Anti-doping leaders call for WADA reform

The World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) urgently needs reform in order to best serve clean athletes following the decision to reinstate Russia’s testing body, leaders of 18 national anti-doping organisations said this week. The group met at an emergency summit in Paris following last month’s decision by WADA to reinstate the Russian Anti-doping Agency (RUSADA), which was suspended in 2015 after evidence of doping in Russian sport was published in the Mclaren Report. The lifting of RUSADA’S ban opened a pathway for Russia to compete in international sport again, a possibility that has led to criticism from international athletes. A WADA governance group last week made recommendations to update the organisation of the body, but the national anti-doping agencies said these reforms did not go far enough. “WADA’S limited proposals for governance reform fall far short of what the world’s athletes and other champions of clean sport have been calling for these past two years, and there should be a rethink,” the anti-doping agency leaders said in a statement. WADA’S leadership is set to change next year when president Craig Reedie (pictured) steps down at the end of his second term in office. The body has previously said failure to allow access to stored urine samples at the Moscow anti-doping laboratory by the year’s end would lead to a renewed ban for RUSADA.

Reuters/afp/ap