Moscow (AFP)
"Unjust", "sad", "shock" ... the Russian sports world woke up on Tuesday bitter and stunned after the recommendation the day before of an independent committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that opens the way to a suspension for the next Olympic Games in the country, suspected of falsifying data.
If WADA's Executive Committee, scheduled to meet on December 9 in Paris, confirms the long list of measures recommended by its Compliance Review Committee (CRC), Russia will be simply ostracized of international sport for four years, excluding competitions including the Olympic Games and a possible suspension of its organization of matches of the Euro-2020 football.
Russian sports federations and officials were torn between emotion and caution on Tuesday, with some calling for the fateful date of 9 December, others letting out their anger.
"The news is simply shocking," said skating federation director Varvara Barycheva, quoted by Russian agencies.
The boxing federation denounced a "very unfair" recommendation and a "diktat". "It's as if they have accounts to settle.How can you deprive of competition a country that has such a role in the development of world sport?", Said its Secretary General Oumar Kremlev.
"Many of our sports diplomats said that everything was going to be fine, that there would be no extreme measures or exclusion from the Olympics, it's very sad," said the president of the water polo, diving federations. and synchronized swimming Alexei Vlassenko.
"It will be December 9, but all that is very bad, one year of the Olympics in Tokyo," he added.
"The disease has reached a terminal stage," writes the editor-in-chief of Russia's leading sports daily, Sovetsky Sport, accusing Russian politicians of "throwing our sport into a ditch".
- Sportsmen "hostages" -
The head of Russia's Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada), Yuri Ganous, expects WADA to follow the recommendations and suspend Russia: "That's the reality." For four more years, we plunge into a new anti-doping crisis, "he told AFP.
He accused Russian sports officials of making national athletes their "hostages" and urged President Vladimir Putin to take "an active part" in setting up a new sports governance.
For the CRC, the proposed punishment is worthy of "an extremely serious case", in particular because of the disappearance of "hundreds" of suspicious anti-doping test results among the files that Moscow had given to WADA at the beginning of the year. year.
However, the submission of these data was a condition set by WADA to lift previous sanctions against Rusada, at the heart of an institutional doping system between 2011 and 2015 already causing a vast scandal.
The CRC even suspects that "fabricated evidence" could have been implanted in the database to charge the former boss of the anti-doping laboratory of Moscow, Grigory Rodchenkov, now a refugee in the United States, where he was one of the key witnesses in bringing to light the Russian doping system.
So, the strong way is advocated: for four years, no Russian official, nor the flag of the country, nor his anthem would be entitled to city during the Olympic Games (summer, winter, youth or Paralympic ).
Athletes who have demonstrated "they are not involved in any way" in doping cases would be admitted to the competition, under neutral flag. Sanctions already suffered by Russia at the 2018 winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, or at all international athletics competitions since 2015.
Russia, which has made sport a tool of its power on the international scene, would also no longer be allowed to apply for the attribution of international sporting events, OJ included.
Worse, it could lose the organization of several matches, including a quarterfinal, the Euro-2020 planned in St. Petersburg. The final of the 2021 Champions League is also scheduled.
Asked by AFP, on a possible exclusion of Russia to the Euro-2020, UEFA replied that it "has no comments on the subject as is".
It remains to be seen whether the WADA Executive Committee, composed equally of representatives of the Olympic Movement and governments, will go so far. In any case, it will be up to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to decide as a last resort.
burs-pop / mp / dhe / gf
© 2019 AFP