Montreal (AFP)

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is "stronger" than ever after taking up the challenge of the "doping crisis in Russia", said its outgoing president Craig Reedie on Monday.

Taking stock of his six years at the helm of WADA, the 78-year-old Briton said that "clean sport" had been "the subject of unprecedented threats, of sometimes disconcerting proportions" since 2014.

"Over the past six years, I have been particularly proud to see how WADA has met the challenges that have stood in its way, starting with the doping crisis in Russia," wrote Mr. Reedie, whose the term ends Tuesday.

This crisis, he recalled, led to the creation within WADA of an "intelligence and investigations" service, which played "a decisive role" in the recent decision of the organization of exclude Russia from major world sporting events for falsifying anti-doping data.

The Russian anti-doping agency Rusada announced Friday that it has challenged this exclusion.

Ultimately, it will be up to the Sports Arbitral Tribunal (CAS) to rule on the matter, said Reedie.

"But throughout this process, WADA had demonstrated that it had the will, the expertise and the legal tools to deal effectively with this unparalleled level of cheating and corruption," said the outgoing President.

WADA decided on December 9 to ban Russia from participating in major international events for four years, including the 2020 and 2022 Olympic Games and the 2022 World Cup. Only handpicked Russian athletes will be able to participate in the competitions, but under a neutral flag and without the national anthem being played.

WADA estimated that Russia had "manipulated" the data of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory which were transmitted to it at the beginning of the year, an umpteenth rebound in a scandal which started with the revelation in 2015 of an institutional doping practiced since 2011 and involving senior officials, secret agents and trafficked urine vials.

"During those years, we have done more than just weather the storm. WADA is significantly stronger today than at any time in its history," said Mr. Reedie.

Elected in November, the new president of WADA, the former Polish Minister of Sports and ex-400m runner Witold Banka, takes office on January 1st.

© 2019 AFP