Russian athletes thought they had seen the worst. The most confident minds even imagined themselves close to the end of the tunnel. They were wrong. Less than 250 days before the Tokyo Games, a dark threat hangs over Russian sport. It could lead to the exclusion of the country from the next two Olympic events.
The threat in question took shape last weekend. After analyzing from all angles the "inconsistencies" noted in the data from the Moscow laboratory, the Compliance Review Committee (CRC) of the World Anti-Doping Agency announced to recommend to the WADA Executive Committee to declare non-compliant the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA). So far, nothing very unexpected. A recommendation, nothing more. She is not the first.
But a press release from WADA, released on the evening of Monday, November 25, gives the threat a much more concrete twist. The international agency based in Montreal specifies the nature of the recommendation of its Compliance Review Committee. It is unrivaled in the rich history of Russian sport.
The CRC recommends a suspension of Russia for a period of 4 years. In short, a whole Olympiad. The country would be deprived of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, then it would miss the Winter Games in Beijing in 2022. In both cases, the delegation of Russian athletes would not wear the colors of the nation. She would parade under a neutral flag. A “remake” of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games.
Worse: the CRC recommends that WADA extend the suspension of Russia to all major international competitions during the same period. The neutrality of the country's athletes, until now only observed at the 2018 Winter Games, the Paralympic Games (2016 and 2018), and the World Athletics Championships (2017 and 2019), would become the norm. The Russian flag would disappear from all world championships over the next 4 years.
WADA specifies in its press release: Russian athletes could be eligible for major international competitions on the condition of being “ able to demonstrate that they are not involved in any way” in doping cases. It would therefore be up to international federations to study the requests of Russian athletes on a case-by-case basis. World Athletics has been doing this for over 3 years. Others may have to comply in turn.
But the Compliance Review Committee does not stop at this recommendation alone. Its members push the envelope much further. They propose banning all Russian government officials from attending international sporting events.
Above all, the CRC recommendation suggests excluding Russia from the organization of major events on the international calendar over the next 4 years. She even proposes to withdraw the competitions already awarded to him, unless he is “ legally or physically impossible to do so. »
The ball is now in the court of the WADA Executive Committee. It is due to meet on December 9 in Paris. On the agenda, the Russian question. Will it follow the recommendation of its Compliance Review Committee? Likely.
In such a scenario, Russia would be wiped off the sporting world map until the end of 2023. It could lose the organization of the men's volleyball world championships in 2022, then the hockey world championships. on ice in 2023.
The rest is more vague. Would UEFA follow WADA's instructions by withdrawing its four Euro football matches from Saint Petersburg in 2020? According to some sources, the event could be considered continental, not global, and thus escape sanction. Same uncertainty regarding the possible exclusion by FIFA of Russia from the 2022 Football World Cup in Qatar.
During its investigation, the CRC also discovered that the Russian authorities had fabricated a set of false evidence intended to place the blame on Grigory Rodchenkov, the former boss of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, now a refugee in the United States. . Uplifting.
