The leading anti-doping organisations (ADOs) gathered in Bonn demand that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) defines the criteria that Russian athletes must meet in order to be eligible to participate in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics as soon as possible. There are less than three weeks until the beginning of the Winter Olympics, and the criteria have not yet been made public.
The International Olympic Committee decided to ban the Russian Federation from the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics due to the country’s doping scandal. However, clean Russian athletes were guaranteed to be eligible to participate in the Olympics. The leaders of the ADOs point out that six weeks have already passed since the IOC’s decision and the committee has not yet published the criteria regarding the eligibility of Russian athletes. This undermines the rights of clean athletes.
In December, the leaders of the national ADOs provided the IOC with their recommendations of criteria to be applied in the assessment of the eligibility of Russian athletes via the international group iNADO:
- A minimum of 12 months of doping control according to the requirements of the World Anti-Doping Code
- Sufficient out-of-competition testing
- Active use of the Athlete Biological Passport and additional analysis, if necessary
- No activity with banned coaches, no mention in the McLaren report or other evidence of suspicious activity
- No active anti-doping rule violation processes
- Full disclosure of all information regarding doping
In addition to publishing the criteria, the leaders of the national ADOs demand that information about the names of the Russian athletes to be invited to the Olympics and their testing history is made public as soon as possible. Transparency serves the interest of clean athletes and helps restore the credibility of the integrity of international sports.
“Every possible aspect of transparency is very important in ethical questions. It also serves the interest of athletes that the criteria are made public at an early stage so that they can prepare appropriately for the competition”, says Harri Syväsalmi, Secretary General of the Finnish Center for Integrity in Sports (FINCIS).
The statement is signed by Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
More information:
Susanna Sokka
FINCIS Information Manager
tel. +358 40 740 7477