Doping whistleblower, Grigory Rodchenkov, opines that it would be catastrophic if the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) lifts RUSADA’s three-year suspension.
WADA’s executive committee is expected to lift Russia’s suspension when they meet on Thursday and this has brought about several reactions; athletes, anti-doping bodies and even WADA’s vice president, Linda Helleland, have all criticised the move.
Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) has been suspended since 2015 over alleged state-backed doping.
Grigory Rodchenkov was the head of Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory at the time and fled Russia in late 2015 with sufficient evidence detailing a state-sponsored doping regime he masterminded; his evidence led to Russia being banned from the 2016 Olympics.
Russia has over time denied running a state-sponsored doping programme, denied external supervisors access to the Moscow laboratory while retaining full control of it.
Russia was given set criteria to meet before RUSADA could be re-admitted – the acceptance of the McLaren Report into state-sponsored doping, and granting of access to the Moscow anti-doping laboratory.
Assurances from the Russian sports ministry of sufficiently acknowledging its failures and meeting other criteria meant WADA’s compliance review committee recommended RUSADA’s reinstatement.
Image Credit: Inside the Games