Wada goes into key reform summit

lausanne — Sports leaders are at loggerheads over how to fight the war against performanceenhancing drugs as the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) goes into a key reform summit this weekend.

Who should control the global doping watchdog? What powers should it have? Who should pay? A welter of questions have been raised as the Olympic movement and sports federations seek to redeem their names after the Russia doping scandal.

The Wada Foundation will have to come up with at least the start of some solid answers after its meeting in Glasgow on Sunday. A new report on Russia is due out within weeks which could heighten pressure to clean up sport.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach last month called on Wada to set up a new independent unit to manage testing around the world. He promised more money if the reforms are carried out.

The IOC blames sports federations for letting cheating flourish and wants to eliminate their role in testing, while transfering sanction-taking to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The IOC has also criticised Wada for failing to act quickly on doping allegations in Russia, which was accused of operating a ‘state-sponsored’ scheme over several years.

But there is widespread resistance to the IOC plan outside of Wada, with powerful federations indicating they want to be exempt from the reforms.

The head of Fifa’s medical commission, Michel D’Hooghe, said world football’s governing body would not surrender control of its drug testing to a new entity. “We respect the WADA and IOC proposals but they concern the smaller federations,” he said. The head of another federation, who requested anonymity, said his sport would never outsource anti-doping efforts and described the IOC call for a new testing unit as “more political than practical.”

In contrast, Tom Dielen who heads World Archery said there would only be a small impact on smaller sports.

“We outsource our controls already,” he said.

While some federations have said the IOC proposals are too vague, WADA director general Olivier Niggli, “it will be up to the IOC to convince federations to be part of (the new system), just as it will be up to the IOC to finance it one way or another.” —