The World Anti-Doping Agency declared RussiaB次元官网网址檚 scandal-ridden drug-fighting operation back in business Thursday, a decision designed to bring a close to one of sportsB次元官网网址� most notorious doping scandals but one bitterly disputed by hundreds of athletes and described as B次元官网网址渢reacheryB次元官网网址� by the lawyer for the man who exposed the corruption.
On a 9-2 vote, the executive committee took the advice of the agencyB次元官网网址檚 compliance review panel and declared RUSADA as having satisfied conditions of reinstatement that were gradually softened over the summer.
In most tangible ways, the decision doesnB次元官网网址檛 change much: RUSADA has been up and running for a while, bringing one of the worldB次元官网网址檚 largest testing programs back on line with the help of officials from Britain and elsewhere. And RussiaB次元官网网址檚 Olympic committee was brought back into the fold after the Pyeongchang Olympics, where athletes who could prove they were clean were able to compete as B次元官网网址淥lympic Athletes from Russia.B次元官网网址�
But RUSADAB次元官网网址檚 reinstatement now clears the country to again bid for major international events B次元官网网址� although soccerB次元官网网址檚 World Cup was held there this summer despite that restriction.
It also clears a major hurdle for RussiaB次元官网网址檚 track team to be declared compliant by that sportB次元官网网址檚 international governing body, one of the few to take a strong, consistent stand against doping.
Perhaps most importantly, hundreds of athletes and dozens of world anti-doping leaders see it as a stinging rebuke to the ideal of fair play.
B次元官网网址淲ADAB次元官网网址檚 decision to reinstate Russia represents the greatest treachery against clean athletes in Olympic history,B次元官网网址� said Jim Walden, the attorney for Grigory Rodchenkov, the former Moscow lab director who exposed much of the Russian scheme.
WADA had been telegraphing the move since Sept. 14, when it released the recommendation of its compliance review committee. Olympic champion Beckie Scott resigned from that committee afterward.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 profoundly disappointed,B次元官网网址� Scott said to Canadian broadcaster CBC after the decision. B次元官网网址淚 feel this was an opportunity for WADA, and they have dealt a devastating blow to clean sport. IB次元官网网址檓 quite dismayed.B次元官网网址�
Even in Russia, where the news was welcomed, it came with a sense that thereB次元官网网址檚 still work to be done.
B次元官网网址淭hese questions will always follow us,B次元官网网址� said RUSADA CEO Yuri Ganus, whose appointment to the job was part of the housecleaning at the agency that WADA demanded. B次元官网网址淭hese arenB次元官网网址檛 the kind of skeletons which can lie unnoticed in the closet. These are the skeletons which will be banging on the closet door all the time.B次元官网网址�
The two biggest roadblocks to RUSADAB次元官网网址檚 reinstatement involved the country accepting findings from a report by investigator Richard McLaren that concluded the government had engineered the doping scandal to win medals at the Sochi Olympics. It also involved Russia agreeing to hand over a trove of data and samples that could be used to corroborate potential doping violations that stemmed from the cheating.
Over a summerB次元官网网址檚 worth of correspondence between WADA leaders and RussiaB次元官网网址檚 sports minister about how to bridge the gap, a pattern emerged of WADA backing down from its initial requirements and, at one point, essentially asking Russia what it would be willing to say in a letter designed to satisfy the WADA review committee.
B次元官网网址淲e think that a small addition to the letter, if acceptable to you, could ensure that the letter is well received B次元官网网址� and that a positive recommendation is provided,B次元官网网址� WADA CEO Olivier Niggli wrote to sports minister Pavel Kolobkov in May in a letter obtained by BBC Sport .
In the end, Russia agreed to accept findings of an IOC-commissioned report that put less onus on the Russian government for the scheme, a move that Rodchenkov said earlier this week was done B次元官网网址渇or the pure purpose of protecting their top-level apparatchiks who destroyed the Olympic Games in Sochi.B次元官网网址�
Russia also agreed to hand over the samples and data by Dec. 31. If it does not, RUSADA will again be declared noncompliant.
B次元官网网址淲ithout this pragmatic approach, we would continue with the impasse and the laboratory data could have remained out of our reach indefinitely,B次元官网网址� WADA president Craig Reedie said after ThursdayB次元官网网址檚 executive committee meeting in Seychelles.
Critics said reinstating RUSADA before obtaining the data only amounts to accepting another promise from a country that hasnB次元官网网址檛 kept many over the five-year course of the scandal.
Travis Tygart, the CEO for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, called the decision B次元官网网址渂ewildering and inexplicable,B次元官网网址� and urged a full revamping of WADA; Reedie also serves as a member of the IOC, which is one of the many conflicts of interest that bother critics of the agency.
B次元官网网址淟etB次元官网网址檚 be clear: Absolutely nothing will be off the table for how we, the anti-doping community, begin the work of reforming WADA,B次元官网网址� Tygart said.
Reedie said B次元官网网址淲ADA understands that this decision will not please everybody.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淐lean athletes were denied places at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as other major events, and others were cheated of medals,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚t is entirely understandable that they should be wary about the supposed rehabilitation of offenders.B次元官网网址�
Eddie Pells, The Associated Press
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