WADA chief Sir Craig Reedie criticises CAS's decision to overturn Russian doping bans
Thursday 8 February 2018 09:03, UK
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Sir Craig Reedie believes the decision to overturn Russian doping bans has stoked a "firestorm" ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) recently overturned lifetime bans handed to 28 Russian athletes after claiming there was "insufficient" evidence they had broken anti-doping rules at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.
CAS will now decide whether to uphold appeals from Russian athletes who originally failed to pass mandatory International Olympic Committee vetting for the 2018 Games - imposed as a result of alleged Russian doping in Sochi - and allow them to compete in Pyeongchang.
Reedie believes CAS made the incorrect decision to overturn the bans and admits he is "really disappointed" with the fallout from the ruling.
"It's actually quite sad in many ways," said Reedie. "We are major users of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in our normal business, in the main the jurisprudence that we get from CAS is good.
"So when we get one like this appears it sticks out like a sore thumb. Certainly, when dealing with major cheating by the biggest country in the world just before an Olympic Games, the whole thing becomes a firestorm yet again.
"I'm really disappointed that has happened and I really need to find out why CAS got into that situation."
Reedie defended WADA's role in the Russian doping scandal and repeated his calls for increased funding.
"I've seen a draft of the 2017 accounts, which actually are slightly better than they would be but we are under pressure to deliver more and more things at the request from our stakeholders, the Olympic movement and government," said Reedie.
"I think there is an increasing understanding that if they do that then they have to be prepared to put their money where their mouth is."
Reedie added: "Ultimately our planned spending requirements are through to the end of 2021 - by then we need to have a budget of the 45 million (dollars), not the 30 million we are currently at."
