iNADO Urges Action to Protect Clean Sport

On the eve of the World Anti-Doping Agency Executive Committee and Foundation Board meetings, the Board of Directors of the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organisations (iNADO) met in Colorado Springs and urged continued efforts to protect clean athletes world-wide. iNADO Chair David Kenworthy said:

• We applaud the work of the Independent Commission investigating doping in the sport of Athletics, focusing on Russia. We thank the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for creating and assisting the Independent Commission
• The corruption of anti-doping uncovered by the Independent Commission is a tragedy for sport and for clean athletes everywhere. It reinforces the need for anti-doping work to be conducted independent of sport organisations and without government interference
• The ARAF - Russia's national federation for athletics - and its athletes must be suspended from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic Games. The corruption in Russian Athletics deserves no less. ARAF has not demonstrated that they are capable of sending a clean team to Games. A strong deterrent message must be sent that national federations cannot participate in the highest levels of competition when anti-doping has been intentionally subverted. The actions by the ARAF, which deliberately flouted the rules of sport, have tainted all Russian athletes in the sport of Athletics
• The Independent Commission relied on whistleblowers to disclose corruption. Anti-doping rules need to be amended as an urgent matter to do more to encourage and protect whistleblowers in sport
• iNADO urges WADA to accelerate the work of its independent Compliance Review Committee, and to fund that work at least to the level of anti-doping research spending each year
• iNADO is concerned with the current gap in testing in all Russian sports, and iNADO's global network of Member National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs) is available to collaborate with WADA and with International Federations to conduct testing in Russia and of Russian athletes in all sports.

About iNADO

iNADO is the international member association of NADOs. NADOs have the sole and unequivocal mandate to protect clean athletes, without conflicting responsibilities such as promoting sport. iNADO's 53 Members represent all Olympic Regions and conduct the majority of anti-doping work world-wide each year. iNADO is the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organisations. It promotes best practices by NADOs and is their collective international voice.