United States Aquatic Sports Honors Don Catlin with 2024 R. Max Ritter Award
Jun 27, 2024
BSCG continues to celebrate and remember our founding father
Dr. Don Catlin, the pioneer of anti-doping in the United States, who passed away in January. Dr. Catlin delivered quiet gifts to the sporting community for more than three decades leaving behind an indelible impact on the community he served.
We are extremely grateful to United States Aquatic Sports (USAS) for honoring the career and legacy of Dr. Catlin with the 2024 R. Max Ritter Award, which was accepted by his son, Oliver Catlin, BSCG Co-Founder and President. United States Aquatic Sports represents USA Swimming, USA Diving, USA Synchro, USA Water Polo, and U.S. Masters Swimming at the world level (World Aquatics).
This prestigious award, presented annually by USAS, recognizes an organization or individual of a FINA member country who has contributed the most to the advancement of understanding and good will among nations through international participation in amateur aquatic sports.
Dr. Catlin's legacy in anti-doping began with the founding of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory, the first sport drug testing lab in the U.S., in the lead-up to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. His work to foster clean sport has inspired and protected athletes ever since.
Twenty years later in 2004 we created BSCG as one of the first third-party certification programs focused on banned substances in sport with the goal of proactively protecting athletes from supplement contamination concerns. This was the second time Dr. Catlin helped create a new industry in the U.S.
Dr. Catlin’s relentless pursuit of fairness and integrity in sports has left an indelible mark on the world of athletics and all sport.
“If I can speak today for athletes, I would like to say that athletes cherish fair and clean sport, something which is so very important to all athletes,” Four time Olympic swimming gold medalist Anthony Ervin said. “It’s been a trying time in our sport with what has been going on recently. We need to believe in these things now more than ever. His spirit is with us. This award is a small way of thanking you and your family for all that he did for athletes.”
As a second generation anti-doping professional Oliver Catlin continues to carry on the important work his father started: "Every day, I work to carry forward his legacy and keep up the good fight to ensure clean sport."
It is with humble pride that we share the following sentiments written on the award. “The hope for clean sport in the future is possible due to the contributions made by Dr. Donald Catlin, a man who is regarded as the unparalleled leader in sports medicine and anti-doping. Many of the elements of the anti-doping program that athletes and sport leaders take for granted today were envisioned and pioneered by Dr. Catlin so many years ago.”
While Dr. Catlin fought many hard battles over his career he was still optimistic. In his own words on the award, “My hope is, and I think it’s not unrealistic, that you should be able to watch an Olympic event and be satisfied that nobody is doping.”
Dr. Catlin leaves behind a cadre of dedicated anti-doping professionals that work tirelessly to make those words ring true.
As we all prepare to enjoy another glorious Olympic Games take a moment to think about the clean sport movement and all that it has done to elevate sport over the past few decades. Take a moment to join USAS and BSCG in celebrating the great Don.
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