MLC against enhanced games
Mediterranean 21.03.2024. The Mediterranean Lifesaving Confederation declares that is against championships that allow the use of medical means that enhance performance.
Recently, there has been a discussion and public viewing of organizations that promote games where the use of pharmaceutical means is allowed to increase the sporting performance to achieve records, produce spectacle and gain glory, monetary and medal rewards.
As the Mediterranean Lifesaving Confederation is currently preparing to organize its 1st Mediterranean Lifesaving Championships, there is a need to clarify its formal position.
Lifesaving sport is the only humanitarian sport that saves lives from drowning. The MLC aims to organize “clean” championships in the spirit of the Ancient Greek and the Modern Olympic Games. Lifesaving sport is a means of preserving the lives of the victims not of taking the lives of the rescuers that compete to gain aquatic readiness for saving the victims.
The obligation of “clean” games is a responsibility of everyone who is involved in the world of sports (athletes, coaches, parents, clubs, federations, governments, clubs, judges, and media).
The MLC recommends three sources that promote and protect sports in general and lifesaving. First, “Lifesaving as Olympic Sport” explains the virtues of the sport that saves lives. Second, “Fair Play in Lifesaving Sport” provides the tools and means of judgment of best practices that demonstrate fairness and camaraderie in the competition settings. Third, Anti-Doping Education Statement of the International Life Saving Federation, concerns everyone involved in sports.
