Russia escapes WADA punishment over missed deadline

Russia failed to allow inspectors into its Moscow laboratory before the December 31 deadline

Russia has escaped punishment for failing to meet a December 31 deadline to provide access to the Moscow laboratory at the heart of its state-run doping programme, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has confirmed.

WADA controversially lifted the Russian Anti-Doping Agency's (RUSADA) near three-year ban in September but on two conditions: the Russians would let independent experts retrieve testing data from the laboratory by the end of the year, and they would then release any stored samples needed to pursue anti-doping cases by June 30.

That agreement was widely criticised by athletes' groups and national anti-doping agencies at the time and their worst fears appeared to be coming true when the Russians told WADA's first mission to the laboratory in December that it could not use the devices the experts had brought to retrieve and store the data.

Sir Craig Reedie, the president of WADA, said 'significant progress' has been made towards testing samples of Russians athletes

WADA reached a compromise with the Russian authorities over the experts' devices and sent a second, smaller team to Moscow a fortnight ago, and they successfully completed their task last week - and that is what has saved Russia from fresh sanctions.

In a statement, WADA president Sir Craig Reedie said: "The ExCo (executive committee) was pleased to hear of the significant progress that has been made in resolving the Russian doping matter since its decision in September last year to reinstate RUSADA under strict conditions.

"Collecting the all-important data is a critical step, and it was not easy to achieve. We are not yet at the finishing line and there is a lot more to do but undeniably we are much further along the track than we would have been without the September ExCo decision."

The former chairman of the British Olympic Association explained that the Moscow data must now be authenticated so it can be used as evidence in hundreds of potential anti-doping cases against Russian cheats.