From Inside the Games
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has confirmed that work to extract data from the Russian Anti-Doping Agency’s (RUSADA) Moscow Laboratory is still proceeding but admitted that the process is taking longer than had been originally estimated.
RUSADA was given a December 31 ultimatum to hand over crucial data from its Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) when it was controversially reinstated by WADA on September 20 last year.
Initially, RUSADA had been told it must hand over the data – which it is thought will help WADA catch more cheats – before being declared compliant again.
WADA then changed its own criteria in September, however, amid a deadlock, saying the decision would end an “impasse”.
Defending the move, WADA’s President Sir Craig Reedie said he could “100 per cent guarantee” the data would be received, but when a five-person team travelled to Moscow to extract it last month, they were turned away with the Russian authorities claiming their equipment was not certified under Russian law.
Last Wednesday (January 9), a smaller three-person WADA team returned to Moscow and this time they were allowed into the Moscow Laboratory.
They started their work to extract the LIMS data the following day.
“The work is still proceeding,” a WADA spokesman told insidethegames.
“When the three-person expert team travelled to Russia to retrieve the data from the Moscow Laboratory, no limit was put on to the duration of the mission.
“It is taking longer than had been originally estimated but the team is facing no specific issues or difficulties in carrying out their task.
“The quantity and complexity of the data, as well as the fact the servers and hard drives being accessed are not all brand new, means it is simply taking longer than originally anticipated.”
Takeda to miss IOC Marketing Commission meeting following corruption charge
A meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Marketing Commission later this week will take place without chairman Tsunekazu Takeda after the Japanese official was indicted on corruption charges in France.
An IOC spokesperson confirmed the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) President will be absent from the meeting in Lausanne on Saturday (January 19) for “personal reasons”.
Takeda has led the Marketing Commission, which helps the IOC oversee the signing of sponsorship deals, since 2014 but has decided not to attend the group’s latest meeting.
The 71-year-old, considered a well-respected and influential IOC member, has become embroiled in an alleged vote-buying scandal related to Tokyo’s successful bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
He is suspected of authorising the payment of bribes in order to help the Japanese capital secure the hosting rights for the Games.
Takeda denies wrongdoing and claimed he was “never involved in any decision-making process” relating to payments worth $2 million (£1.5 million/€1.75 million) made to Singaporean company Black Tidings before Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics at the IOC Session in Buenos Aires in 2013.
The account holder has been closely tied to Papa Massata Diack, son of the disgraced former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President and IOC member Lamine Diack, currently being held in France and facing corruption charges.
