WADA and Russian officials are at war, over a report which was released by WADA, which stipulated that a mass sports doping ring and subsequent cover-up was orchestrated by the Russian government. WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) wants Russia to acknowledge its guilt, but Russian officials have stated that this demand from WADA will never be met.
This Refusal Will Have Ramifications
WADA officials will not reinstate Russia’s anti-doping governing body, which is known as RUSADA for short, until Russia takes responsibility for the situation laid out in the WADA report. So, the two sides are at an impasse. WADA leader, Richard McLaren, has remarked that the sports ministry in Russia had the authority to decide which positive tests for banned substances to cover up.
McLaren has also said that this Russian ministry looked over a plan to exchange samples which features substances that were banned. The sample swapping was allegedly planned for the Winter Olympics in 2014.
Vitaly Mutko, who is the deputy prime minister of Russia, has stated that no program of this type existed. He said nothing of the sort happened in his country and that Russia won’t admit to something which was never done.
Vitaly Smirnov is actually the leader of a Russian commission on anti-doping. He says that the WADA report is flawed and also says that Russia will not accept a WADA recommendation to halt the sealing of urine sample stores in a lab in Moscow.
The Future is Unclear
Both sides here are definitely locked into position. Russia’s leaders won’t admit culpability, despite a detailed report which outlines an entire system of doping which got the ok from higher-ups in the country. WADA has to keep up standards by asking countries which break doping laws to do better. It’s unlikely that any resolution of this present argument will happen in the near future.
Doping is prevalent in sport. It’s easier to get away with it in some countries than others. If the WADA report is true, it means that Russian athletes are encouraged to use banned substances in order to win. This means that Russia isn’t meeting WADA guidelines. In fact, the country is doing all that can be done to get around these rules.
Doping is such a contentious issue. People have different moral beliefs and some think that doping is so common that athletes who decide to do it are just trying to compete on a level playing field. It’s a big problem and it causes tension between nations sometimes.
