WADA considers half the doping industry of the Moscow laboratory

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) discovered that out of 298 doping tests in the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, almost half (145 samples) were subjected to manipulations in the laboratory database. This was stated by the head of the WADA investigation department Gunther Junger in an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ( quoted by DW).

Junger said that WADA studied the integrity of the base of the Moscow Anti -Doping Laboratory for almost six months - from May to November 2019.

As a result, the agency was able to establish “what data was deleted and when”, “but not in every case they were able to restore it.”

“In some cases, these actions were dated retroactively. To do this, the entire database was rearranged for one date four years earlier, after which they deleted "

Gunter Junger

Junger emphasized that against the complete removal of Russian athletes from participating in international competitions. “If we look at who helped identify manipulations, it turns out that these are not Europeans, not Americans, or WADA. These themselves are Russian athletes, coaches and officials who are tired of being manipulating them. "According to him, all suspicious tests, the recordings of which were edited, will be verified again.

• In 2015, after the start of a doping scandal in Russia after the Sochi Olympics in 2014, WADA recalled the laboratory’s accreditation, but partially returned it a year later, allowing the athlete’s biological passport to work. A week ago, WADA repeatedly suspended the accreditation of the laboratory.
• In November last year, the WADA committee recommended that the executive committee remove Russia for four years from participating in international competitions due to numerous scandals with doping.

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