BEIJING (Reuters) -The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Friday was thrust into the spotlight at the Beijing Olympics after Russian determine skating gold medallist Kamila Valieva examined constructive for a banned substance however the outcome took weeks to be reported.
The 15-year-old sensation, who dazzled with her quadruple jumps to assist the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) win gold in the group occasion on Monday, was examined by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) on Dec. 25 at the nationwide championships
Her constructive outcome, nevertheless, was reported from a WADA-accredited laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden, solely on Tuesday, based on the International Testing Agency (ITA), the day after Valieva gained the Olympic gold medal with her group.
“Unfortunately I can’t be making any touch upon this case,” Anton Pohanka, Director of Stockholm’s Doping Control Laboratory at Karolinska University Hospital, the solely WADA-accredited lab in Sweden, informed Reuters.
He refused to clarify the weeks-long delay for the pattern outcome to be reported, an uncommon hole given Russian athletes are competing in their third consecutive Olympics as ROC athletes, with out their flag or anthem for state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Games.
Russia has acknowledged some shortcomings in its implementation of anti-doping guidelines however denies working a state-sponsored doping programme.
They are additionally the most examined group forward of the Games with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) wanting to keep away from a repeat of doping scandals that tarnished earlier Games.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
David Howman, the former long-time Director General of WADA, informed Reuters the timeline of occasions in this case made no sense.
“If the pattern was taken… earlier than the Games, why did not RUSADA push the Swedish lab to get the outcomes?” he mentioned.
“The different duty is with WADA. They knew what samples would have been taken and wanted to be analysed,” he mentioned.
“And thirdly, the International Skating Union (ISU) would have identified the samples that will have been collected. All three events would have had entry to the ADAMs (Anti-Doping Administration & Management System) programs, which tells you the place and when samples had been collected. Those are the questions that now want answering.”
Valieva was provisionally banned by RUSADA on the day of her constructive outcome on Feb. 8 however her suspension was lifted on Feb. 9 after a listening to with the Russian company.
Both the IOC and the International Skating Union will now attraction that call, they’ve mentioned.
WADA aren’t any strangers to controversy, having performed a key position in the Russian doping scandal, with the company beneath fierce criticism for what was seen as an absence of oversight for RUSADA and WADA’s failure to maintain Russia in verify.
“The worst case of system failure in my time as president of WADA or in the complete time of the anti-doping motion is Russia,” then WADA President Craig Reedie mentioned in 2019.
“What it (scandal) taught us when it erupted was that we weren’t outfitted to deal with such a large-scale programme.”
WADA did ultimately sanction Russia in December 2019 and barred the group from flying its flag at main sporting occasions for a four-year interval.
That, nevertheless, was halved by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) with the sanctions set to finish on Dec. 16.
WADA, who had additionally reinstated RUSADA in 2018 after a three-year suspension, refused to touch upon the case.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; further reporting by Iain Axon; Editing by Ken Ferris and Michael Perry)
