Bombay Durpun - WADA pledges vigilance on Russian athletes ahead of 2028 Olympics

In a controversial decision last month, the International Olympic Committee opened the way for Russian athletes to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Years before Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, WADA uncovered what it termed a massive state-backed Russian doping campaign at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

"We're not naive," WADA director general Olivier Niggli told AFP at the agency's headquarters in Montreal.

"We're going to be vigilant because other athletes will be looking for reassurance," he added.

Niggli stressed that there remains no accredited drug-testing lab in Russia, meaning all samples from any Olympic hopeful will be analyzed abroad.

"They can no longer do their internal cooking the way they did in Sochi. At the moment, that's not possible," Niggli said.

He cited an IOC request to bolster the testing system for Russian athletes, including multiple tests for any Russian national likely to qualify for LA 2028.

The Sochi doping scandal led to Russia's flag, anthem and other national symbols being banned from the Tokyo Games, held in 2021 because of the pandemic, and at the Beijing Winter Games in 2022.

WADA President Witold Banka told AFP the ongoing Ukraine conflict made it impossible for the agency to even consider reinstating Russia's national anti-doping lab.

"RUSADA (the Russian Anti-Doping Agency) remains non-compliant with the code. To check whether they are compliant or not, we need to do the audit, an in-person audit in Moscow.

"Because of the political situation and the war, it was impossible to do it," he said.

The IOC's Russia ban was imposed in October 2023 when the Russian Olympic Committee decided to include sports organizations in territories Moscow had annexed as members.

The IOC's July decision will allow Russian athletes, albeit under strict conditions, to compete in team events and qualifying competitions for the Games.

Ukraine has slammed the IOC's decision, accusing it of "playing into the hands of a bloody aggressor".

- 'Politicization' -

Beyond the case of Russian athletes, Banka said WADA is pushing for a more independent testing regime that would exclude all national agencies from monitoring athletes during major competitions.

"We want to implement stronger rules, stronger independent rules, that only independent testing bodies can test athletes, without involvement of the national anti-doping agency of a particular country," he said.

This proposal received sharp criticism in June from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) -- an organization long at loggerheads with WADA.

Relations between the two agencies soured further in 2024, when it emerged that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance three years earlier but escaped sanctions.

The controversy led US authorities to raise concerns over possible Chinese influence in WADA, which the global watchdog denied.

With the Los Angeles Olympics two years away, Banka said those poor relations would not undermine anti-doping efforts during the Summer Games.

"There is no threat for the Olympic Games, that this situation will affect the Olympic Games in LA from the anti-doping perspective. We have a very good relationship with the LA 2028 organizing committee," he said.

"There is no room for politics and politicization of anti-doping."

G.Radhakrishnan--BD