Letter from the President, MR. Philippe Orengo

It is undoubtedly because they gather all common and universal values of our culture, because they involve all personal aspects of individuals that to varying degree they are available to everyone and they are a factor of health, physical and psychological balance, fulfilment and education. Physical and sports activities are increasingly extending their grip on social reality, our way of life and how to live together.

Like any human activity, sport and fitness, both for competition or leisure, are subject to rules – specifically called rules of the game – and to fundamental principles of ethics and deontology. In other words, the Olympic Charter states that if the practice of sport is a human right, then it also implies obligations.

Nobody is required to play sports. We are free to take up the sports of our choice, whether we are sport enthusiast, instructor, coach, manager or referee, we are committed to assuming the concomitant responsibilities and, in particular, to following the rules of the game in order to be in harmony with oneself and with others. We are talking about fundamental social values such as the preservation of human dignity, equality of all before the law, respect for others, concern for justice but many others creating social cohesion and sharing a quality of life could be mentioned. If sport and physical activities are based on personal or collective fulfilment, their practice require knowledge and understanding of his/her own limits, a will to succeed and a healthy lifestyle for which the spirit of competition cannot be an end in itself and the pursuit of high performance cannot justify the use of unfair means.
Within this overall framework, the fight against doping is one the safeguards set in place to prevent any abuses distorting the spirit, values and the whole purpose of sports and physical activities.

It corresponds with a triple concern related to ethics, equity and public.

Firstly, it’s about ethics because the practice of physical activities must lead to an individual balance with yourself. Actually, this is the only way that it can give everyone the opportunity to feel self-fulfilled.

Then, it’s about equity because the competitive spirit can be genuine and have true values only if it is fair. Finally, about public health because if the sport must be first and foremost a source of fun and well-being, then the use of aids, whether they be doping agents or prohibited methods, is likely not only to have a very serious impact on individuals but also to create burdens as unbearable as unjustified on the society.

The Monegasque Anti-doping Committee can therefore only make Juvenal’s antic aphorism its own “mens sana in corpore sano” (a healthy mind in a healthy body) for which its concise nature remains as strong as ever.

By welcoming you to our website, we wish you an enjoyable browsing online and hope that the different headings will answer your questions and catch your interest in a clean sport. We are here to listen to your thoughts and needs.

Best regards,
Philippe Orengo