• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

WADA Getting Ready to Reinstate Russia

Page 2 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
WADA attempts to move the goal posts -
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2...it-proposed-wada-age-limit-rules-pro-athlete/
Members of the Athletes for Clean Sport campaign group led condemnation of a potential list of guidelines which could include a requirement that any candidate to replace Sir Craig Reedie to be at least 45.

The proposals would eliminate 41-year-old Linda Helleland of Norway, who has emerged as a the chosen candidate among athletes who want to see radical change following the agency’s much-criticised decision to reinstate Russia’s anti-doping operation.
...
“Given the recent direction of Wada and the lack of transparency that we have witnessed, is it merely a coincidence that just weeks before the athlete-minded candidate Linda Helleland would begin her campaign to be the next president, Wada could allow rules to be pushed through that would render Linda’s campaign ineligible?”

US Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart called it “an obvious attempt to rig the election so the reform candidates can’t run”.

The proposal will be discussed at Wada’s board meeting next week. Officials say the proposal came not from their leadership, but from representatives of the international governments that provide half the agency’s funding.

“Neither Wada’s leadership nor its management was involved or consulted in any way in the drafting of this document,” a Wada spokesman said. “Any suggestion to the contrary is simply untrue.”

Helleland, who currently serves as Wada vice president, cast one of two dissenting votes when the Wada executive committee voted to reinstate Russia.
 
More fallout from WADA's decision -
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/former-wada-chief-***-pound-s-verbal-volley-for-ukad-a3988866.html
The founding president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, *** Pound, has accused UK Anti-Doping of being out of line in the fall-out of the Russian cheating scandal and trying to act as “heirs apparent” to WADA.

A recent summit in Washington, headed by the US Anti-Doping Agency and attended by UKAD, called for urgent WADA reform in light of sanctions being lifted against the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada). But Pound told Standard Sport: “I think USADA and UKAD and other national anti-doping organisations are out of line on this. They’re out of control and focusing on the wrong things.”

WADA’s executive board is due to meet in Baku tomorrow to discuss the latest position over Rusada, which has been set a December 31 deadline to divulge all samples from its Moscow laboratory.

At that meeting, Pound said: “The point I hope to raise if given the chance is to say the Olympic movement stakeholders and public authorities should get into these NADOs to say this is not what we’re funding you to do.

"We’re funding you to head up anti-doping in your country. You’re not the heirs apparent to WADA. Get on with what you’re supposed to be doing otherwise we’ll find someone else to do it.”
 
http://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/ne...board-approves-wide-ranging-governance-reform
RUSSIAN ANTI-DOPING AGENCY (RUSADA)

Further to the ExCo’s 20 September decision to reinstate RUSADA as compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) subject to strict conditions, the Board received an update regarding access to the data from the former Moscow Laboratory, which is one of the conditions.

WADA President Sir Craig Reedie informed the meeting that a WADA delegation would visit Russia on 28 November to meet with the authorities and visit the Moscow Laboratory. This meeting has been arranged to prepare for a full technical mission shortly thereafter to retrieve the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and underlying data of the Laboratory before 31 December 2018 as required by the ExCo.

A number of Board members at the meeting stressed again the importance that should Russia fail to comply with its outstanding obligations, then swift action should be taken against RUSADA under the terms of the International Standard for Code Compliance by Signatories (ISCCS).
 
Wouldn't the world wide athletes be against Russia being allowed back in simply because they like a whole country of great athletes out of the way to give them better chances of medalling?

It's funny that Callum Skinner is a major player in this when he uses TUEs and was a battler before the Rio olympics and went right back to being a battler again after? I would suspect GB just as much as any country.
 
Nov 28 - the WADA circus goes to Moscow -
https://www.foxsports.com/olympics/story/moscow-doping-lab-to-be-opened-for-wada-visit-111518
“We will be sending a team of highly qualified experts. Everybody knows what they’ve been asked to provide. The experts will deliver it and I’m perfectly confident that we have the right people going in,” Reedie said. “This will resolve the situation we have with the Russian authorities.”

The first visit — which isn’t expected to recover the data — will involve three “independent people” and “the Russians will also have some people,” Jonathan Taylor, who leads WADA’s compliance committee, told The Associated Press.

“A full technical mission” will follow up to gather information, Reedie said.

Emails from the laboratory revealed in a WADA investigation showed that it routinely covered up doping by top Russian athletes. It’s not clear what any retesting of stored samples could accomplish, since staff allegedly destroyed more than 1,400 samples in 2015 to obstruct WADA’s investigations.
 
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sport-doping-wada-russia-idUSKCN1NX1TQ
A World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) delegation held talks with Russian officials and visited a suspended Moscow anti-doping laboratory on Wednesday as it waits for Russia to meet a year-end deadline to hand over laboratory data.

Wednesday’s visit, which included three WADA delegates, was meant to lay the groundwork for a subsequent mission - on a date not yet announced - to retrieve the data.

“A full technical mission has been provisionally planned but this is subject to a number of outstanding points that need to be clarified in the coming days,” WADA said in a statement.

Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov confirmed that the WADA specialists had been given access to the laboratory but did not say when Russia would hand over the data.

“At this stage it is too early to speak of deadlines and the amounts of work ahead,” he said in a statement.

https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/wada-experts-hold-talks-moscow-doping-lab-data-59463665
WADA visited the lab, where key evidence is sealed off by Russian law enforcement, on Wednesday to make arrangements for a second team to arrive and collect the files. Depending on how Russia reacts and what the computer files contain, the issue could draw a line under Russia's years of doping scandals, or lead to more sanctions.

"The sooner we can gain full access to the laboratory, the better," Rabin said in a statement. "Clearly, there is a huge volume of data contained within it and we want to start analyzing it as soon as possible. Then, once the data has been fully assessed and verified to be authentic, we would be in a position to assert anti-doping rule violations against those athletes who cheated and to exonerate other athletes."

Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov, who met the WADA delegation late Tuesday, issued a cautious statement after the lab visit.

"It's early at this stage to talk about timeframes and the size of work ahead," he said. "Soon all sides will work out a common position."

Any data can be checked against an unauthorized copy of the lab's database which WADA obtained last year under unclear circumstances. Walden said Rodchenkov — who is under witness protection in the United States — wasn't WADA's source.

http://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/ne...uthorities-regarding-moscow-laboratory-access
Representatives of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) held meetings with the Russian authorities in Moscow yesterday and today, regarding Moscow Laboratory access, which the Agency expects will pave the way for a full technical mission mid-December.

The three-person delegation, which met with officials in Moscow and visited the Laboratory, will now liaise further with WADA leadership in order to discuss logistics and next steps. A full technical mission has been provisionally planned but this is subject to a number of outstanding points that need to be clarified in the coming days.
 
14 December -
http://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2018-12/wada-to-access-data-in-moscow-laboratory-next-week
A full technical mission from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will be in Russia next week to retrieve data from the former Moscow Laboratory.

The five-person delegation will travel to Moscow on Monday 17 December to access the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and the underlying raw data of the Laboratory, as required by WADA’s Executive Committee decision of 20 September. The team will be led by independent expert Dr. José Antonio (Toni) Pascual, who is a research scientist and academic in Barcelona, Spain with 30 years’ experience in anti-doping, including 25 years in laboratory management. It is expected the data extraction will take three days to complete.

WADA Director General Olivier Niggli said: “Following an initial meeting last month between WADA and the Russian public authorities, we have been preparing for the full technical mission to gain access to the Moscow Laboratory and the relevant data, in line with the strict conditions set for RUSADA’s reinstatement.

“Gaining full access to the laboratory and the data contained within it was the reason behind the 20 September decision and it is satisfying that we are another step closer to realizing that. The raw data is the missing piece of the puzzle that will complement the duplicate LIMS database that is already in WADA’s possession and help conclude WADA’s McLaren and Operation LIMS investigations.”

Under the terms of the 20 September decision to reinstate RUSADA as compliant, the Russian authorities must also procure that any re-analysis of samples required by WADA following review of the laboratory data is completed by no later than 30 June 2019.

The data contained within the laboratory will need to be fully assessed and verified, which will take some time. They will then be used, in conjunction with the re-analysis of samples as required, to build cases against athletes who cheated.

Earlier this week, a WADA team completed a two-day audit of RUSADA (see http://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2018-12/wada-completes-audit-of-russian-anti-doping-agency ), in accordance with the strict conditions of its reinstatement. Based on its findings, the audit team will prepare a full report highlighting any outstanding issues that need to be addressed.
 
WADA's news release of the fiasco in Moscow -
https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/n...ada-mission-to-extract-moscow-laboratory-data
The team had arrived in Moscow on 17 December and was tasked with accessing the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and the underlying data from the former Moscow Laboratory as per the conditions of WADA’s 20 September Executive Committee (ExCo) decision, which reinstated the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to the list of World Anti-Doping Code-compliant Signatories.

The team accessed the laboratory and progress was made with the Russian authorities regarding extraction and export of the data outside Russia. However, the team was unable to complete its mission within the prescribed time due to an issue raised by the Russian authorities that the team’s equipment to be used for the data extraction was required to be certified under Russian law.

This issue had not been raised during an initial meeting on 28 November in Moscow, after which WADA sent its expert team back to Moscow to retrieve the data.

In keeping with the process that was outlined by the WADA ExCo in September, Dr. Pascual will now prepare his formal report on the mission and, as planned, the report will be sent to the independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC). The CRC will meet on 14-15 January 2019 when RUSADA’s Code compliance status will again be considered and the CRC’s recommendation will then be considered by the ExCo.

In parallel, in light of the progress that has been made – and the importance of obtaining this data in order to implicate or exonerate athletes – WADA’s expert team stands ready to proceed with the full data extraction should the matter be resolved by Russia expeditiously.

So will WADA have the "cojones" to ban Russia again?
 
More from Reuters -
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-doping-russia-idUSKCN1OK28S
Russian authorities downplayed the latest crisis with Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov describing the problems in a TASS report as “technical issues”.

Kolobkov added: “The experts are satisfied with the visit,” and said there were plans for a follow-up visit to the lab.

WADA told Reuters there were no more visits planned but that the team of experts would remain on standby ready to proceed with full data extraction should the matter be resolved.
 
Re: Re:

veganrob said:
yaco said:
I wonder why people give some much creedence to the utterings of Travis Tygart,USADA and any American Sporting Organisation - They have a track record of hiding positive tests and giving soft penalties - And the athletes who cry crocodile tears is amazing - It's like they are purer than white snow.
Good point. Travis Tygart is a fraud. Look at the recent Jon Jones decision.

They're the kings of doping.
 
http://tass.com/sport/1037695
December 24. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has not yet received a notification from Russia about its readiness to grant access to international body’s experts to Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory with the use of equipment that needed certification, a spokesman for the WADA told TASS on Monday.

WADA’s technical experts, who arrived in Moscow for their second visit on December 17, did not finish the work at the Moscow Anti-Doping Lab as their equipment was reportedly not certified in line with the Russian laws. The WADA stated its readiness to resume the process in case the issue was promptly settled by the Russian authorities.

Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov stated earlier in the day that the Moscow Anti-Doping Lab was ready for another visit of experts from WADA, which should confirm the dates for the visit.

"To the best of my knowledge, we have not received any such correspondence," WADA’s spokesman stated in response to a question whether Russia had notified the WADA about the completion of the equipment’s certification process.
and if you shake it, it looks like it's snowing ...
1210821.jpg
 
Will Putin help?
http://tass.com/sport/1038191
December 27. /TASS/. Russian sports may be globally isolated in case the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is denied to access before December 31 the data of Russian athletes’ doping samples from the period of 2011-2015, stored at the Moscow Anti-Doping Lab, Yury Ganus, the president of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) stated in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The revocation of the compliance status of the RUSADA, which is the key element of the Russian anti-doping system and which within a short period of time not only restored in full its operability, but became one of the best in the world as it was confirmed by the WADA audit several weeks ago, would lead to the sports self-isolation of Russia," Ganus stated.

"We are on the brink of an abyss and I ask you to protect the present and the future of our clean sports, the present and next generations of our athletes," Ganus stated in his message.
 
http://tass.com/sport/1038545
The Russian authorities and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) have agreed on the details of the transfer of data concerning test samples stored at the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov said.

WADA experts arrived in Moscow on December 17 to extract the lab data but failed to complete their mission as their equipment had not been certified under the Russian legislation. WADA said it was ready to resume the work once the Russian authorities resolved the issue.

"Following the second visit of WADA experts to Moscow, Russian Sports Ministry received a letter from WADA President Sir Craig Reedie," Kolobkov said, as cited by the Sports Ministry’s press service. "The Ministry is grateful to WADA for constructive cooperation. A thing to note is that we have the same view of ways to resolve the situation," he added.

"The letter specifies options to copy the data from the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory and include information about the equipment involved in the process. Technical details have been agreed on with the Russian Investigative Committee," Kolobkov noted.

He also pointed out that there was understanding between WADA experts and Russia’s representatives. "We support WADA’s position: it is in our common interest, as well as in the interests of Russian athletes and all clean athletes, to move forward and rapidly resolve all remaining issues. We are currently discussing the date of the next visit," the Russian sports minister said.

http://tass.com/sport/1038609
"As previously outlined, the Compliance Review Committee will consider the technical team’s report when it meets on 14-15 January and will issue a recommendation to the WADA Executive Committee," a statement from WADA’s press service reads.
...
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets stated earlier in the week that Russia’s work with the WADA regarding the Moscow Anti-Doping Lab was most likely to be completed by January 16.

So WADA are prepared to accept a copy of the data? How do they know they'll get everything and if it's correct?
 
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/ca/idUSKCN1OV1Q5
"I am bitterly disappointed that data extraction from the former Moscow Laboratory has not been completed by the date agreed by WADA's (executive committee) in September 2018," said WADA President Craig Reedie.

"Since then, WADA has been working diligently with the Russian authorities to meet the deadline, which was clearly in the best interest of clean sport. The process agreed by WADA's ExCo in September will now be initiated."

WADA's Compliance Review Committee (CRC) will meet Jan. 14-15 to review the situation and make a recommendation to WADA's executive committee on how to proceed.

If the CRC recommends declaring RUSADA non-compliant and the executive committee agrees, the Russian agency will have the right to challenge in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who will hear the case and take the final decision.

Reedie said WADA had written to Pavel Kolobkov, Russia's minister of sport, and Yury Ganus, the director general of RUSADA, to notify them of the situation and to remind them of the next steps in the process.
...
"The situation is a total joke and an embarrassment for WADA and the global anti-doping system," Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said on Tuesday.

"In September, WADA secretly moved the goal posts and reinstated Russia against the wishes of athletes, governments and the public," he said.

"In doing this, WADA guaranteed Russia would turn over the evidence of its state-supported doping scheme by today," he said.

"No-one is surprised this deadline was ignored, and it's time for WADA to stop being played by the Russians and immediately declare them non-compliant for failing yet again to meet the deadline."

WADA's news release at https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/n...-laboratory-data-and-rusada-compliance-status

Now what WADA? :sad:

The agreement again - https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/n...reinstate-rusada-subject-to-strict-conditions
1. RUSADA and the Russian Ministry of Sport must procure that the authentic Information Management System (LIMS) data and underlying analytical data of the former Moscow Laboratory set out in the WADA President's letter of 22 June 2018 are received by WADA (via access to the data by an independent expert agreeable to both WADA and the Russian authorities) by no later than 31 December 2018.
2. RUSADA and the Russian Ministry of Sport must procure that any re-analysis of samples required by WADA following review of such data is completed by no later than 30 June 2019.
 
7 January 2019
https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2019-01/wada-expert-team-to-return-to-moscow
A three-person World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) expert team is scheduled to arrive in Russia on 9 January to access and extract data from the Laboratory Information Management System and the underlying analytical data generated by the former Moscow Laboratory.

Access to, and subsequent authentication and analysis of, the data remains crucial in order to build strong cases against cheats and exonerate other athletes suspected of having participated in widespread doping on the basis of previous WADA-backed investigations led by Richard W. Pound and Professor Richard H. McLaren.
...
The independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC) is scheduled to meet on 14-15 January to consider RUSADA’s compliance status. The CRC’s recommendation will then be considered by the ExCo, via an extraordinary meeting to be held by conference call in the following days.
...
WADA President Sir Craig Reedie said: “While WADA is obliged under the ISCCS to give every opportunity to RUSADA, we are continuing to act on the basis of the 31 December deadline having been missed, with all the consequences that failure could bring. This week’s mission to Moscow is not only about us following due process and precedent. If the mission is successful in acquiring the data, it will break a long impasse and will potentially lead to many cases being actioned. Regardless, in the short-term, the ExCo will be considering whether RUSADA should maintain Code-compliance status alongside anti-doping organizations of other major sporting nations that enjoy the same.”
 
http://tass.com/sport/1040159
MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. Experts of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) experience no problems or difficulties during their work in the Moscow lab, which is still ongoing, a WADA spokesperson told TASS on Wednesday.

The WADA Compliance Review Committee met on January 14-15 to analyze information regarding Russia’s implementation of WADA’s requirements on the reinstatement. The results of those meetings remain unknown. A delegation of WADA experts remains in Moscow, where they work to retrieve data from the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory’s database of doping tests in 2011-2015. The effort was to be completed by the end of 2018.

"The work is still proceeding. When the three-person expert team traveled to Russia to retrieve the data from the Moscow Laboratory, no limit was put on to the duration of the mission," the spokesperson said. "It is taking longer than had been originally estimated but the team is facing no specific issues or difficulties in carrying out their task."

The WADA Executive Board reinstated the compliance status of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) on September 20 on condition that WADA experts would be granted access before December 31 to doping samples at the Moscow Anti-Doping Lab, which was sealed off in connection with a federal investigation.

Since the Russian side failed to provide access to the data from the Moscow Anti-Doping Lab before December 31, heads of 16 National Anti-Doping Agencies proposed stripping RUSADA again of its compliance status, which means that all Russian athletes would be barred from international sports competitions.

The WADA Executive Committee is to make a final decision in regard to the Russian Anti-Doping Agency on January 22.
Ruskies leaving it late, but they can still appeal to CAS any decision.
 
Sep 25, 2009
7,527
1
0
Visit site
what are you talking about, robert ? did you read your own article ?

the wada panel that traveled to moscow is saying they dont have any problems nor restrictions so far. under the 'news' you posted there is nothing to appeal yet.

to remind, in essence, the wada is interested in the moscow lab data base of the past years tests on russian athletes that might or might not shed light on the data base that rodchekov snicked out when he ran away. according to that rodchenkov's data many more were doping than the mc laren report covered.

there are only 2 simple scenarios here:
1. the russians managed to counterfeit the data while the delay was on.
2. there were real technical issues made public earlier (but of course never elucidated in western media) that made the delay an objective occurance. poor robert, was denied the opportunity to bot-link those reasons since the 'free and independent' media ignored them.

we just have to wait. if the russians faked and forged, i very much doubt it will go unnoticed and w/o the grave consequences for their sporting machine.

but presenting the story the way i just did just does not jive with the devils we all know they should be.

to balance out the transparent political bias and the irrelevance of the X number of adas demands, if reported as neutral news, it should have been mixing in that some high wada official already addressed the delay acceptability vs the results the wada is after that and the delay was in part wada's own fault being not fully prepared in december.

again, but such a reporting is making the predesignated villain less of a devil. unthinkable.
 
Re:

python said:
what are you talking about, robert ? did you read your own article ?

the wada panel that traveled to moscow is saying they dont have any problems nor restrictions so far. under the 'news' you posted there is nothing to appeal yet.

to remind, in essence, the wada is interested in the moscow lab data base of the past years tests on russian athletes that might or might not shed light on the data base that rodchekov snicked out when he ran away. according to that rodchenkov's data many more were doping than the mc laren report covered.

there are only 2 simple scenarios here:
1. the russians managed to counterfeit the data while the delay was on.
2. there were real technical issues made public earlier (but of course never elucidated in western media) that made the delay an objective occurance. poor robert, was denied the opportunity to bot-link those reasons since the 'free and independent' media ignored them.

we just have to wait. if the russians faked and forged, i very much doubt it will go unnoticed and w/o the grave consequences for their sporting machine.

but presenting the story the way i just did just does not jive with the devils we all know they should be.

to balance out the transparent political bias and the irrelevance of the X number of adas demands, if reported as neutral news, it should have been mixing in that some high wada official already addressed the delay acceptability vs the results the wada is after that and the delay was in part wada's own fault being not fully prepared in december.

again, but such a reporting is making the predesignated villain less of a devil. unthinkable.

Call me a cynic but TASS throwing some quote marks round some words doesn't mean they've actually been said.
 
Sep 25, 2009
7,527
1
0
Visit site
Re: Re:

wansteadimp said:
python said:
what are you talking about, robert ? did you read your own article ?

the wada panel that traveled to moscow is saying they dont have any problems nor restrictions so far. under the 'news' you posted there is nothing to appeal yet.

to remind, in essence, the wada is interested in the moscow lab data base of the past years tests on russian athletes that might or might not shed light on the data base that rodchekov snicked out when he ran away. according to that rodchenkov's data many more were doping than the mc laren report covered.

there are only 2 simple scenarios here:
1. the russians managed to counterfeit the data while the delay was on.
2. there were real technical issues made public earlier (but of course never elucidated in western media) that made the delay an objective occurance. poor robert, was denied the opportunity to bot-link those reasons since the 'free and independent' media ignored them.

we just have to wait. if the russians faked and forged, i very much doubt it will go unnoticed and w/o the grave consequences for their sporting machine.

but presenting the story the way i just did just does not jive with the devils we all know they should be.

to balance out the transparent political bias and the irrelevance of the X number of adas demands, if reported as neutral news, it should have been mixing in that some high wada official already addressed the delay acceptability vs the results the wada is after that and the delay was in part wada's own fault being not fully prepared in december.

again, but such a reporting is making the predesignated villain less of a devil. unthinkable.

Call me a cynic but TASS throwing some quote marks round some words doesn't mean they've actually been said.
i will not call you a cynic but someone with your own biases to which you are perfectly entitled to.

the article, if it does not trust or has no ability to verify some alleged wada quote, could simply refer to so and so, according to such and such source said this and that. . done all the time, by the sources less interested in putting out their own versions or spinning.

it firmly throws both sides into a) confirming b) denying c) 'no comments'... none i am aware of. but i do not pretend to read everything except trying to think a tad beyond the box.

but again, if your brain is per-conditioned, you are not likely to be interested in the elementary and obvious or objective media steps. i dont trust everything sputnik or the bbc report. that's why i try to read the alternatives often in a language unavailable to an english speaker. sorry for multiple corrections of my typos. i am a poor english typist.
 

TRENDING THREADS