WADA chief ready for action that sets precedent

London: Craig Reedie, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), indicated on Monday he would be prepared to back “precedent-setting action” against Russia following suggestions the country’s entire team could be banned from August’s Olympic Games in Rio.

The founding president of WADA, Dick Pound, told Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper that such a ban was “not impossible”.

Friday saw the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) uphold an international ban on Russia’s track and field competitors first imposed in November after a WADA team led by veteran Canadian sports administrator Pound revealed state-sponsored doping and mass corruption in Russian athletics.

The Russia team is now ruled out of all events in athletics in Rio, although Russian athletes training outside the country can apply to compete as neutrals at the August 5-21 event in Brazil.

“In the coming weeks, we will learn the outcome of our independent McLaren investigation,” Reedie, speaking at the WADA symposium at London’s Lord’s Cricket Ground, said on Monday.

“If his report indicates transgressions of any kind, then there will be a precedent-setting opportunity to demonstrate our collective commitment to cleaning up sport,” added the veteran British sports administrator, who reiterated WADA’s support for the IAAF ban on Russia. “The world will be watching.”

Reedie, asked by AFP if he agreed with Pound that a blanket ban on Russia was possible, replied: “I think Dick called that the ‘nuclear option’. “I can’t answer that question because I don’t have full information and I await to see what happens at the Olympic summit (in Lausanne) on Tuesday (tomorrow), when those authorities who do have that power to make those decisions will presumably be discussing them.”

Reedie, pressed on what he meant by “precedent-setting action”, added: “WADA does not have the power to determine which sports do what. If McLaren produces detailed corroborative evidence that goes beyond athletics, we are concerned and We will respond firmly and effectively.”