WADA and its President Craig Reedie are "under increasing pressure over the handling of the Russian doping crisis," according to Mark Daly of the BBC. Russian athletes are banned from int'l competition "after the country was accused of orchestrating a state-sponsored doping programme." WADA has "already been criticised for being slow to investigate the claims." Documents have emerged that suggest Reedie "may have failed to act with due speed and rigour." The BBC obtained a copy of a hand-written note by Reedie, apparently passed to IAAF VP Sergey Bubka on August 1, 2015. The note, written on WADA-headed paper, "appears to tip off Bubka that trouble was brewing for athletics in the shape of a new documentary by the German anti-doping journalist Hajo Seppelt." It signs off with the message: "Hope no more damage will be done. Craig." The BBC showed the note to former WADA Chief Investigator Jack Robertson, who held the position from '11-16. He said, "Considering this note is in fact penned by Craig Reedie, it is extremely disappointing but not surprising." Robertson also questioned Reedie's "rigor." He said, "Craig has been very public that his management style is an avoidance of conflict, which would be wonderful if he were president of his homeowners' association, but certainly not as leader of WADA and the global anti-doping community. Clean athletes need a defender, not an ostrich" (BBC, 6/21).
U.S. SENATE QUESTIONS WADA: In N.Y., Rebecca R. Ruiz reported U.S. lawmakers are "demanding answers" from WADA in the wake of an investigation that "found the agency mishandled multiple warnings about Russia -- including a 2012 appeal from a Russian Olympian who confessed to cheating, pleaded for help and offered to cooperate with the agency." On Monday, Senator John Thune -- Republican of South Dakota and chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, which has jurisdiction over sports -- "sent a seven-page letter to the agency, which is partly funded" by U.S. taxpayers. The letter "asked the agency’s president to explain why it had taken years to investigate claims of a government-run doping program in Russia and called for further inquiries into possible cheating." Citing the more than $25M the U.S. contributed in the last 14 years, Thune "criticized the agency for letting at least four years pass before pursuing tips from Russian whistle-blowers, and for containing its ultimate investigation to Russian track and field in spite of claims that cheating transcended sports and implicated other countries" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/20).
