DISINFO: WADA's cold war against Russian athletes is Western revenge for their triumphal victory in the 2014 Winter Olympics
SUMMARY
Russia’s triumphal victory in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics made Americans and their allies worry about the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. They were tempted to use Crimea and Donbas events as a pretext to attack Russia through boycotting the Olympics but eventually decided to act through WADA, accusating Russia of purposeful doping policies. After 2014 a real anti-Russian “cold war” in sport has been waged. This war will be on at least until 2032 whatever the Russian anti-doping agency would do. WADA’s attack has very little to do with combating doping. Instead, it aims at removing Russia as a strong sports competitor, pressing Vladimir Putin and the Russian government by demonstrating their alleged corruption and international isolation to the Russian population, and at humiliating Russia. There’s nothing more humiliating than athletes competing without national flag and anthem. Maybe they should also wear a prison uniform or a uniform with yellow stars as poor Jews in Nazi ghetto? Members of WADA Executive Committee include representatives of the UK, Norway, Slovakia, Belgium, Turkey, Czechia, Italy, Poland, Australia, Sudan, and Ecuador. The representatives of the two latter countries are assigned a rather decorative role, whereas all the others are US allies. The Committee does not include members who have any independence from the US, thus allowing them to solve the problem. Russia should adopt an asymmetric response: to check if Russian law enforcement agencies have anything on the members of the WADA Executive Committee and to think of organizing alternative Olympic Games and World Championships.
RESPONSE
This is a mix of conspiract theories aimed to misrepresent the actual reasons behind the WADA's investigation and decision, which are consistent with a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about the West's deliberate anti-Russian activities. Earlier, the International Olympic Committee banned Russia from the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang in 2018 due to the systemic manipulation with anti-doping rules during the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Individual athletes from Russia competed under the Olympic flag. WADA reinstated Russia’s anti-doping agency in 2018 but reserved the right to issue stronger punishments if Russia did not provide athletes’ testing data from the Moscow laboratory. On 25 November 2019, one of WADA's key committees recommended that Russia face a four-year ban from global sports and new restrictions on its athletes and teams at next year’s Tokyo Olympics, subject to WADA's board review. On 9 December 2019, the WADA's Executive Committee unanimously endorsed the recommendation made by the independent Compliance Review Committee that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency be declared non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code for a period of four years. “For too long, Russian doping has detracted from the clean sport. The blatant breach by the Russian authorities of RUSADA’s reinstatement conditions, approved by the ExCo in September 2018, demanded a robust response. That is exactly what has been delivered today. Russia was afforded every opportunity to get its house in order and re-join the global anti-doping community for the good of its athletes and of the integrity of sport, but it chose instead to continue in its stance of deception and denial. As a result, the WADA ExCo has responded in the strongest possible terms, while protecting the rights of Russian athletes that can prove that they were not involved and did not benefit from these fraudulent acts," WADA President Sir Craig Reedie said. See earlier disinformation cases alleging that there is no evidence that Russian athletes used doping, that banning Russia from the Olympics is a modern form of racism, that Russian athletes face sanctions because of Western Russophobia and Russia’s compliance, and that World Anti-Doping Agency recommendations are UK’s revenge for 2018 FIFA World Cup.