The decision was eagerly awaited. It fell from Montreal, Tuesday January 22, at the end of a conference call sent in a form of unanimity. The WADA Executive Committee has decided not to impose further sanctions on the Russian anti-doping agency (RUSADA). The process of reintegrating Russia into the Olympic movement can continue.
In itself, the decision is not very surprising. Meeting by telephone, the members of the WADA decision-making body followed the recommendation of the conformity review committee. Logic. They brushed aside the 18-day delay taken by Russia in providing access to its Moscow laboratory. They preferred to see the glass half full.
Craig Reedie explained this at the end of the telephone meeting, Tuesday January 22. “ We wanted those who cheated to be held accountable, said the Scottish leader, often criticized for his supposedly conciliatory position with Russia. I hope athletes and others see that we are making progress in this area. »
Craig Reedie makes no secret that WADA sought to encourage rather than sanction. Like the IOC, it prefers to see Russia fall into line wisely, rather than continue the soap opera endlessly. “ Several members of the executive committee expressed disappointment that the deadline had not been met, but agreed that no sanctions should be imposed for this., he added in a press release.
The light is green, then. But WADA accompanied it by putting into service a warning signal. The RUSADA reintegration process can continue, but it will have to follow a very precise timetable. With, this time, a firmer threat than ever.
The AMA teams will now dissect and analyze the thousand pieces of data brought back from Moscow by its trio of experts. The work is expected to take two to three months. They will have to identify the most doubtful cases. According to Olivier Niggli, the director of the AMA, their number would be between one and several hundred.
The Russian anti-doping agency must then provide, no later than June 30, 2019, the samples of athletes suspected of cheating. WADA will then be able to carry out a new analysis. The results will be transmitted to the competent authorities, including the international federations of the sports concerned.
According to Jonathan Taylor, the chairman of the conformity review committee, Russia could once again incur the worst sanctions in the event that the WADA teams discovered, during their work, that the data recovered at the WADA laboratory Moscow have been falsified. The committee would then meet urgently. This time he could recommend a new suspension of Russia.
Such a scenario remains very hypothetical. But in the worst case scenario, if it were proven that Russia had rigged the data from its Moscow laboratory, it could relive the episode of the PyeongChang Winter Games and see itself excluded from the Tokyo 2020 Games.
In Moscow, WADA's decision was greeted with relief. Yuri Ganus, the director of RUSADA, agreed: “ It is entirely possible that we will lose something on the medal table, but no one can take away the legacy of the Sochi Winter Games. They were great Olympic Games, among the best organized. So I sincerely hope that we can turn this page and resolve all the issues, even we can't just turn it and forget. » Impossible, in fact.
