Howman criticises Russia readmission

The former director general of the World Anti-doping Agency has stuck the knife into his one-time colleagues by claiming the decision to remove drug-cheat sanctions against Russia was a triumph for money over clean sport.

David Howman added his voice to a tidal wave of global criticism after nine of 12 Wada executives voted to allow the Russian Antidoping Agency back into the sporting fold after reaching a compromise deal over access to laboratory results. Howman said he was “disappointed” that the embattled Wada president, Sir Craig Reedie, had apparently caved in to pressure from the International Olympic Committee and sports federations eager to stage events in Russia again.

“This looks like they have taken the decision to deviate from a carefully put-together road map for entirely pragmatic reasons,” said Howman, who ran Wada from 2003 to 2016 and is now chairman of the Athletics Integrity Unit.

“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: it’s money over principle. That is quite a difference, quite a swing, from what Wada once was.”

Richard Mclaren, the Canadian law professor who authored the damning report on Russia’s statesponsored doing, also attacked Wada for giving in to pressure, saying: “In terms of dealing with the Russians, they don’t have any levers or controls. It’s all in the Russians’ hands now. They’ve lost any oversight over the situation.”

Questions have been raised over the future of Reedie after Olympians and national sporting bodies said they had lost faith in the agency. Senior UK Government officials agreed that Wada’s integrity was on the line.