WADA appoints Dr. Mayumi YaYa Yamamoto as Director, Asia/Oceania Office

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is pleased to announce that, effective 1 March 2024, Dr. Mayumi YaYa Yamamoto will join WADA as the Director of the Agency’s Asia/Oceania Office in Tokyo, Japan.  

Dr. Yamamoto succeeds Mr. Kazuhiro (Kazu) Hayashi who retired on 31 December 2023 after 20 years with WADA, during which time he built the Agency’s presence in Asia/Oceania and made a significant and lasting impact on anti-doping in the region and worldwide.    

Since 2012, Dr. Yamamoto has been leading Education and the ‘PLAY TRUE 2020, Sport for Tomorrow’ project for the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA). In this role, YaYa has worked collaboratively with governments, anti-doping agencies and sports organizations of the Asia/Oceania region; and, with a range of stakeholders from the global anti-doping community to advance clean sport.   

In this new role as WADA’s Director, Asia/Oceania Regional Office, Dr. Yamamoto will play a key stakeholder engagement role for WADA in the region. The priorities of WADA’s regional offices — which are also in Cape Town, South Africa; Lausanne, Switzerland; and Montevideo, Uruguay — are driven by the Agency’s strategic priorities. In particular, the regional offices liaise with Public Authorities and regional sports organizations; support regional stakeholders in developing their anti-doping programs and reaching and maintaining compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code; support capacity building; assist with the implementation of education programs; and facilitate the collection of WADA’s financial contributions within each region.   

WADA Director General Olivier Niggli said: “Dr. Mayumi YaYa Yamamoto has a very rich track-record in sport and anti-doping, having started the anti-doping chapter of her career with WADA’s Standards and Harmonization team in 2009. Over the years, YaYa has voluntarily contributed to countless national and international committees and groups focused on raising the game for athletes worldwide, including having served on WADA’s Education Committee from 2014-2023. I am very pleased that YaYa has agreed to rejoin the WADA team as Director of our Asia/Oceania Office. She already works effectively with WADA Leadership and stakeholders in the Asia/Oceania region and elsewhere in the world; and so, I am very confident that YaYa will be able to carry on the outstanding legacy of our former long-standing Director, Mr. Kazuhiro (Kazu) Hayashi.” 

In 2009, Dr. Yamamoto was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) for Sport Policy and Management from the Institute of Sport & Leisure Policy at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom (UK) after having earned a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations and a Master of Arts (MA) in Sociology of Sport. YaYa used to be a competitive basketball player and now enjoys recreational sports with her family and friends.