By David Harris 

Dr Adrian Lorde has made a sterling contribution to sports in Barbados for over 40 years; during that time Lorde, a medical practitioner has served as an administrator, the physician to several national teams, pioneered the field of sports medicine on the island. 

Lorde was the founding president of the Barbados Sports Medicine Association, is the current chairman of the National Anti-Doping Commission, the vice chairman of the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organisation (RADO) having previously served as its first chairman from 1995 to 2019. 

He is a member of the Medical Commission of the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games and Pan American Sports, and is the first chairman of the North American, Central American, and the Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Sports Medicine Commissions; and has contributed to the World Anti-Doping   Agency (WADA) in several capacities. 

A director of the Barbados Olympic Association, he has attended major games in several capacities-including six Olympics, and was the Chef de Mission for the Barbados team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, and has served as a director of the National Sports Council. 

Lorde was an Independent Observer for WADA at the Athens Olympics in 2004, and also served in that capacity at the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar in 2006, and the Winter Para Olympics in Vancouver, Canada in 2010  

In 2014, he was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen Birthday Honours for his services to Sports Medicine. 

Last December, Lorde was elected to serve on the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Committee of the Federation Internationale de I ‘Automobile (FIA), the governing body of motor sports. 

He has presented papers in Sports Medicine and Anti-Doping at local, regional, and international conferences; and has conducted research into Exercise induced Asthma, Drug Use in Sports, and the Effects of Covid-19 in Athletics Performance. 

“I was never an athlete at school. I tried but was unsuccessful. I watched and supported sports from the sidelines. In the 1970s when the then Amateur Athletic Association of Barbados was in need of funds, I volunteered to assist them. I was studying in Jamaica and was privileged to become a team official at the 1979 CARIFTA Games in Kingston. The need for a sports medicine specialist was realised. After qualifying in Medicine, I co-founded the Barbados Sports Medicine Association in 1985; and later with the assistance of Esther Maynard, (a former president of the Amateur Athletic Association of Barbados) I was invited to attend a Doping Control Officer’s training programme in Puerto Rico in 1990, and life was never the same after that”, Lorde told Advo Magazine. 

In his capacity as the chairman of the Anti-Doping Commission since 2000, Lorde has led the fight against doping in sports and is at the forefront at the campaign for clean sports on the island.  

Lorde has mentored persons who are involved in the fight against drugs in sports   locally and regionally. 

 “I have mentored many locally and, in the Caribbean. We have been primarily been educating athletes and their support personnel as we belief the education comes first before an athlete ends up in a doping control station”, Lorde said 

He told Advo Magazine that being a sports administrator in the area of Sports Medicine and Anti-Doping has been a challenging but it was also a given him tremendous satisfaction.  

“It is all voluntary, but being able to slot in the time in my busy days to give service has been increasingly difficult. In Sports Medicine we have seen a recent increase in interest locally by professionals, but the challenge is to educate our sports persons and their coaches, trainers, national federations, and even parents to use newer scientific methods of exercise, training and competition, and get them to change for the better. 

In anti-doping, we need at least one or more full time staff members to manage the operations of the NADC. It is increasingly difficult to be fully operational using part-time personnel voluntarily”, he explained. 

Lorde, has had several grand moments as an administrator during his career, but the highlight of his career in sports administration was at the Athens Olympics in 2004. 

“As a sports administrator, I have represented Barbados and the region of the Americas on the first Foundation Board of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for a number of years, and sat on a number of their committees, but representing that organisation at the Athens Olympics in 2004 as a WADA Independent Observer of the Internation Olympic Committe anti-doping was my most outstanding moment”, Lorde said. 

When asked what are his recommendations for the improvement of sports in Barbados Lorde said: “We need to more scientific in our methods of training, nutrition, competition, plus rehabilitation and recovery from sports injuries, even in amateur sports, and use these procedures for the betterment of our sportspersons”.