On the heels of the World Anti-Doping Association’s independent commission into widespread doping in Russian sport, local athletes and officials are calling for greater punishment and investigations in their own sport.
The commission, sparked by the ARD documentary The secrets of doping: How Russia makes its winners that alleges systemic and sophisticated doping within the All-Russia Athletics Federation, laid accusations of falsified tests, bribery, extortion, and destroyed samples to protect top Russian athletes. WADA suggested Russia’s track and field team should be barred from the upcoming 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Canadian national cross-country ski team head coach Justin Wadsworth said the report is long overdue, and he hopes more sport organizations are now pressured to clean up their act.
“It confirms what everybody has suspected,” Wadsworth said, “if you’ve been involved in sport over the past 20 years. It’s about time someone has taken a harder look at the evidence.”
During the 2014 Winter Olympics, Wadsworth strongly inferred the Russian cross-country ski team’s performance was boosted by performance enhancing drugs. He said the recent report, which found issues at the Sochi Olympics, should prompt FIS (Federation International de Ski) to strengthen doping protocols.
“This should put pressure on other international bodies and sport federations like FIS to do as much as they can to prevent it, not just protect athletes and organization reputations,” Wadsworth said.
He said FIS isn’t doing enough to catch dopers in their sports.
“I don’t think FIS does a great job at doing everything they can to lessen doping in the sport of skiing,” Wadsworth said. “Most of the tests are in or around competition. Everyone knows they are easy to avoid and prepare for. FIS does the minimum and I still think they’re part of the problem.”
On Tuesday (Nov. 10), WADA suspended accreditation to the Moscow Anti-Doping Centre, and more action is expected. Wadsworth said the message won’t get through to doping countries until punishments have teeth.
“They should have harsher punishments, such as keeping programs out of the Olympic Games to send a message. Otherwise, there is no reason athletes and programs won’t stop doping. There is no follow through. The stiffest thing right now is a four-year ban. Until you start hitting them in the pocketbook, taking back prize money, you won’t see a change,” Wadsworth said.
Currently, most athletes caught doping still get to keep prize money, and often return to competition within a year.
“If one country has more than, let’s say, four athletes caught doping, then it becomes an issue for the whole country. Say Russia is out of competition until they can prove they are clean again,” Wadsworth said.
He said it’s frustrating to face an uneven playing field on the world cup and at the Olympics, but said it’s still possible for clean athletes to win. He believes the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport is doing a good job at holding its athletes to a tough standard, and also praised the U.S.A., Australians and Norwegians as world leaders, but said it’s tough when there are countries that don’t play by the rules.
“On the world cup, most people don’t dope. It is possible to win without doping, I know first hand this is true,” Wadsworth said.
