WADA upholds Russia as non-compliant

Russia’s participation in the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games in 2018 Games is still undecided, but today the WADA Foundation Board endorsed the global anti-doping agancy’s Compliance Review Committee’s recommendation that the Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA remains non-compliant.

According to the review committee, Russia still does not fulfil the criteria demanded by WADA in the Roadmap to Compliance, before the country can be declared compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code again.

The committee pointed to two specific criteria: Russian authorities' public acceptance of the reported results of the McLaren Investigations and access for ‘appropriate entities’ to the samples and data in the Moscow Laboratory.

“The Board was encouraged by the significant progress achieved by RUSADA under its new Management with the support of WADA,” said Sir Craig Reedie, according to a statement from WADA.

“However, there was clear consensus by the Board that the two outstanding Roadmap criteria were critical to global confidence and to operating in a credible environment,” he continued.

At the meetings held in Seoul, WADA also approved an International Standard for Code Compliance by Signatories (ISCCS), which specifies a range of sanctions and procedures when sports organisations or countries are not compliant with the international anti-doping regulations they have signed.

“Athletes have been very clear with us that, just as they are expected to uphold high standards of compliance with anti-doping rules, so too must Signatories be held to similar high standards within the Code,” Olivier Niggli, WADA Director General, says in the press release.

Read the WADA statement