Russian president Vladimir Putin has said his country have ‘reason to appeal’ against the four-year ban imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
WADA’s executive committee unanimously accepted a recommendation from its independent compliance review committee on Monday to impose sanctions on Russia.
They include barring teams under a Russian flag from competing at the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2020 and 2022 and the football World Cup in 2022, among other global sporting events.
In her speech to Monday’s WADA meeting in Lausanne, WADA vice-president Linda Helleland made it clear that in her view the sanctions did not go far enough.
“I would have liked to see the consequences to be even tougher than put forward by the CRC,” she said.
“I would have preferred to support a blanket ban. A blanket ban can make the Russian leadership realise the seriousness of the mess they have created – for themselves and for their athletes.”
The chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency Travis Tygart branded WADA’s punishment as “yet another devastating blow to clean athletes, the integrity of sport and the rule of law” and called for “a revolt against this broken system to force reform”.
