Sept. 21 (UPI) — The World Anti-Doping Agency voted Thursday to reinstate the Russian Anti-Doping Agency as compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code.
Members of the executive committee voted 9-2 in favor of reinstating the RUSADA, during a meeting in Seychelles, with WADA’s vice president and Oceania voting against and Europe abstaining from the vote.
The committee deliberated whether Russia had fulfilled the two remaining criteria on its road map to compliance, including having the authorities responsible for anti-doping in Russia publicly accept the reported outcomes of Dr. Richard McLaren’s investigation and the Russian government providing access to stored samples and electronic data in the former Moscow Laboratory.
They ultimately decided to reinstate Russia on the grounds that RUSADA and the Russian Ministry of Sport provide authentic Information Management System data and underlying analytical data of the former Moscow Laboratory by no later than Dec. 31, and that the two entities procure that any re-analysis of samples required by WADA following review of such data is completed by no later than June 30, 2019.
“Today, we are in a much better position,” WADA President Sir Craig Reedie said. “WADA understands that this decision will not please everybody. When cheating is as rampant and as organized as it was in Russia, as was definitively established thanks to investigations commissioned by WADA, it undermines so much of what sport stands for.”
In addition to the other conditions, WADA also required that a successful audit of RUSADA be carried out within four months to ensure it continues to abide by compliance standards.
