WADA upholds reinstatement of Russian Anti-Doping Agency

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Executive Committee has voted to uphold a reinstatement of the Russian anti-doping body, despite pressure from international organizations which demanded a suspension.

"Today, the Executive Committee (ExCo) of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) decided to continue applying the conditions outlined in its 20 September 2018 decision that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) must fulfill to maintain compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code (Code), after endorsing a recommendation of  WADA’s independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC) during an ExCo meeting held by conference call," says WADA's statement. 

Last week, WADA’s three-person expert team successfully extracted the data which will be scrupulously analyzed by independent doping experts.

Access to the laboratory was a key factor in restoring Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to compliance status, with WADA having to emphasize it could suspend the body again if deadlines were not met.

WADA experts failed to retrieve the data on the first attempt after being told that their equipment was not certified under Russian law. The failure to receive the doping data by the end of the year, as it had been outlined by WADA, triggered a wave of criticism from multiple international organizations, including 16 national anti-doping organizations, which called for RUSADA to be suspended again.

After all technical issues regarding the data extraction were eliminated, WADA officials easily copied the data completing their mission in Moscow. After receiving the data, WADA admitted that the final condition in reinstating RUSADA was fulfilled.

RUSADA was reinstated in September after a three-year suspension imposed for alleged state-sponsored doping in the country.