Katowice (Poland) (AFP)

Unsurprisingly, Russian psychodrama on Wednesday invited itself to the international conference of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which will soon decide whether it sanctions Moscow for another fraud on doping control data.

The topic was not officially on the agenda in the huge hall of the congress center of Katowice (Poland), where hundreds of officials have been addressing since Tuesday very technical issues around the revision of the global code of practice. AMA and its international standards.

It is the Russian anti-doping boss himself, Yuri Ganous, who shook the audience, renewing his attacks against the sports authorities of his country.

"Rusada", the Russian anti-doping agency, "has become hostage to the crisis caused by the destructive and irresponsible actions of the Russian sports authorities, when transferring to WADA these data of controls kept in the servers of the former Moscow laboratory, launched the leader to the imposing stature.

Sitting in the hall, Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov, who had just said that Moscow had responded to all WADA requests, did not let anything shine through.

- "wisdom" -

This is not the first time that Yuri Ganous has attacked his authorities. His appointment in 2017 to bring Rusada out of the crisis, after the revelations about the existence of an institutional doping system in Russia put in place at least between 2011 and 2015, was perceived as a pledge of seriousness.

On Wednesday, he reaffirmed that Rusada "had nothing to do with the database" transmitted by Moscow and asked WADA to take it into account and to be "wise" in its possible sanctions.

If many of his colleagues from other countries salute the "courage" and "determination" of Yuri Ganous, the head of American anti-doping, Travis Tygart, a supporter of strong sanctions against Russia, sees rather "a game very well orchestra". What purpose ? Clearing Rusada, while it is this structure that will be accountable to WADA. "This is exactly what the government wants him to say," said the head of Usada, the US anti-doping agency.

The revelation, last September 23, of his suspicions of manipulation has relaunched the Russian crisis, while the delivery of electronic data in early January, was a condition of the AMA to come out ... of the previous crisis.

- Tokyo Olympics -

The World Anti-Doping Agency, whose services have begun to analyze these millions of data, hopes to establish disciplinary files against doped athletes, protected by the old system set up in Russia.

It has already transmitted 47 files to the international federations. But the computer experts at the University of Lausanne that she commissioned detected "inconsistencies" in the data. The AMA did not give details, but according to Yuri Ganous, the goal would have been to erase again the results of positive controls, to spare athletes, confirmed suspicions to AFP by sources in the doping.

What has changed between the beginning of the crisis at the end of 2014 and the last episode is that WADA now has a new regulation that could allow it to impose sports sanctions on Russia, alongside a possible suspension of Rusada.

Since the revelations of a doping system involving state machinery, to launder hundreds of positive tests and to traffic urine samples at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, many voices have criticized the indulgence of sports institutions, first, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), one of the pillars of WADA.

Yuri Ganous told AFP two weeks ago his fears of exclusion at the Tokyo Olympics next summer. Such WADA sanctions, which could come before the end of the year, would probably be reconsidered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.

"There will be a serious question before the CAS: can Rusada be held responsible for something that has largely escaped his control?" Asks Travis Tygart.

The world conference is due to end on Thursday with the adoption of a new World Anti-Doping Code and the election of WADA's new president, Polish Sports Minister Witold Banka.

© 2019 AFP