Alain Lacoste: a pioneer in the fight against doping in rowing

The winner of the 2024 World Rowing Distinguished Service to International Rowing is Dr. Alain Lacoste of St. Etienne-de-Cuines, France.

Dr. Lacoste was coxswain of the pair with cox at the 1970 World Rowing Championships in St. Catharines, Canada and at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. He grew up in Paris where he graduated in medicine at the University of Paris with a specialty in Biology and Sports Medicine. He was posted to a village in the mountains near Grenoble, St. Etienne-de-Cuines where he delivered medical care to the village and to the visiting skiers for his entire career.

Alain’s greatest contribution to international rowing happened mostly behind the scenes in the fight against doping in sport. Alain joined the FISA Sports Medicine Commission in 1991 and, in 2000, was elected Chair of the Commission and served 16 years in the position until retirement in 2016. This also meant that Alain was a member of the Council of FISA / World Rowing for 16 years.

Alain stepped into the chair position at a time when anti-doping was becoming a huge concern for sport. WADA had just been created in 1999 and doping was causing great damage to fair sport. Alain was tireless in his attention to FISA’s work in this area. He created a system to monitor all instances of doping in rowing and helped to monitor FISA’s timely prosecution of cases.

Alain led FISA to stage the first broad, pre-event blood testing of rowers in the days prior to the 2001 World Rowing Championships. Out of Competition and Pre-competition blood testing became the norm and Alain led the planning and administration of these tests for many years over many events.

Under Alain’s guidance, DNA evidence was used for the first time in the prosecution of a sports anti-doping case following the 2007 Lucerne Regatta. Again, Alain was leading the way. He was also instrumental in the creation of the “No Needles” policy at World Rowing events which was later adopted by many other sports federations. This policy required team doctors to request permission in advance before using syringes to treat a medical case. If there was a reasonable treatment that would not require injection, the doctor was re-directed to an alternative treatment.

Alain was also a leader in the FISA decision to require all rowers participating in events to have annual medical check-ups – “Pre-competition Health Screening” – in the effort to prevent sudden cardiovascular death in sports. A number of cardiovascular issues were discovered and treated in rowers that otherwise might have gone undetected.

Alain was a very active member of the Medical Advisory Group of the Association of International Sports Federations (ASOIF) for many years and of the board of the Federation of International Sports Medicine (FIMS).

Even after his retirement as chair of the Sports Medicine Commission, Alain continued to work on anti-doping as an invited consultant until 2019, when all World Rowing anti-doping activities were transferred to the new independent International Testing Agency.

Alain’s dedication and very significant contribution over many years to the fight against doping ensured that World Rowing has been a leader against doping in sport.

Denis Oswald (honorary president of World Rowing): “Alain has always symbolised intellectual probity. He would never say or write anything that he hasn’t checked 10 times and that isn’t relevant to the subject at hand. Thanks to his expertise and rigour, Dr Lacoste has enabled FISA/World Rowing to maintain its reputation as one of the international federations that has best managed the scourge of doping and kept its sport clean.”

Jean-Christophe Rolland (president of World Rowing): “Alain Lacoste is a true servant of sport and athletes, a great contributor behind the scenes. His expertise and great professionalism have always guided a pioneer in the fight against doping. With a strong, direct character and an extreme sensibility to the true values of sport, Alain has made a major contribution to the reputation and image of rowing as a clean sport.”

Denis Masseglia (former president of the French Rowing Federation and French National Olympic Committee): “Although he has passed the retirement age, Alain continues today to practice his profession – or rather his passion – as a doctor because it is important for him to continue to follow his patients, and he simply responds to their desire to be medically supported. This obsession with the known or unknown patient to whom the doctor must devote time and competence, illustrates what Alain is, a man at the service of medicine and especially of others.”