Bad times for Craig Reedie. At 75, the Scottish leader could take full advantage of a career as an international sports manager rich in honors and responsibilities. The former president of the British Olympic Committee (1992 to 2005), who joined the IOC in 1994, is not afraid of holding multiple positions. He sits on the executive commission of the Olympic organization, of which he is also one of the vice-presidents. Since January 1, 2014, he has chaired the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Not bad for one man. Too much, perhaps. Since Tuesday June 21, his name has been at the heart of a controversy over the role of WADA throughout the endless doping saga in Russian athletics. A controversy opened by documents and revelations from the BBC. According to the British channel, Sir Craig Reedie would not be exempt from reproach over an affair whose repercussions are still uncertain regarding Russia's participation in the Rio 2016 Games.
La BBC advances, with supporting evidence, that the president of the AMA knew that the German channel ARD was going to broadcast during the summer of 2015 a new documentary whose content could shake the deepest foundations of Russian athletics. But, rather than taking action and launching an investigation, he would have preferred to wait. There BBC proves his allegations by publishing a handwritten note written by Craig Reddie and sent to Sergueï Bubka, the vice-president of the IAAF, then campaigning for the succession of Lamine Diack at the head of world athletics. A note written on WADA letterhead, where the Scot warns the Ukrainian of the broadcast on August 2, 2015 of the German documentary.
The document of the BBC leaves little room for doubt. Craig Reedie ends his letter with this sentence: “I hope this does not cause further damage. »
The British channel explains on its website that it showed the document to former WADA chief investigator Jack Robertson, who was directly involved in the case since he worked for the Agency between 2011 and 2016. His reaction: “ To me this means that his loyalty is clearly to the international or national federations and not to the protection of athletes. He should have been eager to find out if any new revelations would be made, but instead he is most concerned about the embarrassment it might cause an IAAF vice-president. But we know that Craig Reddie hates conflict. This is all disappointing, but not surprising. Clean athletes need an advocate, not an ostrich. »
Same story with the German journalist Hajo Seppelt, author of the series of documentaries broadcast by ARD on state doping in Russia. “All this is very embarrassing for the president of an international organization responsible for fighting doping at high levels. He is more concerned with trying to avoid damage to different sports than with the opposite: fighting corruption and doping. »
La BBC also obtained an email sent by Craig Reedie to several WADA employees. The document dates back to December 2014, a few days after the broadcast of another documentary byARD on Russia. The email suggests quite clearly that Craig Reedie wanted to know the impact that the German channel's revelations had had in the media before taking action. “How many press reactions, how many tweets? », asks the president of the AMA. Before continuing: “I need to think about it, I’ll get back to you sometime tomorrow. A single day is not significant. Send me the stats. »
According to BBC, Craig Reedie had nevertheless received, the day before his email, a message from Travis Tygart, the director of the American anti-doping agency (USADA), imploring him to take action very quickly. He ignored it.
