24 September 2018

Sports Integrity Briefs – 24 September 2018

Sir Craig Reedie, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), has defended himself against criticism from the agency’s former Director General over how it handled the reinstatement of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA). “This looks like they have taken the decision to deviate from a carefully put-together roadmap for entirely pragmatic reasons”, David Howman, who now heads the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) told The Guardian. “WADA has gone from being an organisation that cared about clean athletes to one that cares about international federations that have not been able to stage events in Russia: it’s money over principle”. ‘The accusation that WADA – and me personally – have pandered to the interests of money over clean sport are totally untrue, and deeply offensive’, wrote Reedie in an Open Letter to The Times. ‘The author of those remarks, as a former Director General of WADA, should know better’.

• Swedish biathlete Sebastian Samuelsson, a PyeongChang 2018 Gold and Silver medalist, has alleged that he was threatened (see below) by Russian agents after opposing the reaccreditation of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA). Samuelsson boycotted the closing stage of the 2017/18 Biathlon World Cup, which was staged in the Russian City of Tyumen from 20-25 March 2018.

Kirsty Coventry, Chair of the Athletes Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has explained why she backed the reinstatement of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) in a series of tweets. ‘Blanket punishment is unfair to those who compete cleanly and even if there is only one clean Russian Athlete, that Athlete has the RIGHT to be protected’, she wrote in a series of tweets (see below). ‘Assuming every Russian Athlete cheats, is unjust. The decision to reinstate RUSADA is positive as it allows for greater transparency through increased testing and access to their Labs & Data by Dec 2018′.

• New Zealand police investigated whether attempts by Andy Martin, former Chief Executive of New Zealand Football, to sell online streaming rights to the national league to an overseas company compromised the integrity of the game, reports the New Zealand Herald. It is understood that under the terms of the proposed contract, the company would offer the online streaming rights to the gaming industry. Matches covered reportedly included 20 National League regular season games, three finals matches, some Chatham Cup games and the national women’s competition. In April, the Tennis Integrity Review Panel (TIRP) report warned that large scale commercialisation of match data could facilitate match-fixing.

• Bahraini athlete Sadik Mikhou has been provisionally suspended after being charged with use of a prohibited substance or method based on readings from his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP). Mikhou’s provisional suspension commenced on 31 August, the latest update to the list of provisional suspensions on the website of the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) confirmed. Mikhou was sixth in the 1,500m at the London 2017 IAAF World Championships, and took Gold in the same event at the Islamic Solidarity Games.

• A nine-member National Anti-Doping Committee (NADC) for Ghana has been appointed, reports Modern Ghana. Currently, Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, and Tunisia are the only African countries that have an anti-doping organisation recognised by the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organisations (iNADO).

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