(ATR) The World Anti-Doping Agency meets Thursday in Montreal as it begins a transition to new leadership.
Witold Banka, sports minister from Poland, 34 and just a decade after he last ran in the Olympics, will become the youngest president in the 20 year history of the agency.
He was in a relaxed mood Wednesday night in Montreal where the day before he was chosen by his colleagues to become the next president of WADA, representing public authorities.
He was greeted with congratulations at a reception organized by WADA to commemorate the agreement to keep its headquarters in Montreal through 2031.
Banka is no stranger to WADA, serving on the WADA Executive Committee for four years. Banka takes over when current president Craig Reedie steps down at the end of the year. In the meantime he will shadow Reedie in the transition to new leadership.
While there were plenty of smiles and goodwill at the reception, Thursday the going may get bumpy as the WADA board convenes to handle the serious business of anti-doping.
With the analysis underway of the drug testing data collected from the Moscow drug testing lab atthe center of the Russian doping scandal, the WADA board will get an update.
The Russian saga, now in its fourth year, is entering a new phase following the decision of the WADA board last year to reinstate the Russian Anti-Doping Agency. RUSADA leaders are in Montreal to report.
Early on the agenda Thursday will be the independent report into allegationsthat WADA Athletes Commission chair Beckie Scott was bullied by other board members over her disagreement with RUSADA reinstatement.
The report was released by WADA Wednesday night, just hours before the board meeting.
The 133-page report by New York law firm Covington said it could find no evidence that Scott was subject to bullying or intimidation during the September 2018 Executive Committee.
The report does outline a series of recommendations to improve WADA communications. But the report says that Scott, as well as Edwin Moses, who also filed a complaint that he was told to shut up at a WADA meeting, refused to be interviewed. Moses, the chair of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is the chair of the WADA Education Committee.
Scott is attending the WADA meeting. Moses is not in Montreal.
Reported in Montreal by Ed Hula.
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