Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport

Clean athletes around the world will be outraged by the WADA Executive Committee’s decision to reinstate Russia even though Russia refuses to comply with the last two conditions of the Russian Roadmap. Through secrecy and a complete lack of transparency, WADA has moved to alter the very Roadmap it created in order to appease Russia, the country that perpetuated the largest doping scandal in the history of sport. This decision-making process by WADA demonstrates serious governance issues that must be addressed if the Agency is to survive this crisis of confidence. Through its decision, WADA has told the athletes of the world that it couldn't care less about their right to a level playing field.

 At WADA’s own Global Athlete Forum held in Calgary this past June, athletes called for WADA to hold to the Russia Roadmap. Why bother to hold a global athlete forum of drug-free sport advocates, if WADA is not going to listen to the very athletes it invited? 

It is time for all those who believe in the true values of sport and who put these values ahead of political and business interest to publicly demand reform in international sport. This starts with reforming WADA. It starts with removing the inherent conflict of interest that exists in WADA. It starts by having the IOC remove itself from WADA so that it can independently regulate doping. And, most importantly, it starts by engaging and listening to the athletes it serves. On behalf of Canadian athletes, CCES will fight for these reforms.