WADA President 'Blindsided' by IOC Letter on Insufficient Russia Doping Evidence

WADA President Craig Reedie said Thursday that he was "blindsided" by a letter revealing insufficiency of the evidence provided in the report of Richard McLaren on alleged doping use in Russia and described it as "counter-productive."

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On February 24, the International Olympic Committee's chief Christophe de Kepper said in a letter, WADA had admitted that in many cases the evidence provided in the McLaren report "may not be sufficient to bring successful cases" for banning Russian athletes.

"I didn’t know they were going to publish the letter and I have been assured that this blindside will not recur," Reedie told the Insidethegames website.

In July 2016, a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission led by McLaren presented a report accusing Russia of running a state-wide doping program and urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban the entire Russian team. On December 9, 2016, the second part of the report on the alleged state-run doping program in the country was presented.

The report resulted in the ban on Russian athletes by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from taking part in international competitions including the 2016 Summer Olympics. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) later banned all Russian Paralympic athletes from the 2016 Summer Paralympics and the 2018 Winter Games.