From Inside the Games
An appeal from the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to be reinstated by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was turned down here today.
The decision by the WADA Foundation Board means there is now a serious doubt over whether Russia will be allowed to compete under its own flag at next year’s Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.
The International Olympic Committee’s ruling Executive Board is due to make a decision about what sanctions to take against Russia following allegations in the WADA-commissioned McLaren Reports of state-sponsored doping at its meeting in Lausanne on December 5 to 7.
Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov had claimed that RUSADA met all the requirements to be declared WADA code-compliant having been deemed non-compliant in November 2015.
But a recommendation by Jonathan Taylor, the British QC, head of the WADA Compliance Review Committee, that RUSADA’s non-compliance with the WADA Code should be maintained was accepted.
The 38-member Foundation Board, WADA’s supreme decision-making body, composed equally of representatives from the Olympic Movement and Governments, made the decision without its President Sir Craig Reedie even putting it to a vote.
The decision drew an angry response from Alexander Zhukov, President of the Russian Olympic Committee, who also made a presentation to the WADA Foundation Board.
“Taylor’s Committee has been inventing reasons not to reinstate RUSADA; the accusations against RUSADA are simply a joke,” he said afterwards.
