“Russia continues to flaunt the world’s anti-doping rules, kick clean athletes in the gut and poke WADA in the eye and get away with it time and time again.
WADA must stand up to this fraudulent and bullying behavior as the rules and Olympic values demand. The response proposed by the CRC is inadequate especially given the deceit perpetuated by the Russian sport system which is controlled by the government.
History has taught us the response to Russian doping used in Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018 – in which a secretly-managed process permitting Russians to compete – did not work. The world’s athletes saw through this charade and it apparently only emboldened Russia to simply destroy evidence and to tamper with more samples to make it impossible to confirm whether any clean Russian athletes actually exist.
WADA must get tougher and impose the full restriction on Russian athlete participation in the Olympics that the rules allow. Only such a resolute response has a chance of getting Russia’s attention, changing behavior, and protecting today’s clean athletes who will compete in Tokyo, as well as future generations of athletes in Russia who deserve better than a weak response to the world’s repeated calls for Russia to clean up its act. It is sad when a country’s athletes suffer for the fraud of the governmental and sport system they represent. However, the failure to stand up to Russia’s five-year flaunting of the rules would cause even more harm to athletes in and outside of Russia. The time for the toughest penalty available is now.”
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