Reaction to WADA Ban on Russia

(ATR) WADA’s decision to ban Russia from major international competitions for four years did not go far enough, according to some.

Outgoing WADA vice president Linda Helleland, who lost out to Witold Banka to become the next WADA president earlier this year, voted in favor of the recommendations. But in comments to the Executive Board she said "I would have liked to see the consequences to be even tougher than put forward by the CRC."

"I would have preferred to support a blanket ban today. A blanket ban can make the Russian leadership realize the seriousness of the mess they have created – for themselves, and for their athletes."

The Czech NOC believes the path taken by WADA is the correct one. A spokesperson telling Around the Rings that the decision "was to be expected in the given situation. It is necessary to fight against doping, but it is also important to find a way that doesn’t make those who are not guilty suffer."

The CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency Travis Tygart disagrees.

"To allow Russia to escape a complete ban is yet another devastating blow to clean athletes, the integrity of sport and the rule of law. And, in turn, the reaction by all those who value sport should be nothing short of a revolt against this broken system to force reform," Tygart said in a statement.

The IOC also comes under criticism from Tygart, who says the organization has "orchestrated a path for this decision to be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, thereby setting up CAS as the failsafe to implement even weaker, if any, consequences against these thugs who have been given repeated chances to do the right thing."

Tygart hopes that CAS "does the right thing and does not likewise bow to the Russian pressure that has so clearly infiltrated the decision making of the IOC and WADA to the detriment of athlete’s rights in and out of Russia, and to the public, sponsors and all of those who believe in Olympic values."

The CEO of the USA Bobsled and Skeleton federation agrees that a blanket ban should have been included in the sanctions.

In a statement John Rosen says allowing Russian athletes to compete under a neutral flag "would seem a reasonable accommodation for those who believe in perfect justice - justice in which the guilty are punished, the innocent are not, and collective punishment is not inappropriately imposed.

"The problem with this is that the egregious actions taken within Russia to prevent the ability to prove the guilt of certain athletes also have the direct impact of preventing the ability to prove the innocence of others."

This point is echoed by Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Moscow lab at the heart of the doping scandal and the whistleblower who exposed the state-sponsored doping program in 2016.

In his statement on Monday, Rodchenkov said "Russia’s falsifications and cheating continued in 2019 even when Russia was under scrutiny. As usual, Russia has disregarded all of its promises and obligations to clean sport. The Moscow LIMS, a unique database from my laboratory, was manipulated. Tons of files and results were deleted. After all of this, who can say whether there are any clean athletes in Russia if the crucial data is lost? Russia dug its own grave and has ruined the chances for any clean Russian athlete to compete. If the files were deleted, how can any athlete credibly prove its innocence?"

Rodchenkov welcomed WADA’s decision, saying "Finally, fraud, lies and falsifications of unspeakable proportions have been punished in full swing".

But he says much more needs to be done, starting with the results of the London and Sochi Olympic Games being "reanalyzed and reconsidered with the new knowledge available today".

Written by Gerard Farek

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