Sanctions likely as WADA rules RUSADA “non-compliant”
Those who felt Russia should not have been re-instated in September 2018 hope WADA's December 9 executive committee meeting results in strong sanctions
On Friday, WADA’s Compliance Review Committee issued a statement declaring the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to be non-compliant in providing accurate lab data and samples from the Moscow Laboratory in January 2019. It provided a number of confidential recommendations to the executive committee, which meets December 9 in Paris. The CRC, which in September had given Russia three weeks to account for discrepancies and omissions in the data, is now urging “serious consequences,” possibly including a ban from the 2020 Olympics, but also “reinstatement conditions.”
As expected + predicted: @WADA_ama Compliance Review Committee recommends „Non-Compliance“ for @rusada RUS Anti Doping Agency. Proposes „serious consequences“. But also „reinstatement conditions“. Unclear, what that means. Tokyo 2020 ban possible. Decision dec 9th pic.twitter.com/Ok5pPunjET
— Hajo Seppelt (@hajoseppelt) November 22, 2019
The CRC, which met in Montreal on November 17, discussed Russia’s responses to questions about the missing and altered data. After being suspended for almost three years after a Russian whistleblower revealed the extent of state-sanctioned doping among Russian athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, RUSADA was re-instated last September amid strongly negative reactions from the athletics world.
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The WADA statement can be read here.