Decision to halve Russia's Wada doping ban met with disbelief and anger
Athletes and anti-doping groups have reacted with outrage after a fouryear ban on Russia for state-sponsored doping offences was halved – and its athletes were told they could compete at next year’s Olympics and the 2022 World Cup wearing red shirts with the word Russia on them.
The British Olympic gold medal cyclist Callum Skinner said the ruling, by the court of arbitration for sport, meant “the biggest doping scandal in history had gone unpunished”.
The ruling was also greeted with astonishment by the US anti-doping agency head, Travis Tygart, who called it a “weak, watered-down outcome” for “robbing sport and clean athletes”. Tygart said: “To once again escape a meaningful consequence proportional to the crimes, much less a real ban, is a catastrophic blow to clean athletes, the integrity of sport, and the rule of law.”
Under the ruling, official Russia teams will still be barred from next summer’s Olympics in Tokyo, as well as the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as a punishment for covering up a massive state-sponsored doping programme. Russia will also be unable to host world championship events for two years and its anthem and flag will be banned too.
Russian athletes will be able to compete as neutrals in international competition – either as individuals and in national teams – so long as they are not banned for doping offences. They will also be allowed to wear red kits with the word Russia on it, providing “neutral athlete” appears as well. In effect this meant, said Skinner, that “Russia hasn’t been banned, they’ve been rebranded as Neutral Athletes from Russia”.
The British powerlifting Paralympian Ali Jawad said the decision showed that the World Anti-Doping Agency was not fit for purpose. “I’ve always been hesitant for calls for an alternative system,” he said. “I’ve always believed in helping create a strong Wada. But the events of the last five years, the lack of athlete voices, and the constant compromise with Russia has made me realise that Wada is not fit for purpose.”
A four-year ban was imposed on Russia last year by the World AntiDoping Agency after it discovered Russian authorities had deliberately erased and manipulated doping data stored in a Moscow laboratory in order to stop its athletes being punished for taking banned drugs. The ban was immediately challenged by Russia, who recruited several top sports lawyers and sporting bodies to back its case that Wada had overreached its powers, to the court of arbitration for sport.
Thursday’s decision suggests it was partly successful, with Wada admitting its disappointment the ban had been reduced. However, it made it clear it was pleased to have established the right for it to tackle nation states involved in doping conspiracies.
“The panel has clearly upheld our findings that the Russian authorities brazenly and illegally manipulated the Moscow laboratory data in an effort to cover up an institutionalised doping scheme, the Wada president, Witold Banka, said. “In the face of continual resistance and denial from Russia, we clearly proved our case.
“We are, however, disappointed that the Cas panel did not endorse each and every one of our recommended consequences for the four-year period we requested. But these are still the strongest set of consequences ever imposed on any country for doping-related offences.”
Cas’s decision to reduce Russia’s punishment was called “nonsensical and undeserved” by Jim Walden, the lawyer for the Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, who did much to expose the country’s doping programme. “Despite overwhelming proof of corruption, doping fraud and obstruction of justice, including a brazen attempt to falsely incriminate Dr Rodchenkov through fabricated evidence, Cas has once again proven itself unwilling and unable to meaningfully deal with systematic and longstanding criminality by Russia,” he said.
In a statement Cas denied it had been lenient on Russia, and said it had “considered matters of proportionality and, in particular, the need to effect cultural change and encourage the next generation of Russian athletes to participate in clean international sport”. But critics of the court’s ruling noted it had removed a Wada measure that would have required Russian athletes to prove they were not part of a state-sponsored doping scheme. From now on athletes whose data was manipulated or covered up in the Moscow laboratory’s database can still compete unless they are banned.
And while Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and other government officials are technically still barred from attending the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games, the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and World Championships, Cas now says that penalty can be relaxed if they are invited by the prime minister or head of state of the host country.