ABSTRACT
This chapter employs the metaphor of sport organizations as cultures to develop an understanding of the challenges faced by the international sport movement in endorsing a global anti-doping policy. It explores the interpretations of the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC) using, as a case in point, the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation, one of the leading schools in this sport in the world. The process of becoming an elite athlete involves skilful coordination of the work of various organizations including: clubs; sport governing bodies at national and international levels; multi-disciplinary research; and technical agencies. The WADC's aspirations represent a challenge to the organizational culture of sport governing body and governments alike around the world because they involve the creation of shared systems of meaning that are accepted, internalised and acted on at every level of an organization. It is worth reminding that 70 per cent of the firms that set off on this new path of cultural change were unsuccessful.
