A compromise or a scandal within WADA
Canadian Olympic champion Beckie Scott, Chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s athlete commission, resigned from the WADA Compliance Review Committee on September 15, 2018, following a media release of the Committee’s recommendation to reinstate the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA).
A recent conflict around WADA was kindled on the eve of the Executive Committee meeting scheduled on September 20, 2018. According to the initial recommendation prepared for the WADA Executive Committee and obtained by BBC, the Compliance Review Committee unanimously concluded that Russia hadn’t satisfied two remaining Roadmap Conditions to claim RUSADA reinstatement. In particular, the Russian authorities must accept findings of the McLaren Report, including a statement that “a number of individuals within the Ministry of Sport and its subordinated entities” were involved in the “manipulations” of the anti-doping system in Russia. Plus, WADA officials should also be granted access to RUSADA Laboratory in Moscow to take athletes’ samples. However, on September 13, 2018, WADA received a letter from the Russian Minister of Sport, Pavel Kolobkov, who agreed for the first time to the two above-mentioned criteria. And, on September 14, the Compliance Review Committee by a majority revised their recommendations to the WADA Executive Committee, approving the first condition and offering post-reinstatement conditions on Moscow Laboratory access, as it had been suggested by the Russian Minister. Critics of this latest decision, whom the Canadian WADA official Beckie Scott belongs to, don’t consider new information from Russia’s Ministry applicable to the Roadmap fulfilment. After all, Pavel Kolobkov didn’t admit in his letter the existence of the Ministry-backed scheme, and data with samples has not yet been provided by the RUSADA Laboratory. Thus, now WADA is seen as a body which initiated a compromise and a substitution of the Roadmap with Russia.
Revealed: how WADA’s leadership quietly compromised & changed the roadmap for Russian re-compliance back in June. Letter purportedly from Reedie & Niggli to Russia’s Sports Minister suggesting changes to the key criteria for readmission “in the spirit of compromise”. pic.twitter.com/1P2mTzBYqG
— Dan Roan (@danroan) 15 сентября 2018 г.
As reported by Sport Express, on September 13, 2018, the Association of Canadian National Team Athletes issued an open statement, regarding Russia’s non-compliance, via their Twitter account. “Re-admittance in the face of anything other than full compliance with the Roadmap would signal to the international sport community that rules are meant to be broken,” states the tweet copied by the Russian source. Meanwhile, this tweet cannot be accessed through the Association’s account.
