WADA President Sir Craig Reedie Coming Under Fire at ANOC General Assembly

World Anti-Doping Agency President Sir Craig Reedie has been the target of massive criticism this week at the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly in Doha, according to Nick Butler of InsideTheGames.biz.

The controversy grew out of WADA’s suspension of the Doha’s anti-doping lab’s accreditation for violations of the International Standard for Laboratories (ISL), which was announced Nov. 14, on the eve of the General Assembly. Reedie claimed that the process was unintentional, as the suspension was effective Nov. 7 and he had hoped to have the announcement out two days later, but his critics did not agree.

ANOC President Sheikh Ahmad spoke up during Reedie’s presentation to the assembly, comparing the timing of the Doha announcement to the McLaren Report being released just weeks before the Olympic Games. When that report on Russia’s systematic doping came out, WADA called for a blanket ban of Russian athletes from the Rio Olympic Games, but the IOC refused, choosing instead to leave the final decision up to individual sporting federations.

Spanish Olympic Committee President Alejandro Blanco added to the criticism of WADA, commenting that it is not that organization’s job to tell other organizations what sanctions to apply for anti-doping violations.

“What is the objective of WADA?” he said. “It must not be to tell sports institutions what they should be doing, like telling the IOC to sanction all Russian athletes. We have to ensure we are not affected by opinions which create a bad image of us in sport.”

Reedie and WADA’s relationship with the IOC has been rocky ever since the McLaren report came out. He was excluded from the IOC summit just before the Rio Olympics in August before the two organizations were again caught up in a dispute as the debate about the future of anti-doping activities in sport continued through September and October.

The IOC endorsed Reedie for another term as WADA President last week but now to be seeking an “independent” WADA President, appointed jointly by the IOC and federal governments.

“ANOC remains committed to the reform process as outlined during the Olympic Summit and it stands ready to support this process in any way it can,” the organization wrote in a memo.

Those reforms would help separate out testing and sanctioning authorities—WADA handling testing and a new body the sanctioning.

For more information on Sir Craig Reedie and the ANOC Assembly visit InsideTheGames.biz.

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