Russian athletics is not devoting “enough energy” to rid itself of doping and has a “steep hill” to climb if it wants to compete at this year’s Olympics, according to Dick Pound, the investigator whose coruscating investigation into Russian track and field led to it being suspended from international competition.
“There seems to be some evidence that they’re just changing deckchairs on the Titanic,” Pound told an anti-doping conference in London. “My guess is that Russia may not make it back for Rio. The IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency are not going to risk their reputations by rolling over and playing dead.”
His comments came ahead of a two-day meeting of the IAAF in Monaco where Russia’s participation in the Rio Games is to be discussed.
Pound’s intervention was made on a day when Sir Craig Reedie, the president of Wada, revealed that his organisation had lined up two investigators who were ready to go to Russia to set up a new anti-doping unit.
“There is a lot to do here, in both the IAAF investigation into Russian Athletics and our own investigation into the Russian Anti-Doping Agency,” Reedie said. “We see the single most important thing that needs to be done is an agreement with Rusada – at the earliest possible moment – that they will fund two independent experts to go and live in Moscow.
“We have found them, and we want them to build up Rusada and to stay there to ensure once we have got it operating properly it continues operating properly. That we think is crucial to deal with what might be regarded as public scepticism.”
But Pound, whose Independent Commission report into Russia found widespread evidence of doping and collusion between the government, coaches and athletes, warned that time was running out for the country to comply with Wada’s code. “Wada compliance with the code is mandatory for the Olympic Games,” he said. “Right now, Russian athletics is on the outside trying to get back in. The onus is on it to justify any re-admission.”
On Sunday a German TV documentary claimed that little had changed in Russian athletics since it was banned in November. The programme showed undercover recordings of coaches dealing in performance-enhancing drugs and alleged that the new head of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, Anna Anzelovich, had previously informed athletes about dates for doping tests. Anzelovich has yet to comment.
Pound said the fact that, as he put it, he was being sued by the Russian bank, VTB – for suggesting that its sponsorship deal with the IAAF needed “forensic examination to ensure legitimacy of the process applied” – also indicated that the mindset had not shifted.
“You might ask yourself why the VTB bank is suing all the members of the independent commission and everybody who participated in the investigation,” he said. “That’s a state actor. I don’t understand how you reconcile that with a state bank suing everybody connected with the report.”
Speaking at the Tackling Doping in Sport conference, Pound also suggested that athletes, sports and countries under suspicion should be forced to pay for Wada to investigate them. “Failure to make such contribution should enable provisional measures to be taken against them,” he added. Pound also called for further independent commissions to look into countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia, adding: “A lot of these countries are ripe for investigation.”
Reedie warned that without greater funding his organisation would have to “choose its battles”. Reedie, who made the point that Wada’s annual budget was around $30m – the same as Maria Sharapova makes in endorsements – added: “If evidence comes to light about other Russian sports and other countries we will investigate. However if full-blown investigations are to become the norm we must understand that further funding is needed.
“As an organisation we punch above our weight but we must pick our battles wisely,” said Reedie, who revealed that the Independent Commission report into Russia cost $1.5m (£1.1m). “We must get Olympic movement to accept that more funding is necessary if we are to tackle doping.”
Reedie also admitted that he felt sport faced an unprecedented challenge because of the extent of cheating. “It would be true to say that the public’s confidence in sport was shattered in 2015 like never before,” he added. “The public’s mood has soured and there is a general feeling that they are all at it.”
