Exclusive Wada is not fit for purpose, says Kelly Sotherton
Russia sanctions to be lifted,
As I finally received my Beijing 2008 heptathlon bronze medal at the Team GB Ball last Thursday, the World Anti-doping Agency’s press team were busily preparing their kick in the teeth for me and all clean athletes.
Wada’s statement, to be sent out the next day, would confirm the unthinkable: that Russia, despite cheating me and goodness knows how many other athletes out of medals, could be let off the hook as soon as today.
If, as feared, sanctions against Russia are lifted, Wada, in my view, is complicit in the whole drugcheating scandal. By that, I mean it is now effectively turning a blind eye to everything that has happened since doping was exposed in 2015.
There are now serious doubts in my mind about the entire organisation. Is Wada fit for purpose? Do we need a new organisation that actually has athletes’ integrity at its heart?
If Wada can prove to me and everyone else that Russia has hit the road map and has done everything willingly to show, without doubt, that it is clean, then we can consider getting the country back involved.
Wada has claimed its investigative committee has reviewed a new letter from the Russian sports ministry that “sufficiently acknowledged” issues, in an apparent signal that the state is owning up to cheating and agreeing to allow international access to the Moscow laboratory at the centre of the scandal.
But since then we have seen letters showing that Russia has made these pledges only after effectively being nudged along by Wada in recent months.
The situation is so obviously a compromise. We have only a promise that the lab will be opened up in Moscow. How can we prove that they will not be getting rid of samples beforehand? Weasel words are not nearly enough.
Unless you hit every one of the boxes on the road map, you should not even be considered for a return to the fold. I understand there needs to be guidance and signposting. That is a given. But Russia did not ask for this help. With these two new pledges, the Russians are simply tick-boxing to enable them to get back into competitive sport. This is nothing to do with a clean-up.
There are very good people at Wada taking a stand against their own organisation, but they clearly are not being listened to. I think there is severe risk of either a split that could bring the organisation to its knees or other organisations calling for a new body to protect clean sport. The International Olympic Committee and international federations need to be ramping up the pressure on Wada. It is ridiculous.
To topple Wada, it would take a forum of national anti-doping organisations to come together to decide what to do alongside the Olympic federations. Now
Wada is showing signs it is not fit for purpose, perhaps it is time we start bringing people to the table.
There must be no compromise. I saw a tweet saying that if the Russian Anti-doping Agency was an athlete, as a serial offender, it would be banned for life. I am not saying you should ban a country for life, but an athlete gets a ban
There is risk of a split that could bring Wada to its knees or lead to calls for a new body
of at least four years, so why is a country not facing a punishment that is at least as strict? Individuals at every echelon of power were complicit in Russian doping. The athletes were just the final stage in that chain.
The Russians need to show remorse and a willingness to be clean. I believe in rehabilitation, but the Russians have not shown us they are there yet. It might still take years for that to happen. It is for them to prove their innocence, and they must show they are doing the right thing. Systematic doping in Russia has been known about for decades, and now we have the evidence, we are letting things carry on as normal. Medals are still being reallocated. There is doping around the world. Kenya have had issues, and I know of other countries who need to get their houses in order.
But that just illustrates why we cannot just let Russia off the hook. It sets a dangerous precedent.
I do not want anyone to be in my shoes in the future – that feeling of being a runner-up, with a Russian ahead of you and having that doubt. You think of the 10 or 11-year-olds who see that and may get put off competing because they do not trust the system.
If, in 10 years’ time, there is an athlete from 2012 or 2016 owed a medal, I will be mortified because it has been my mission to ensure I would be the last.
I am not bitter or angry at the person who took my medal. I am bitter and angry at the organisation behind that individual.
I want to help ensure that however long it takes, this should never happen to anyone again, and that can only happen with the right penalties and procedures in place.
We would be naive and stupid to think everything that has happened will eradicate the risk of cheating again. It will not.
I could not even have a day to enjoy my medal moment, but hopefully the timing is fortunate. It was a reminder that there is still so much to do to clean up the sport. It just about sums up this whole ridiculous affair, and why so many global athletes are losing faith with the organisation set up to protect them. We have got to protect generations coming through.
Letting Russia back in is the exact opposite.