WADA Athlete Committee member Chelsey Gotell relishes the uniting power of sport at Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

After a brief break from being glued to our televisions watching the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, we find ourselves back on the edge of our seats for 11 days of competition where 4,400 of the world’s best Paralympic athletes take center stage to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Whether it was the S14 100-metre butterfly record being broken four times; an El Salvador para powerlifter, who had not been expected to live beyond three months due to being born with achondroplasia, winning his country’s first ever gold medal; a team of refugees taking part under the International Paralympic Committee flag; or the American swimmer who had lost his sight serving for the U.S. Navy deciding to switch to triathlon for a new challenge – and taking gold. There was surely something to make even the most cynical viewer stand up and take notice.

For former Paralympic swimmer and WADA Athlete Committee member Chelsey Gotell, another big story of the Games was the announcement of ‘WeThe15’, sport’s biggest ever global human rights movement to end discrimination for the world’s 1.2 billion people living with a disability (representing 15% of the world’s population). ‘WeThe15’ was founded by a coalition of organizations from sport, human rights, policy, communications, business, arts and entertainment, uniting to change attitudes and to create more opportunities for persons with disabilities, as well as to improve mobility and accessibility.

Chelsey Gotell says: “For me, that is what the Paralympics are all about. On top of watching some tremendous sport, witnessing world records fall, seeing athletes achieve their goals and giving out medals to legendary athletes, launching such a meaningful campaign that has the ability to fundamentally impact 1.2 billion people with a disability is incredibly powerful. Sport has the power to transform lives and can be a driving force to create positive change when it comes to the diversity and inclusion agenda, and the 15% who have a disability want effective change to remove the inequality and inactivity.”

As a member of WADA’s Athlete Committee, Chelsey Gotell also has an important role to play in highlighting the importance of anti-doping in Para sport, reminding athletes of their rights and responsibilities when it comes to competing clean.

She says: “It is vital for everyone who truly cares about the long-term integrity and further development of the Paralympic Movement that we are all committed to clean, fair and competitive sport for athletes. We must protect that natural pursuit of human excellence through dedication, hard work and, ultimately, the celebration of an individual’s natural talents.”

For her, education is the key. She says: “Anti-doping in sport is complicated but anti-doping in the Para sport movement is even more so, and it has fewer resources to manage it. This makes the job of National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs) and International Federations trickier, but they have an important part to play in education. Working together, the NADOs, federations, WADA and the IPC all have a role in providing stronger education to the overall anti-doping community and to Para athletes.”

Originally from Nova Scotia, Canada, and now living in Toronto, Chelsey Gotell has been swimming since early childhood and was soon classified into the S13 swimming category for athletes with visual impairments. In 2000, at the tender age of 14, she qualified for her first Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia, winning bronze medals in the 200m individual medley and 50m freestyle, and silver in the 100m breaststroke. More Paralympic Games and more medals followed when she competed in Athens, Greece in 2004 (one gold and three bronze) and Beijing, China in 2008 (two golds with world records, one silver and two bronze). She also enjoyed significant success at the IPC Swimming World Championships in 2002, 2006 and 2010, as well as the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, and the 2007 ParapanAm Games in Rio.

Following her retirement as an athlete, she stayed involved, working with the Canadian Paralympic Team Mission at the Paralympic Games in London, England (2012), Sochi, Russia (2014) and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2016). In 2014, she joined the Canadian Paralympic Committees Athletes' Council as their Vice Chair, then Chair and at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games was elected to the IPC Athletes' Council. Where she has served as Chair since 2017, which also gives her a voting seat on the IPC Governing Board.

She says: “Having the opportunity to come back to Tokyo to celebrate the Games and be surrounded by the Paralympic family has been nothing short of incredible. I am so proud to be part of the Paralympic movement and am so energized after all of the discussions I have had with so many about our future and where we are heading as a movement.

“I am so honored to be Chair of the IPC Athletes' Council and a member of WADA’s Athlete Committee. It is a real privilege to represent the athlete community and I certainly don’t take that privilege lightly. We have moved the dial in so many ways and although I have more on my list for things I want to accomplish on behalf of the athlete community, I need to remind myself that there will always be more to do!”