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Doping Scandal Former boss slams Wada’s decision to reinstate Rusada

THE World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) decision to reinstate the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) is a triumph for money over clean sport, according to the agency’s former director general.

David Howman strongly criticised Wada president Sir Craig Reedie for caving in to pressure from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and international federations eager to stage events in Russia again.

“I am a little disappointed, to say the least,” said Howman, who ran Wada from 2003 to 2016 and is now chair of the Athletics Integrity Unit.

“This looks like they have taken the decision to deviate from a carefully put-together roadmap for entirely pragmatic reasons.

“So Wada has gone from being an organisation that cared about clean athletes to one that cares about international federations that have not been able to stage events in Russia.”

Rusada was suspended in November 2015 when its central role in the Russian doping scandal was first confirmed by an independent investigation led by former Wada president Richard Pound.

Canadian legal expert Professor Richard McLaren conducted a second, much wider investigation in 2016, and its findings shocked athletes and sports fans around the world, forcing the IOC to block its member federations from staging events in Russia until it had a fully compliant national anti-doping agency again.

The IOC has been pushing Wada’s new leadership hard to make this happen and all six of its representatives on the 12-strong executive committee voted for the compromise deal yesterday, with IOC member Reedie also backing it.

Howman, however, has little sympathy for the idea that Reedie, a former chairman of the British Olympic Association, had little option but to go along with IOC wishes.

“I don’t care if you are under pressure. That goes with the job,” the New Zealander said.

“That’s what you have to endure when you take principled stands. You are always going to upset one set of interests or another. Wada’s main responsibility is to stand up for clean sport.

“The risk for Wada is that it has gone from being an independent regulator to just a service organisation for sports federations. That is not what it was supposed to be.”

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