From Inside the Games

Australia’s four-times Olympic race walk medallist Jared Tallent has declared the governance of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which last month controversially decided to reinstate the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), as “not fit for purpose”.

Sport Ireland and the Athletes’ Commission of the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) have also joined the international call for an independent investigation into alleged bullying by a number of WADA Executive Committee members at the meeting in the Seychelles where the Compliance Review Committee’s fateful vote occurred last month

The latest criticism for WADA comes a day after Britain’s world marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe told insidethegames of her deep concerns over the lack of response from the International Olympic Committee to the treatment of Canada’s Beckie Scott, who said she had been “bullied” and “belittled” by “members of the Olympic Movement” for her opposition to the RUSADA ban being lifted.

Scott, a former cross-country skier and Olympic gold medallists, has since resigned her position as chair of WADA’s Athlete Committee.

Tallent, who became London 2012 gold medallist after Russia’s original winner, Sergey Kirdyapkin, was stripped of the title for doping, today became the second high-profile athlete to endorse officially a radical Reform Paper proposed to shake up the WADA governance in order to make it “more in tune with the wishes and rights of the global athlete community”.

The 34-year-old from Adelaide commented:  “The governance of the World Anti-Doping Agency of 2018, in its current form, is not fit for purpose.”

Tallent has given his full support to the “logical and pragmatic” Reform Proposal Paper launched by Britain’s Rio 2016 Paralympic powerlifting silver medallist Ali Jawad earlier this month.

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