Russia Reinstated by World Anti-Doping Agency Following Three-Year Ban
Russia was reinstated from international competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency on Thursday after serving a nearly-three year ban.
The International Association of Athletics Federations suspended Russia from all international competition in 2015. They voted 22-1 to ban Russian athletes in response to reports of a wide-ranging and state-sponsored doping program.
"Today, the great majority of WADA’s ExCo decided to reinstate RUSADA as compliant with the Code subject to strict conditions," WADA president Sir Craig Reedie wrote on Twitter regarding Thursday's reinstatement. "This decision provides a clear timeline by which WADA must be given access to the former Moscow laboratory data."
Russia's reinstatement drew criticism on Thursday, notably from those involved in the initial crackdown on Russian doping.
"WADA's decision to reinstate Russia represents the greatest treachery against clean athletes in Olympic history,” said Jim Walden, the lawyer of Russian whistleblower Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov. “The United States is wasting its money by continuing to fund Wada, which is obviously impotent to address Russia’s state-sponsored doping."
Travis T. Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency weighed in as well, stating his dissapointment in WADA's decision.
"Today marked the biggest decision in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)'s history, and it delivered a devastating blow to the world's clean athletes," Tygart said in a statement. "In its landmark meeting today, WADA sent one clear message to the world: we put the wishes of a small handful of sports administrators above the rights of millions of clean athletes and the dreams of billions of fans."
Read Tygart's full statement below.
WADA 2015 ruling forced Russia to sit out the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. 169 Russian athletes did compete in the games. They participated under the designation, "Olympic Athletes from Russia."
