WADA chief investigator criticizes Russian athlete ban

Russian and Belarusian athletes got a moral boost from a surprising source when Richard McLaren spoke out against the ban on many of them.

The Canadian McLaren is the chief investigator at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and would appear to be an unlikely ally of Russian athletes.

The McLaren Report uncovered wide spread doing at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games, and uncovered a state-sponsored doping program in Russia. The report also stated the Ministry of Sport controlled the manipulation of athletes’ analytical results with help from the Moscow Laboratory and Sochi officials. Russia has denied all accusations.

McLaren told German media the treatment of Russian and Belarusian athletes is unfair.

“The athletes did not start this conflict in Ukraine and are not responsible for its course,” he said to sports website Sportschau.de. “Those are two good reasons to let them participate in sports again.”

The vast majority of Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned from competing following an International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendation earlier this year. Russian and Belarusian judo and tennis players are allowed to continue competing under a neutral flag, although Wimbledon banned Russian and Belarusian players from competing.

With the conflict in Ukraine likely to enter an eighth month in the next few weeks, a peaceful resolution seems remote. Ditto an end to the athlete ban by the various international federations.

“As long as the conflict lasts, the international sports community will not change the decision it has made,” McLaren said. “Should the Court of Arbitration for Sport decide in favor of the athletes, the associations would be forced to let them compete again. It’s completely open.”

Russian and Belarusian athletes competed as neutral athletes in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games which ended on February 20. Russia then engaged in a full-scale invasion of Ukraine four days later. As a result of the invasion, Russian and Belarusian athletes were banned from competing in the Beijing 2022 Paralympics in March.