By Steven V. Selthoffer, Senior European Columnist
BONN, Germany, March 9. IT was confirmed yesterday by an official at the German National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) that Anja Berninger will leave the organization March 11. Berninger was the acting chief executive officer, and top legal advisor for NADA for the past year.
Berninger was the senior attorney for NADA who did not want to prosecute Claudia Pechstein. She was also the acting CEO after three others were dismissed during the past three years. This makes a new record: four for four in four years – leaving the athletes exposed to more possible consequences.
Questions of organizational independence are now surfacing.
The turmoil in anti-doping continues with firings, resignations, false allegations against athletes, and calls to clean up corruption in sport. Just last week Play the Game, based in Denmark, and one of the leading anti-corruption organizations in sport issued an email quoting an IOC official and others calling for an end to corruption in sport across Europe.
Swimming World will continue to monitor developments.