LAUSANNE – After the suspension of three national anti-doping labs in the span of two weeks, WADA president Sir Craig Reedie has spoken out, claiming that athletes and officials can trust the drug test system.
With three months until the Summer Olympic Games in Rio, WADA has had to face the sobering significance of having suspended four national anti-doping labs – in Moscow, Beijing, Lisbon and Bloemfontein in the past 12 months. The four labs make up almost 30% of all anti-doping tests conducted on a yearly average, with athletes from Russia and China consistently topping medals tables at Summer Olympic Games dating back to Atlanta 1996. South Africa’s Bloemfontein, suspended earlier this week, was the only accredited anti-doping lab on the African continent.
President Reedie however, has stated that the recent laboratory suspensions should not worry athletes and that they are a result on WADA’s heightened scrutiny of all national labs ahead of Rio 2016.
“It is for this very reason that clean athletes should have full confidence in the system,” the Scot insisted.
