On Monday, the 12 executive members of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) met in Lausanne, the small Swiss city on Lake Geneva, to review the recommendation made last month by WADA’s independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC) that RUSADA, the Russian anti-doping agency, should be declared non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code in the face of erased or manipulated data forwarded to WADA.
The data, which was supplied by RUSADA’s Moscow Laboratory, had been tampered with to cover up the extent of the systematic doping of Russian athletes, a problem which has plagued Russian sport for years. The full disclosure of this information had been an essential condition of the reinstatement of Russia by WADA on the 20th of September 2018.
In a highly charged atmosphere, the executive committee voted unanimously to endorse the recommendation and ban Russia for another four years. The decision was taken after reviewing a report from WADA’s Intelligence and Investigations Department and another from independent forensic experts from Lausanne University’s Institute of Forensic Science, questions from WADA members and discussions on specific aspects of the 26-page CRC recommendation.
“Today, the ExCo has delivered a strong and unequivocal decision. While being tough on the authorities, this recommendation avoids punishing the innocent and instead stands up for the rights of clean athletes everywhere. If an athlete from Russia can prove that they were not involved in the institutionalized doping program, that their data were not part of the manipulation, that they were subject to adequate testing prior to the event in question, and that they fulfil any other strict conditions to be determined, they will be allowed to compete,” CRC Chair Jonathan Taylor QC, was quoted as saying, on the WADA website, following the announcement.
The accompanying series of consequences includes; a ban on Russian government officials/representatives being appointed to or sitting on boards or committees or any other bodies of any Code Signatory; a ban on Russian government officials/representatives attending any major events or World Championships; Russia cannot host, bid or be granted the right to host in the four-year period, (whether during or after the said period), any editions of the major events; and a ban on the Russian flag being flown at any of the major events during the four-year period. RUSADA will have to pay all of WADA’s costs incurred on the matter since January 2019, and a fine to WADA of ten per cent of its 2019 income or US$100,000, whichever is lower.
RUSADA now has 21 days to accept the decision or appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), a course of action it is most likely to pursue, when it meets on the 19th of December.
WADA’s decision has drawn mixed reactions across the board. Russian whistleblower, Dr Grigory Rodchenkov, who was very influential in exposing the cover-up, (and currently in the witness protection programme in the USA), was loud in his praise of WADA’s stand. “Finally, Russia’s many doping and obstruction sins will get some of the punishment they richly deserve. For far too long, Russia has weaponised doping fraud and state-sponsored criminal activity as a tool of foreign policy,” Rodchenkov said in a statement via his lawyer.
Travis Tygart, head of the USA Anti-Doping Agency, is livid that WADA has not delivered a comprehensive ban on Russia. “To allow Russia to escape a complete ban is yet another devastating blow,” he warned. “There is no disputing that Russia has committed the most intentional, deep and broad level of corruption on the entire sports world that has put money over morals, abuse over health, and corruption over the Olympic values and all athletes’ dreams,” Tygart, a staunch critic of the Russians, was quoted as saying
WADA’s decision has not been met with open arms by all, especially athletes. The ban does not apply to continental events, and thus, Russia will still be able to participate in the 2020 European Football Championships. As in 2018, when 168 Russian athletes, who proved that they were not on performance enhancing drugs, were allowed to participate in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Russian athletes could well be appearing in Tokyo next year as ‘neutrals.’ FIFA still has “to clarify the extent of the decision” before it issues a statement on Russia’s participation in the 2022 World Cup. Given FIFA’s history, it isn’t going to be difficult to guess which way the wind will blow on that call.
Canadian race walker Evan Dunfee, fourth place finisher at the 2016 Rio Olympics, gave this comment to the Canadian Press after the WADA announcement, “If I’m standing on the start line [at next year’s summer Olympics in Tokyo] with a neutral athlete next to me, I’ll have very little faith that they are clean…We have been down this road before without any impact. I’m skeptical whether this will create any meaningful change.”
Dunfee’s doubts may be well-founded. According to the Athletics Integrity Unit, of the 23 race walkers currently serving suspensions for doping, 12 are Russian.
Does WADA’s ban on the Russians have any real meaning other than embarrassing the Russian government?
