UK anti-doping chief admits mistakes after critical report

Results into Russian doping to be released

LONDON, July 12 (Agencies): Britain’s anti-doping agency made a “ghastly mistake” in its handling of a probe into the role of a doctor accused of supplying banned drugs to athletes, the chairman of UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) David Kenworthy has admitted.

The Sunday Times reported in April that Dr Mark Bonar prescribed banned drugs to 150 sports figures including several Premier League footballers.

Kenworthy’s admission follows the publication of an independent report commissioned by the government following the allegations.

The report was critical of UKAD, saying it was “difficult to understand” why the anti-doping body did not pass on information given by amateur cyclist Dan Stevens to the General Medical Council (GMC), the regulatory body responsible for Dr Bonar.

“Frankly, I still do not know why we didn’t — we certainly talked about it,” Kenworthy was quoted as saying by the Guardian. “It was a ghastly mistake and it should never have happened. Nobody is disputing that.”

The report revealed that the agency had been advised seven times by Stevens and its own staff to notify the GMC, yet it failed to do so.

Meanwhile, the results of the latest investigation into Russian doping will be released on Monday.

Canadian law professor Richard McLaren will hold a news conference in Toronto to present the findings of his probe into alleged manipulation of doping samples in Russia.

McLaren was appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate allegations of a state-backed

Kenworthy

doping conspiracy involving the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of Moscow’s drug-testing laboratory, told the New York Times that he provided Russian athletes with steroids ahead of the Olympics and helped switch tainted samples for clean ones through a concealed hole in the wall of the Sochi lab.

Rodchenkov, who is now living in the United States, said he operated on instructions from Russia’s sports ministry, which denies the claim.

WADA has said that McLaren was given the authority to look into wider allegations of doping in Russia.

Rio de Janeiro’s suspended anti-doping laboratory will learn whether it has been reinstated in the next seven days, the World Anti-Doping Agency told AFP on Monday.

Brazil’s doping control centre was suspended on June 24, meaning samples from the Olympic Games starting on August 5 will have to be sent to other WADA-accredited labs around the world.

The lab’s fate hinges on the verdict of an official investigation, WADA’s director general said.

“A scientific audit was carried out last week and an independent disciplinary commission will meet next week.

“Its recommendation will be relayed at the end of the week, or at the beginning of next week,” Niggli said, stressing the proximity of the Rio Games had no bearing on the process.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and WADA are battling doping on multiple fronts in a bid to convince an increasingly sceptical public that Rio will be free and fair.

The Rio lab’s suspension was imposed due to a non-conformity with the International Standard for Laboratories.