MONTREAL — The World Anti-Doping Association’s compliance review committee will meet in Montreal, the organization’s home city, on Monday and Tuesday to discuss a problem that will not go away — Russia’s antidoping laboratories, and what to do about the country missing a key end-of-year deadline. No matter what the committee recommends, and the possibilities range from competition bans to mere slaps on the wrist to nothing, the long-running story of Russia’s antidoping laboratories is bound to continue. Hanging in the balance is the credibility of the world’s foremost antidoping watchdog, which has endured withering criticism from athletes in recent months who say the organization has allowed a rogue nation to run roughshod over its attempts at enforcement. In an open letter last week to Jonathan Taylor, the chairman of the compliance review committee, the Swedish biathlete Sebastian Samuelsson wrote, “Given that this doping crisis involving Russia is the biggest in history, and the fact that many athletes have so shamefully been cheated out of podium positions not to mention financial rewards by the state-sponsored doping system, this issue requires proper leadership and good, honest communication — two things that have been very neglected by the current WADA Leadership.”

Source: New York Times January 13, 2019 18:00 UTC