OCA fined $670,000 by Wada over North Korea flag dispute
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
A representative of North Korea's team walks with their national flag during the Asian Games closing ceremony.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MONTREAL – The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has fined the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) US$500,000 (S$671,500) for allowing North Korea to fly its flag at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September, despite it being banned over non-compliance with global anti-doping rules.
Wada banned the flag at all major sporting events, outside the Olympic Games and Paralympics, in 2021 after deeming that North Korea had failed to implement an effective drug-testing programme.
But the nation’s flag was displayed throughout the 19th Asian Games in China at the opening ceremony, in the athletes’ village, and at competitions and medal ceremonies.
“It became clear during the Asian Games that the OCA did not take steps to comply with the terms of the DPRK’s non-compliance and that the DPRK flag was repeatedly flown during the entire event,” the Montreal-based Wada said in a statement on Nov 17.
“Despite repeated reminders from Wada before and during the Games, the OCA refused to comply.”
There was no immediate comment from the OCA, which has three weeks to contest Wada’s decision.
Meanwhile, Wada also said that it has submitted to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) objections from Russia’s anti-doping agency Rusada about its non-compliant status.
Rusada in October disputed Wada’s allegation of non-compliance relating to “Russian federal sports legislation discovered following an audit in September 2022”.
The Russian agency was suspended over the breaches from 2020 until December 2022 and cannot be reinstated owing to two ongoing investigations, said Wada general counsel Ross Wenzel.
The case was presented to the CAS earlier this week, he said during the agency’s annual meeting held in Montreal.
Wenzel also indicated that Wada was still reviewing the conditions for reinstatement of Rusada related to the discovery of “massive data manipulations in the Moscow laboratory in 2019”.
More than 220 sanctions have been imposed by Wada since then.
It concluded that “it will be necessary to conduct an in-person audit or visit”, while recognising also challenges linked to the Russia-Ukraine war.
At the meeting, several members of the council also stressed the need to communicate more about the anti-doping tests carried out on Russian and Belarusian athletes ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Russia’s flag and athletes have already been banned in many sports in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The anti-doping agencies of Tunisia, Nigeria and Venezuela were also sanctioned for non-compliance with Wada rules.
They lose their rights within the organisation, can no longer host major sporting events and their flags cannot be presented during major competitions, including the Olympic Games, as long as they do not meet Wada’s conditions.
Finally, Wada expressed concern about Russia’s plans to organise the 2024 World Friendship Games, an international multi-sport competition, in September after the Paris Games.
The international body said it has “concerns from an anti-doping perspective”, adding that it would closely monitor developments.
REUTERS, AFP
