Russian Anti-Doping Agency reinstated by WADA
Thu Sep 20, 2018 02:19:pm Sports
4.1K By Obiaks Blog
The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) have been reinstated by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) after an executive vote.
The decision was reached at a meeting of WADA's 12-strong ExCo in the Seychelles and comes nearly three years after RUSADA was suspended for its central role in a major doping scandal.
There was widespread opposition to the reinstatement of RUSADA from many athletes and anti-doping agencies around the world.
But, in a statement released on Thursday, WADA president Sir Craig Reedie said: "Today, the great majority of WADA's ExCo decided to reinstate RUSADA as compliant with the code subject to strict conditions, upon recommendation by the agency's independent CRC (Compliance Review Committee) and in accordance with an agreed process.
"This decision provides a clear timeline by which WADA must be given access to the former Moscow laboratory data and samples, with a clear commitment by the ExCo that, should this timeline not be met, it would support the CRC's recommendation to reinstate non-compliance."
RUSADA was suspended in November 2015 after an independent WADA report carried out by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren outlined evidence of massive state-backed, systematic doping in Russian athletics.
The allegations, which Moscow has denied, led to Russia being banned from this year's Winter Olympics in South Korea - although some Russian athletes were permitted to compete under the Olympic flag.
Thursday's decision could pave the way for Russian athletes to return to competition across all sports.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets told Russian news agencies: "We welcome WADA's decision.
"Over the past years, Russia has done enormous work to create transparent and understandable measures to prevent doping."
RUSADA's director general Yuri Ganus said: "There's a lot of work ahead.
"There are conditions - in order to definitively be reinstated, we need to meet these conditions.
"So, it's a conditional reinstatement."
SKYSPORTS
The decision was reached at a meeting of WADA's 12-strong ExCo in the Seychelles and comes nearly three years after RUSADA was suspended for its central role in a major doping scandal.
There was widespread opposition to the reinstatement of RUSADA from many athletes and anti-doping agencies around the world.
But, in a statement released on Thursday, WADA president Sir Craig Reedie said: "Today, the great majority of WADA's ExCo decided to reinstate RUSADA as compliant with the code subject to strict conditions, upon recommendation by the agency's independent CRC (Compliance Review Committee) and in accordance with an agreed process.
"This decision provides a clear timeline by which WADA must be given access to the former Moscow laboratory data and samples, with a clear commitment by the ExCo that, should this timeline not be met, it would support the CRC's recommendation to reinstate non-compliance."
RUSADA was suspended in November 2015 after an independent WADA report carried out by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren outlined evidence of massive state-backed, systematic doping in Russian athletics.
The allegations, which Moscow has denied, led to Russia being banned from this year's Winter Olympics in South Korea - although some Russian athletes were permitted to compete under the Olympic flag.
Thursday's decision could pave the way for Russian athletes to return to competition across all sports.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets told Russian news agencies: "We welcome WADA's decision.
"Over the past years, Russia has done enormous work to create transparent and understandable measures to prevent doping."
RUSADA's director general Yuri Ganus said: "There's a lot of work ahead.
"There are conditions - in order to definitively be reinstated, we need to meet these conditions.
"So, it's a conditional reinstatement."
SKYSPORTS
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