A ban on Russia’s anti-doping agency for allegedly helping its athletes cheat has been lifted after nearly three years.
RUSADA had been suspended since November 2015 after investigators said more than 1,000 Russian athletes in 30 sports had benefited from a systematic cover-up.
Their report claimed positive tests were concealed at the London Games, the Sochi Winter Olympics, and the 2013 World Athletics Championships.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said the Russian agency would now be readmitted on the condition it helps with an examination of data and evidence held in a Moscow laboratory within a strict time period.
“Should this timeline not be met, [WADA] would support the … recommendation to reinstate non-compliance,” said WADA’s president, Sir Craig Reedie.
However, it appears that Russia will not have to accept state involvement in the doping and cover-ups – something WADA had previously demanded.
Other national anti-doping agencies wanted WADA’s decision postponed.
A lawyer for Grigory Rodchenkov, the whistleblower and former head of the Moscow laboratory, called the end of the suspension “the greatest treachery against clean athletes in Olympic history”.
An ban on Russians competing under the Russian flag was lifted by the International Olympic Committee earlier this year but world athletics body the IAAF reaffirmed its own ban in July.
Russia’s domestic security service, the FSB, and its sports ministry were accused of being involved in the cheating.
Russian authorities have always denied the claims and it have refused to give investigators access to the Moscow lab.
Last week, a pair of Russian spies were reportedly being investigated by authorities in Switzerland for attempting to hack WADA.
The Russian embassy in Switzerland called the reports “fairy tales” and claimed it was an attempt to derail RUSADA’s reinstatement.
