Pound warns Russia of hard road ahead

Former WADA chief believes ban on country would be upheld even after Rio Games

MONACO: When influential anti-doping czar Dick Pound compared Russian efforts to combat doping in athletics to changing deckchairs on the Titanic, it offered a realistic glimpse of the rocky road Russia needs to climb before re-establishing its credibility as one of athletics’ powerhouses.

Stripped of the right to host the international competition in November by world athletics’ governing body, the IAAF, Russia’s athletics federation has been forced into a piecemeal reboot of its internal governance and anti-doping structures.

The IAAF Council is holding a two-day meeting that concludes on Friday with Russia clinging on to the hope its suspension might be lifted, clearing the way for its track and field athletes to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics this summer.



Pound, co-author of the sensational report for the independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that highlighted state-sponsored doping in Russia and led to the country’s ban, is a lot less sure of seeing Russian athletes competing in Brazil.

His repeated doubts follow another explosive documentary by German broadcaster ARD detailing continued violations by Russia’s athletics programme.

Entitled “Doping Top Secret: Russia’s Red Herrings”, the ARD programme contained new allegations suggesting malpractice by several people in the Russian anti-doping system and alleges someone from the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) gave advance warning to athletes of testing plans.



Russia is “changing deckchairs on the Titanic” rather than working to overturn an international ban on its athletes, Pound told AFP on Wednesday, adding that he doubted whether the IAAF or WADA would risk their reputations on allowing Russia back in.

“We said at the time, you’re not going to like much of what we say about athletics in your country,” the Canadian lawyer said on the sidelines of the Tackling Doping in Sport Conference in London. “It’s likely that you’ll be suspended or sanctioned in some way.”

Ed Warner, chairman of UK Athletics, warned that IAAF president Sebastian Coe would “invite derision” if he lifted Russia’s ban from the sport before the Olympics.

“The claim that Russia would be compliant in time for this summer’s Olympics was always incredible,” Warner told the Daily Telegraph. “I suspect that Lord Coe and his council will have no difficulty in doing the right thing by athletics and maintaining the ban on Russia beyond Rio. Frankly, any other decision would, quite rightly, invite derision.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2016.

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