British athletes "sent an unprecedented letter" to WADA warning it will be a "catastrophe for clean sport" if Russia is "brought in from the cold" at a crucial exec board meeting next week, according to Sean Ingle of the London GUARDIAN. The letter from UK Anti-Doping’s athlete commission, which is signed by several top Olympic and Paralympic names including Lizzy Yarnold and Callum Skinner, also warns WADA that a U-turn would leave athletes "no longer having faith in the system." It reflects the growing concern that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency could be reinstated when WADA's exec committee meets in Seychelles on Sept. 20 -- "even though Russia has not yet accepted the McLaren report" or "allowed independent investigators access to the Moscow laboratory." The letter said, "Two of the conditions directed by the Russia roadmap have not yet been met, and to readmit them despite this would be a catastrophe for clean sport. We play our sports by the rules, and we expect the institutions that govern us, and which are there to protect us and our competition, to play by the rules too" (GUARDIAN, 9/13).
