Drug Free Sport NZ CEO receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Drug Free Sport NZ CEO receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Outgoing Drug Free Sport NZ (DFSNZ) chief executive Graeme Steel has been honoured for his service to the sporting community in New Zealand, receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the NZ Sport and Recreation Awards in Auckland.

Graeme has been at the helm of New Zealand’s national anti-doping organisation for almost 30 years, and will step down from the role at the end of June.

Sport NZ CEO Peter Miskimmin said Graeme was fully deserving of this award having, both as an international representative and as an administrator, made an outstanding contribution to sport.

“He is one of the true leaders in New Zealand sport and has an overwhelming commitment to clean sport, and a determination to challenge all threats to it. He has made a significant contribution both nationally and internationally, and his agency now enjoys a reputation for the same common-sense approach with which he has run it.”

DFSNZ Board Chair Justice Warwick Gendall QC says that Mr Steel’s contribution to sport in New Zealand is widely admired and respected in New Zealand and overseas.

“He is an influential leader, not just here at home but internationally, in the critical field of anti-doping in sport. His passionate and consistent aim and focus has been to serve all athletes and protect clean athletes’ right to compete on a level playing field in the spirit of fair play,” Justice Gendall says.

“As an original mentor of the recently retired WADA Director General, and with unrivalled expertise in, and service to the sports anti-doping field, he will leave a legacy to sports in New Zealand and worldwide for which deserves acclaim.”

“The staff at DFSNZ and I, will miss him greatly, and I trust he will not be lost to the world of protection of all athletes through the community of sports anti-doping organisations.”

Mr Steel continues to advise the next generation of leaders in national and international sporting communities about the importance of clean sport and values-based education, which DFSNZ is targeting at younger athletes.

ENDS.

© Scoop Media