Russian doping: Wada vice-president wants ‘rapid’ action after deadline missed

UK Anti-Doping (Ukad) said it was “deeply concerned” by the development, with a statement saying: “Uninhibited access to the Moscow laboratory and the athlete ‘LIMS’ data, was the first condition of Wada’s reinstatement of Rusada in September 2018. At the same time the process to be followed once the 31 December deadline passed was set out.

“The independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC) must now complete its work, and Ukad keenly awaits its recommendation to Wada’s executive committee.”

United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) chief Travis Tygart said the episode was “a total joke and an embarrassment for Wada”.

He urged Wada to “stop being played by the Russians” and said Rusada should be declared non-compliant.

The US is one of 16 national anti-doping bodies (Nado) who have called on Wada to suspend Russia.

“Russia must be held accountable for its continuing failure to comply,” Nado leaders said in a statement.

“After more than three years of review, indecision and compromise in response to the worst doping scandal in the history of sport, the time has come to demonstrate that no individual nor nation is exempt from compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code.”

The UK Anti-Doping Athlete Commission also demanded Russia’s immediate suspension by Wada.

But International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach seemed to suggest Russia was not in danger of being suspended for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

He said: “With its suspension from the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018, the Russian Olympic Committee has served its sanction, while in other organisations procedures are still ongoing.”

Wada president Reedie said: “I am bitterly disappointed that data extraction from the former Moscow laboratory has not been completed by the date agreed.

“Since then, Wada has been working diligently with the Russian authorities to meet the deadline, which was clearly in the best interest of clean sport.”

In September, Wada controversially lifted its suspension of Rusada – which was imposed in November 2015 – pending the meeting of conditions in a “roadmap to compliance”.

One of the conditions was to allow independent access to the raw data held at the Moscow lab, and in November Reedie had said it was “very hard to believe” Russian authorities “won’t deliver”.

But Wada said on 21 December it had been unable to “complete its mission”.

The state-sponsored use of performance-enhancing drugs by Russians in Olympic and Paralympic sports emerged in independent reports in November 2015, and July and December 2016.