Vanessa McDermott is a Research Fellow at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

This innovative and compelling work critically examines the relationship between sport, moral regulation and governance from a moral panic theoretical perspective. It argues that doping scandals create a crisis for sport governing bodies and other elite groups, leading to a moral panic, where the issues at stake for them are perceptions of their organizational legitimacy. McDermott also highlights the role of the media as a site where claims to legitimacy are made, and contested, contributing to the social construction of a moral panic.

Introduction 1. Locating Legitimacy and Moral Panics 2. Historical Overview: The International Olympic Committee, Legitimacy and Doping 3. The World Anti-Doping Agency: Legitimacy and a Moral Panic 4. The Australian Football League: Legitimating the War on Drugs in Sport 5. Mediating Legitimacy and Moral Panics 6. Legitimacy, Doping and the Grassroots Sporting Community. Conclusion. Appendix 6.1: Interview Research Methodology. Appendix 6.2: Interview Participants: NSOs, Information & Education (n=28).