Response to WADA Executive Committee decision to impose four-year Russia ban

Sir Hugh Robertson, Chair of the BOA, said: "For three consecutive Olympic Games the matter of systemic doping of athletes by Russia has hung like a dark cloud over the entire Olympic Movement.

"Our support is for the fullest possible sanctions to be taken against Russia at Tokyo 2020. At the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games Team GB athletes competed against a Russian team in all but name – this should not happen again.

"Our concern is that even after the sanctions in PyeongChang, Russia continued to manipulate data and with it the outcome of sport. They have shown no contrition or respect for the Olympic Movement and its athletes.

"Finally, we would like to acknowledge the work of WADA to bring us to this point, and in particular their persistence in retrieving samples and data to prove the ongoing scale of this issue."

BOA Athletes’ Commission Chair, Ben Hawes, said: "Despite previous sanctions, including athletes competing under a neutral flag in PyeongChang, Russia has continued to deny clean athletes around the world the ability to compete fairly and with any confidence in the systems designed to protect them.

"We echo the calls for stronger, robust and enforceable sanctions. If our athletes are to compete against athletes from Russia under a neutral flag at Tokyo 2020, they need to do so with undeniable proof that they are clean and not implicated with anything that brings the Olympic Movement into question or disrepute."

ENDS

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