CASE STUDY
Sydney Olympics 2000 – Drug Testing program
18 months out from the Sydney Olympics, the greatest fear of the organizers was that Sydney would become known as the “Drug Olympics”. With no test in existence, the drug EPO was being widely used by athletes winning large numbers of medals in endurance sports. The fear was that many of these athletes would compete successfully in the Sydney Games. Appreciating this risk, the Australian Government formed a team of scientists from the Australian Institute of Sport and the Australian Sports Drug Testing laboratory. Their challenge was to develop a test for EPO that would be accepted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in time to be implemented for the Sydney Games.
contentgroup was engaged by the Australian Government to manage all communication.
Contentgroup Achievements
Developed a communication strategy to tell the story of the EPO drug testing program.
Prepared accurate background material to ensure journalists were kept well informed of the EPO drug testing program and its objectives.
Conducted daily research of the drug testing environment which enabled the project to carefully manage its position.
Managed all internal and external stakeholder communication on a daily basis.
Managed all media relations.
Provided daily strategic communication advice to the Team Leader.
EPO Test Team Leader, Drew Clarke, says:
“contentgroup understand communication. They produced a plan that accurately assessed the issue, the audiences we need to talk to and the story that we wanted to tell. The sanction of a test for EPO was an issue with interest from a diverse group of people located all around the world. We needed to manage the issue carefully. I’d highly recommend contentgroup for any communication challenge, be it internal or external. They know what they are doing.”