The vote by the WADA foundation board Wednesday comes after an independent commission detailed a doping scandal in Russia’s track and anti-doping programs.
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However, WADA has yet to lay out exactly what criteria Russia will need to meet to be found compliant, how the country’s anti-doping program will be monitored and whether it will be able to develop a team of independent global inspectors who will be able to oversee the Russian program. The track team has already been provisionally suspended by the sport’s governing body, the IAAF, which is also under investigation for its role in the doping scandal.
WADA president Sir Craig Reedie has warned Russian Federation “the world is watching” as it seeks to put in place the reforms which will be necessary for the country to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Belgium, Brazil, France, Greece, Mexico and Spain were placed by on a watch list by the committee and have until March 18, 2016 to be compliant with WADA’s codes.
Cross-country skier Beckie Scott missed out on her Olympic gold-medal celebration in 2002 because she was beaten by a group of Russian drug cheats.
Russian deputy sports minister Pavel Kolobkov told WADA if the lab stays decertified, the Russian government might withdraw its funding.
While the committee will work to get Russia’s track and field ban lifted, he said: “The main task is not just to fight back against the criticism that’s being directed at us, but to really clean up our sport and get rid of doping”. Scott said, insisting that setting a process that would allow for the lifting of a suspension would send the wrong message.
“Athletes see wide-scale, high-level corruption at the top, and it’s a kick in the stomach for them to see leadership not following rules”, Moses said. “We are ready to start immediately implementing the decisions”.
“We saw the tip of the iceberg exposed then”, Moses said.
That is the focus of the second part of the independent commission’s investigation, details of which will be made public in the next two months.
“There are going to have to be other sources of revenue”, Moses said.
WADA’s ruling on Wednesday piles more pressure on Russian Federation to fix its system.
The non-compliant countries have failed to responded fully to Wada’s request for information and Argentina, Bolivia and Ukraine have used non-accredited laboratories.
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“WADA confirms that with immediate effect the following countries are declared non-compliant: Andorra, Israel, Argentina, Bolivia & Ukraine”, read a further tweet.
