WADA Confirms Possession of Moscow Lab Data

(ATR) The World Anti-Doping Agency says it has received all testing data from the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory from 2012-15.

WADA confirmed possession of the data in a release, confirming an earlier report from the New York Times. The Times report said that a whistleblower provided the evidence to WADA.

Included in the data are all anti-doping tests done from a three year period before and after the Sochi 2014 Olympics. WADA said that the data provided corroborates a key point in the independent McLaren Report that lab operators and the Russian Ministry of Sport worked to log false negatives in WADA’s systems.

"WADA continues to stand firmly behind the outcomes of the Agency’s independent McLaren Investigation," Craig Reedie, WADA President, said in a statement. "This new intelligence serves to reinforce our requirement of Russian authorities that they too publicly accept the outcomes; so that, we can all move forward in rebuilding public trust and confidence in Russian sport."

The new evidence obtained by WADA was briefed to both the IOC-led Oswald and Schmid commissions investigating McLaren’s reports. Both commissions were meeting in Lausanne this week.

WADA says it is continuing to analyze the evidence and will present its findings to both the organization’s executive board and foundation board on Nov. 15-16 in Seoul. The board meetings were expected to provide an update on the status of the compliance by the Russian Anti Doping Agency (RUSADA).

RUSADA was declared non-compliant by WADA in Dec. 2015, and the agency must still fulfill two final pieces of criteria to be reinstated. Those criteria are a public acceptance of the McLaren Report and providing access to all data from the Moscow Lab.

Russian sport officials have steadfastly refused to publicly admit to the findings of the McLaren Report. Yesterday, Russian president Vladimir Putin criticized the entire IOC-led process saying it was a conspiracy by the United States to sabotage next year's elections.

The IOC Executive Board remains on track to decide the fate of the Russian team for PyeongChang 2018 at its Dec. 5 meeting. Evidence from the Moscow lab could be used to help bolster cases against athletes sanctioned for doping violations. So far six Russians have been sanctioned by the IOC for doping violations at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and each has been banned for life.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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