Russia sacks director of anti-doping agency

The director of the Russian anti-doping agency Yuri Ganous, here on December 27, 2019, was sacked this Friday August 28, 2020. AP Photo / Alexander Zemlianichenko

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Yuri Ganous, who had headed the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada) since August 2017, was sacked on Friday, August 28. Taken by the Olympic and Paralympic Committees, this decision was justified by an audit revealing breaches in internal management.

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With our correspondent in Moscow, Étienne Bouche

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) expressed concern and recalled that national agencies should remain independent from Olympic Committees after the dismissal of the director of the Russian anti-doping agency. Showing a desire to reconcile Russia with the world of sport, Yuri Ganous had acquired a certain credit within international bodies.

The president of the Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdniakov, tried on Friday to allay suspicion. This decision was taken only on the basis of administrative, economic and financial violations  ." In this case, expensive business trips during the years 2018 and 2019, with taxi costs deemed too high. For Iouri Ganous, this dismissal is not a surprise. The signals that announced his ouster had accumulated in recent weeks. According to him, this audit was only a maneuver intended to remove it.

An enemy of the state  "

Appointed at the head of Rusada three years ago, Yuri Ganous was distinguished by a discourse without complacency towards the world of sport in Russia. He had swept aside the thesis of a media conspiracy targeting Russia, admitted fraud and dismissed 90% of the staff of the anti-doping agency.

According to the newspaper Novaïa Gazeta , it was his determination to clean up the Augean stables that made him "  an enemy of the state  ". "  We obviously expected cosmetic changes from him, but instead he arrived like a tank  ."

The president of the Russian Olympic Committee has indicated that Yuri Ganous's successor will be appointed within the next six months.

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