Los Angeles (AFP)
US anti-doping boss Travis Tygart on Tuesday urged the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) not to allow any Russian athlete to the 2020 Olympics, even under a neutral banner, because of suspicions of data falsification weighing on Russia.
An independent WADA committee on Monday recommended suspending Russia from major competitions such as the Olympics for four years, while permitting the participation under neutral flag of Russian athletes "involved in any way" in doping cases.
Tygart considers this recommendation "inadequate" and considers that "the AMA must strike harder and prohibit the participation of all Russian athletes in the Olympic Games, as permitted by the regulation".
"Only such a resolute response has a chance to attract Russia's attention, change attitudes and protect today's clean athletes, who will compete in Tokyo, as well as future generations of athletes in Tokyo. Russia who deserve better than a cynical response, weak to repeated calls from the world for Russia to repair its faults, "added the boss of the US anti-doping agency (Usada), who strongly criticized the lifting of suspension of the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada) last year.
According to the WADA Compliance Review Committee (CRC), Russia would have removed "hundreds" of suspicious doping control results from its files sent to WADA at the beginning of the year, while This data was a prerequisite for lifting previous sanctions against Rusada, at the heart of an institutional doping system between 2011 and 2015.
In the eyes of the CRC, the case is "extremely serious". If WADA's Executive Committee, which will meet in Paris on December 9, confirms the recommended measures, Russia will be banned from international sport for four years, excluding competitions, including the Olympic Games.
Athletes who have demonstrated "that they are not involved in any way" in doping cases could however be admitted, under a neutral flag, as was the case at the 2018 Winter Olympics or at international athletics competitions since 2015. .
"Russia continues to scoff at global anti-doping rules, humiliate clean athletes, taunt WADA and get away with it again and again," said Tygart.
"It is now time to pronounce the toughest possible sanctions" against Russia, he continued.
© 2019 AFP