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(Pravda.Ru) – The administration of the World Anti-Doping Agency refused to reinstate the rights of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) before the 2018 Winter Olympics.
The Russian side allegedly failed to meet two necessary requirements. First, Russia did not publicly acknowledge the findings of Richard McLaren’s investigation team about the existence of a state doping system. Second, the Russian side did not grant WADA access to doping samples, even though Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov promised to give doping samples to WADA at the meeting after the investigation.
President of the Russian Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov, stated that Russia could not accept the conclusions of the McLaren report. State Duma Vice-Speaker Igor Lebedev said that Russia would most likely be either barred from the Olympic Games in South Korea or admitted to take part in the Games with certain restrictions. Both of those options would be unacceptable for Russia, he added.
“There was no and there is no system of state support for doping in Russia,” Zhukov said.
Olympic champion in pole vaulting Yelena Isinbayeva added that the reformed Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) met all possible requirements of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), but the agency still did not reinstate RUSADA’s rights.
Isinbayeva led the supervisory board of RUSADA from March 2017 to June. According to her, the Russian side could not fulfil two requirements of the international organisation, because it had no opportunity to meet them.
Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Vitaly Mutko said that Russia was not even expecting another decision from WADA. “Reinstating the rights of RUSADA and taking part in the Olympics are two different things, in which one is not connected with the other,” the official said.
Russian journalist Alexei Venediktov wrote that the decision of WADA would ensure the exclusion of the Russian delegation from the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea on the level of 95 percent. “There will be no flag and no anthem. A few athletes would be allowed to compete through the “delegation of refugees.”
The final decision on the admission of the Russian national team to the Winter Olympics 2018 will be announced in December.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.