British athletes have sent an unprecedented letter to the World Anti-Doping Agency warning it will be a “catastrophe for clean sport” if Russia is brought in from the cold at a crucial executive board meeting next week.
The letter from UK Anti-Doping’s athlete commission, which is signed by several top Olympic and Paralympic names including Lizzy Yarnold and Callum Skinner, also warns Wada that a U-turn would leave athletes “no longer having faith in the system”.
It reflects the growing concern that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency could be reinstated when Wada’s executive committee meets in the Seychelles on 20 September – even though Wada’s own compliance committee has ruled that Russia falls short on two demands needed to be allowed back in.
First Russia must accept the McLaren report, which revealed that over 1,000 of its athletes were part of a massive state-sponsored doping system. And it also must allow independent investigators access to the Moscow laboratory, which contains thousands of important computer files.
“Two of the conditions directed by the Russia roadmap have not yet been met, and to readmit them despite this would be a catastrophe for clean sport,” the letter warns.
“We play our sports by the rules, and we expect the institutions that govern us, and which are there to protect us and our competition, to play by the rules too.
“The roadmap clearly outlines what Russia must do to be allowed back. To ignore these conditions ignores the wishes of the athletes you are there to protect.
“Athletes will no longer have faith in the system. It will undermine trust in the essence of fair play on which sport is formed.
“ We, the athletes, insist you hold the line on the roadmap. Do not U-turn. Do not fail clean sport.”
Rusada has been noncompliant with Wada since 2015, when allegations of state-sponsored doping first emerged. However, many in the International Olympic Committee, which provides half of Wada’s funding, are pushing for that decision to be reversed.
