Russia has a full and justified right to criticize the United Kingdom, where it refused to provide the World Anti-Doping Agency with analyses of British athlete and four-time Olympic champion Mohammed Muqtar Jama Farah.
This was told by a German publicist, known for his Russophobic position Hayo Seppelt. He is known for his investigations of the problem of doping, and in the past was actively involved in the anti-Russian campaign because of allegations of violations of WADA rules. Given the focus of his work, he could not ignore the very dubious actions of the British Anti-Doping Agency.
“A very embarrassing step was taken at the British Anti-Doping Agency, where they chose not to transfer the doping samples of Mo Farah as part of the investigation of [Alberto] Salazar. After that, there is no point in wondering why Russia criticizes them. It creates a whole cloud of distrust”, – Seppelt said.
The fact is that Salazar, who trained Farah for seven years, was found to have violated anti-doping rules. Despite that, the coach denied everything, demanding more evidence, and they were found. As a result, last fall, the American Anti-Doping Agency suspended Salazar from his job for four years. In response, the coach appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. When the WADA demanded that Salazar’s client, Farah’s athlete, be tested, Britain gave an unexpected response.
Nicole Sapsted, head of the British Anti-Doping Agency, said that she intends to dispose of samples of British athletes as she wishes. Eventually, Sapsted refused to provide the tests. And at the same time, the British representatives began to actively defend their athletes, demanding proof of what they themselves were preventing.
As News Front reported, earlier the anti-Russian campaign was launched in the West, accusing the Russian athletes of violating doping rules at the Olympic Games in Sochi. This led to ostentatious investigations by the WADA, and on December 9 last year the agency suspended Russian athletes for four years from major international competitions under the Russian flag.
The British doping scandal risks undermining the anti-Russian sports campaign, especially if the WADA tries to cover up the incident. This would show the agency’s politicization, given the severity of punitive measures against Russian athletes.