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Russia May Initiate Reforms of WADA, IOC After 2018 Games – Lower House

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia together with other countries may initiate a reform of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Mikhail Degtyarev, the head of the lower house’s sports committee, said Friday.
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“We together with other countries will initiate the change of organization of anti-doping efforts throughout the world. Probably, we will initiate such decision on the IOC as well,” Degtyarev told reporters.

The decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on the appeals of the Russian athletes damages the country’s reputation as a great sporting nation, it should not be left without a response, Russian lower house deputy speaker Pyotr Tolstoy told Sputnik on Friday.

READ MORE: CAS Dismisses Appeals by 47 Russian Athletes and Coaches Against IOC

“The reputation of Russia as a sporting nation has been affected. And, of course, these things cannot be left without a response. Therefore, I think that some problems, which have been revealed today by this situation, will not be easily resolved after the end of the Olympic Games,” Tolstoy said.

The deputy speaker noted that situation was not doing any good for the Olympic movement, as it had discredited the independence of the IOC.

Earlier in the day, the CAS dismissed the appeals of 45 Russian athletes against the IOC’s decision refusing to invite them to participate in the Olympic Games, saying they had failed to demonstrate that the IOC had discriminated against them.

Russian athletes were allowed to perform at the Olympics in Pyeongchang under a neutral flag.

The scandal around the alleged use of prohibited chemicals in Russian sports erupted in 2015, when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accused Russia of numerous violations. In 2016, Richard McLaren, head of the WADA investigative team, presented a two-part report claiming the existence of a state-supported doping program in Russia. Russian officials have strongly refuted the allegations, howevrer, admitted that there have been issues with regard to doping, which the government has been working to solve.

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