{"id":406102,"date":"2019-12-09T07:56:32","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T14:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=406102"},"modified":"2019-12-11T15:09:33","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T22:09:33","slug":"wada-has-names-of-suspicious-athletes-what-russia-ban-means-for-swimming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wada-has-names-of-suspicious-athletes-what-russia-ban-means-for-swimming\/","title":{"rendered":"WADA ‘Has Names Of Suspicious Athletes’; What Russia Ban Means For Swimming"},"content":{"rendered":"

The World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Compliance Review Committee (CRC)<\/strong> has the names of all suspicious athletes in the Moscow Laboratory database, which is said to be manipulated before being handed over to the agency’s investigators in January 2019.<\/p>\n

That was the stark message from Jonathan Taylor, the WADA CRC chair,<\/strong> today to all Russian athletes as they contemplate having to prove their “innocence” as one of the measures in a four-year ban imposed on Russia by WADA.<\/p>\n

Eligibility of Russians for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games<\/strong> <\/a>and other events under a banner of neutrality relies on them proving their innocence. For those with no file or doping record, the process may well be straightforward.<\/p>\n

After the WADA Executive Committee endorsed a CRC recommendation to ban Russia<\/strong><\/a> from hosting and competing in major international sporting events for the next four years, Taylor stated:<\/p>\n

“WADA now has the names of all suspicious athletes in the LIMS [Laboratory Information Management System] database, and thanks to the painstakingly forensic nature of the investigation, this includes the athletes whose data was manipulated or even deleted, including the 145 athletes within WADA’s target group of most suspicious athletes but also others beyond that target group.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The official added that while he understand the WADA Athletes Committee<\/strong>‘s calls for a blanket ban on all Russian athletes, the CRC unanimously agreed that “those who could prove their innocence should not be punished,” noting that he was pleased that the WADA Executive Committee had agreed with this. He added:<\/p>\n

“While being tough on the authorities, this recommendation avoids punishing the innocent and instead stands up for the rights of clean athletes everywhere. If an athlete from Russia can prove that they were not involved in the institutionalised doping program, that their data were not part of the manipulation, that they were subject to adequate testing prior to the event in question, and that they fulfil any other strict conditions to be determined, they will be allowed to compete.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Swimming World Coverage Of The WADA Move On Russia:<\/strong><\/h3>\n