Ban man: san diego olympian dunn joins top anti-doping panel

Olympian Philip Dunn of San Diego has been elected to help lead the top American group that fights sports doping — with power to ban athletes, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced Monday.

Dunn, a race walker and member of the San Diego Track Club, will serve on the USADA Board of Directors. “As a clean athlete, I was proud to represent Team USA, and I am excited about this

opportunity to continue to serve my fellow athletes by joining the USADA Board of Directors,” Dunn said in a statement. “I look forward to working with my colleagues on the board and the

USADA staff to pursue USADA’s mission on behalf of all clean athletes.” Philip Martin Dunn, 43, was recommended by the U.S. Olympic Committee Athletes Advisory Council and will serve as an

athlete representative on the independent 10-person USADA board. He fills the position previously occupied by skiing and mountain biking athlete Carl Swenson, who just completed his final

term, having served on the board since 2007. Swenson had served as treasurer for the USADA board, a position that will now be held by Dr. Cheri Blauwet. “We are excited to welcome Philip to

the USADA board,” said former hurdle record-holder Edwin Moses, USADA board chairman. “Philip’s experience as an elite athlete, along with his previous service representing his fellow

athletes, brings a unique and valuable perspective to the Board of Directors, which will greatly benefit both USADA and the clean athletes we serve.” Paul Greer of the San Diego Track Club,

a coach at San Diego City College, told Times of San Diego he was delighted to hear the news. “He is a man of great integrity and is admired by everyone who knows him,” Greer said. “He will

be a great asset to this committee and will be a powerful force in the fight against athletes using sport enhancement drugs. Needless to say, I am very proud of him.” Dunn represented Team

USA at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games (with a best finish of 28th at the 2000 Sydney Games) and the 1999, 2003 and 2007 Pan American Games in the 50K (31-mile) distance. Dunn won a

bronze medal at the 1999 Pan American Games and a silver medal at the 2003 Pan Am Racewalk Cup. An eight-time U.S. national champion, Dunn was previously elected by his athlete peers to

serve as an athlete member on the USA Track & Field Board of Directors after the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. In 2012, he served as the race rirector for the U.S. Olympic Team

Trials, an event he had won four years earlier. Dunn is a graduate of Carleton College in Minnesota and is currently immersed in the sustainable agriculture movement in the San Diego region.

He is founder and coordinator of the Harvesting San Diego program and serves on the Board of Directors of the non-profit San Diego Roots Sustainable Food Project. He is an active organic

farmer and beekeeper as a founding member of the Agua Dulce Cooperative Farm in Chula Vista. “Since retiring from Olympic-level competition, Dunn has transitioned into his favorite new

physically demanding activity, child rearing, as an active stay-at-home dad,” USADA said. USADA is responsible for the testing and results management process for athletes in the U.S. Olympic

and Paralympic Movement. USADA is equally dedicated to preserving the integrity of sport through research initiatives and educational programs. It was USADA, in 2012, that investigated

Lance Armstrong and his cycling team, finding “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”