LONDON • The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) could face suspension again, based on information indicating data from the Moscow drug-testing lab had been manipulated before being delivered to the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) earlier this year, a person familiar with the case told The Associated Press.
Wada reinstated Rusada after gaining access to long sought-after data that was to be used to confirm doping positives stemming from state-sponsored plans to cheat, so that Russian athletes could win medals at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and other events.
Handing over the data was among the critical requirements for the reinstatement, and Wada extended their Dec 31 deadline by more than two weeks, before deeming its negotiations a success when it received the data.
But eight months later, and with the Tokyo Summmer Olympics less than a year away, there is a report indicating the data might have been tampered with before it changed hands. Wada's compliance review committee is expected to present the information to the agency's executive committee, which meets today in Tokyo.
Track and field's governing body, the IAAF, and the organisation that handles its doping cases, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), are also expected to review the information in Doha, Qatar, where at least 29 Russians are slated to compete as neutrals at the World Championships starting on Friday.
A Rusada on solid footing was thought to be a cornerstone requirement for Russia's return to the international sports world after a scandal that has sullied the Games, along with the reputations of Wada and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
This latest news could lead to Rusada again being deemed non-compliant, though the long-term repercussions of such a move are hard to gauge, with the IOC having placed Russia's Olympic committee back in good standing after the Pyeongchang Winter Games last year.
One theory is that because the revamped Rusada has been meeting testing benchmarks set for it by Wada, it could have a good chance of winning a case in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. If manipulation is proven, Wada would also have to decide whether it could win cases against Russians with data that is now unreliable.
The samples the doping Russian athletes provided to testers are not enough to convict in most cases because their drug-tainted urine was replaced by clean samples.
That was why the Moscow lab data was considered critical to prosecuting the cases, with Wada handing over most of the evidence to international sports federations. Its president Craig Reedie recently said he expected around 100 new Russian cases to be brought up for prosecution.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
