From Inside the Games
International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board member Sergey Bubka has called for a “thorough review” of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in order to ensure value for money and to restore the confidence of clean athletes.
The world record holder for the pole vault, who is also senior vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), spoke as discussions continue over the future of the anti-doping landscape ahead of an Olympic Summit in Lausanne on October 8.
The Ukrainian still maintains WADA is the right organisation to conduct the anti-doping fight but claimed both its policies and governance should be changed in order to make it more efficient.
This follows its supposedly slow response to the allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia which came to light, Bubka claimed, only because of whistleblowers and journalists.
Bubka also claimed the process to ban meldonium and the recent hackings conducted by the Fancy Bears’ Group have added to concerns.
“Recent events have shown that despite the sports movement and the Governments’ spending yearly close to $30 million (£23 million/€27 million) in WADA but much more so in the 300 000 yearly anti-doping tests for an average of 0.5 per cent positive case questions can be raised about the effectiveness of the anti-doping fight,” he told insidethegames.
“Most of the anti-doping cases are revealed by police investigation, judiciary procedures, whistleblowing or media, which shows that much money and efforts are probably not spent the right way.
“Recent cases of compliances of the NADO (National Anti-Doping Organisation) or laboratory accreditation in Russia despite many elements being available since a long time through whistle blowing and positive tests shows that WADA’s efficiency needs to be strengthen [sic].
“This is just reinforced by the management of the meldonium case, the management of the McLaren report and the hacking of WADA’s ADAMS (Anti-Doping Administration & Management) System containing the athletes’ whereabouts and TUE’s (therapeutic usage exemptions).
“All this has brought a lack of confidence by the clean athletes in WADA’s as the organisation responsible for the fight against doping.”