On Thursday, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s executive committee will gather in the Seychelles to hold the most crucial antidoping meeting in recent times.
Until Friday, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency was deemed still not fit for reinstatement into the global antidoping community — a result of the egregious state-supported doping system exposed through the Pound and McLaren investigations in 2015 and 2016. However, just days before the WADA executive committee is to decide whether to bring Russia back, WADA has made a sudden about-face by releasing a recommendation that its executive committee vote for its return.
This has sparked shock among sports fans and clean athletes worldwide, who, like me, and with no transparency from the global antidoping body, are scratching their heads at this abrupt, curiously timed development.