Top British official quits Wada role in ban protest

The chair of the British Athletes Commission quit her role at the World Anti-doping Agency last night in protest at its refusal to exile Russia completely from global sport.

Victoria Aggar, a former rower who won bronze at the 2008 Paralympics, tendered her resignation from Wada’s athlete committee, saying: “I simply can no longer be a part of an organisation that places politics over principle.”

Aggar made good on her threat to quit following the agency’s decision on Monday to ban Russia from hosting global sporting events or competing at them under its own flag for four years, over its cover-up of state-sponsored cheating at events including the London and Sochi Olympics and Paralympics.

She had previously considered her position after Wada lifted a four-year suspension on the Russian Anti-doping Agency on the proviso it handed over long-suppressed data. It is the falsification of that data which prompted the current sanction, one Aggar and others have been considering appealing against in a bid to increase its severity. She said in a statement: “Events over the past two years have fundamentally shaken my belief in an organisation that I felt initially served a great purpose in protecting the integrity of sport. Protecting clean athletes on their journey of pursuing their dreams.

“Too many political games (or machinations), too many conflicts and too much self-interest has led to too many bad decisions, compromises and broken promises.

“The biggest blow to athletes is the decision by Wada to ignore calls from its very own athlete committee for Russia to be banned from competing at the next Olympic and Paralympic Games, despite promising to enforce the toughest sanctions available if the retrieved data from Moscow was found to be manipulated. Wada refused to publish its own athlete committee’s statement on its website. I am a firm believer that all athletes have the right to an unfiltered voice. The concept of silencing athletes is one of the reasons why we are seeing so much abuse in sport.

“Many believe Wada could not withstand the pressure exerted on them by the International Olympic Committee and Russia, and now many are worried about the future. Personally, I simply can no longer be a part of an organisation that places politics over principle.”