FINA, the world governing body for aquatic sports, has released a statement outlining their “concern” for calls from American and Canadian Anti-doping authorities to ban Russia from the Olympic Games.
The calls, which chase the decision by the IAAF (FINA’s equivalent for athletics) to ban the Russian Federation from the Olympics, came from a draft letter signed by the CEOs of both the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports (CCES).
“The only appropriate, and permissible, course of action in these unprecedented circumstances is for the IOC to immediately suspend the Russian Olympic and Paralympic Committees from the Olympic Movement… and declare that no athlete can represent Russia at the Rio Olympic Games.”
FINA, however, says that those calls ahead of the soon-to-be-released McLaren report, which has been launched by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) under the lead of Richard McLaren into investigations of Russian doping at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games – the latest in a run of reports.
FINA, however, didn’t just criticize any premature judgements; instead they also took a run at WADA themselves.
FINA is also concerned that there has been a drive behind the scenes, led by the WADA Athletes Commission Chair, to get a global coalition of support from selected organisations in the Olympic Movement to support the call for the total ban on Russia. Again, all of this is based on the findings of the McLaren Report which is meant to have been independent and confidential.
Despite both recent and long-running histories of doping from Russian swimmers, FINA has continued to maintain supportive tones with the Russian Federation that hosted the 2015 World Championships. In a press release on Thursday, the Russians spoke glowingly of their latest visit with FINA president Julio Maglione, who they say “praised the great contribution” of the Russian Federation to FINA programs.
The fight against doping was discussed during that meeting, as was Russia’s upcoming bid to host the 2017 Junior World Championships, with Russia claiming to have been assured of a “good chance” at hosting in the future.
The full FINA statement is below:
FINA is concerned by the premature calls from US and Canadian Anti-doping authorities to ban Russia from Rio 2016 Olympic Games several days ahead of the publication of the independent McLaren report. The contents of this report were meant to be kept strictly confidential until publication.
FINA is also concerned that there has been a drive behind the scenes, led by the WADA Athletes Commission Chair, to get a global coalition of support from selected organisations in the Olympic Movement to support the call for the total ban on Russia. Again, all of this is based on the findings of the McLaren Report which is meant to have been independent and confidential.
Such breaches of confidentiality and the perception of a breach of independence of the report undermine its credibility. This is a very serious matter for us all.
Considering the above, FINA naturally expects the IOC to apply the principles and values shared by the Olympic Movement.
I wonder what Julio meant when he said the Russian federation made a “great contribution” to the program.
There will always be dopers, and they’ll find ways to compete/slip through the cracks. No entity will ever be able to enforce a truely level playing field for all athletes. It’s not realistic. Legalizing PED’s is the only way to make things uniformly fair for all athletes. But people can’t get behind that, understandably. So be prepared to deal with stuff forever.
All is fair in love and war. We’ve made sport into a combination of both & invested it with primeval urges , so no wonder it brings all the boys to the yard.
If Rio goes ahead & is successful The IOC should get The Nobel Peace award (hats off to Irish Ringer for the idea ). Do you guys realise that the US base in Turkey has 50-70 nuclear weapons ? Erdogans faux coup just gave him the upper hand . A lame duck President , pre election catharsis & an emotion charged olympics & a base surrounded by fellow NATO forces .
You could not even find this in Le Carre.
Gina seriously who the f are you we need to be friends. You should start posting facebook rants like phelps so you can explain how you’re “normal” just like the rest of us. WE WANT MAS G.I.N.A!!
After that mini rant I went for a swim . Beautiful day , outdoor 50m heated lane to myself & gave it some more thought & advice for Putin (should I be called in ). Then I get back & Sh*t is still hitting the fan in Turkey. Luckily Putin just made amends with Turkey last week so he is not in the hot seat here. But The USA -Whoah. Its like The Bay of Pigs -minus the pigs coz islam & all that.
Preparing a statement of support AND/OR a statement of condemnation is not inappropriate or uncommon. The only misstep I see is that it got leaked. If the report came out and the letter hit the airwaves 60 minutes later there is no outcry.
There is however, a global outcry targeting the IOC, WADA, and IFs (FINA, IAAF, FIFA, e.g.) for the inconsistent commitment to uphold CleanSport from these organizations. Everyone of these alphabet organizations knows this and should be prepared for it. If they are feeling pressure it is the pressure of having made too many poor decisions and now ducking for cover when their leadership really matters.
Looks to me like someone looked out the castle window and just… Read more »
Maybe time to start a new organization that can’t include anyone from FINA or IOC for a True Olympics
Don’t forget other acronymed organizations that have a stake..
Yes, the FINA statement is some kind of a wrist-slap at the U.S. and Canada over process (don’t leak results of the report before the report comes out — never mind whether the report is damning or not).
At any rate, the report is out now, Monday morning, and it confirms suspicions. The lead paragraph in the NY Times article is: “Evidence has confirmed a Russian whistle-blower’s claims of government-ordered cheating at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, a two-month investigation commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency found, intensifying pressure on the International Olympic Committee to discipline Russia ahead of this summer’s Rio Games.”
Now that we know the report’s results, let’s see how long FINA remains focused on process rather than… Read more »
Both FINA, and the IOC are corrupt as heck. WADA isn’t any better, its the fox guarding the henhouse.
WADA needs to be replaced with an organization that is financially and governance-wise separated from the IOC.
And the olympics itself needs to really re-think whether its just a spectacle, or the pinnacle of AMATEUR sports.
Golf, Soccer, Tennis, and Basketball: professional sports with their own $$$$ leagues, and their championships, should be dropped.
Unfortunately IOC is all about $$$ and spectacle. Most people don’t want to see nameless amatures competing. They want Lebron, Messi, Bolt, Phelps. Phelps has been pro since 15, and wouldn’t have been able to compete if it was amatures only. A lot of top tier athletes want to make money off of their hard work so they go pro. While it may take away from the grass roots of the sports, ultimately it should increase the quality of the product by making it easier for athletes to train and compete.
Still, I do agree with Entropy’s choice of some of the sports that don’t belong in the Olympics. Golf, Soccer, Tennis and Basketball don’t belong. I don’t think it’s exactly amateur versus pro.
It’s more already represented versus underrepresented. Where the pinnacle of a sport already exists (i.e. the World Cup, golf and tennis Majors, etc.), they shouldn’t be in the Olympics. I can already watch the main competitions in these sports. The Olympics is certainly not the measure of these athletes legacies. Every four years, we see elite athletes skipping the Olympics, because it would interfere with their main, paying, sports “gig”. Look at the team representing U. S. Basketball. The main “gig” for them is clearly the… Read more »
Am I wrong or missing something, I could have swore this letter was drafted in anticipation of the report, not as a result of seeing the findings before everyone. This report was done independently and these groups, if the results are what they expect, will then send this letter out. The peopl at FINA drafting their statements need to check all of the facts.
I am guessing you are correct and this letter is a pre-write response to criticism they knew was coming.
No surprise that they are worried, they did everything do get all the cheaters to Rio. I guess Putin wouldnt be too happy with FINA if Efimova still wouldnt be able to compete in Rio. Just because they dont get as much attention as FIFA, doesnt mean that IAAF, FINA, FIVB or IHF are any better.
It might have been too harsh to say that they did everything they could to get all the cheater to Rio (i am probably overestimating their influence), but they for sure didnt do everything they could or at least much to prevent those cheaters from competing in Rio. I think the past has shown that the Doping Problems wont disappear just by not talking about them and maybe FINA has to learn this the hard way. Sport officials have to be really cautious, because a lot of People already lost all their interest in Sport, because there is too much Doping. In the end this will also be bad for the officials, because they will earn less as a results,… Read more »
Remember that under FINAs own rules, the Russians were one external doping violation away from getting banned from fielding a pool swimming team for Kazan. (And given what we’ve learned in the past year about both Russia and FINA, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a cover-up of a ‘strike’ that would have triggered a ban)
Wouldn’t ‘one more’ be the Russian swimmer banned 4 years last week? That was for steroids, not blood doping. Maybe there is some misguided distinction there.