Former WADA official David Howman was upset with the organization's decision to lift sanctions on RUSADA. GETTY IMAGES
Former WADA Dir General David Howman said that the organization's decision to reinstate Russia's anti-doping authority was "driven by money over principle," according to REUTERS. Howman, WADA's director general from '03-16 and current chair of the Athletics Integrity Unit set up by the IAAF to counter doping and corruption, "gave no evidence to support the assertion, and WADA dismissed it as untrue." WADA's decision "paves the way" for Russia to return to the Olympics after its ban from this year's Winter Games. Howman: "It looks like they have taken the decision to deviate from a carefully put-together roadmap for entirely pragmatic reasons. WADA has gone from being an organization 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. That is quite a difference, quite a swing, from what WADA once was" (REUTERS, 9/21). The BBC reported ignoring Russia's failure to admit to state-sponsored doping and "brushing it under the rug just stinks basically," Scottish cyclist Callum Skinner said. Athletes and anti-doping bodies had opposed lifting Russia's ban. Skinner: "I don't see why WADA is backing down. It should be the Russians making compromises" (BBC, 9/20). The BBC reported British former Paralympic rower Vicki Aggar said that she "considered resigning" from the WADA athlete committee after Russia's anti-doping body was reinstated. British Athletes Commission Chair Aggar said, "It marked one of the worst days in the history of sport." However, she said that quitting her WADA role would be "admitting defeat." She added, "My heart has told me that I should resign but my head tells me I must fight on. Fight from within to overhaul the WADA that is in such desperate need of reform if it is ever to restore the lost confidence of sports lovers worldwide" (BBC, 9/21). REUTERS' Simon Jennings reported European Athletic Association President Svein Arne Hansen "voiced his disquiet" on WADA's decision to reinstate RUSADA. He said, "This decision, following a compromise on the conditions of the Roadmap for reinstatement originally set out by WADA, was presumably meant to move the situation forward but appears instead to be a backward step" (REUTERS, 9/22).
