Perhaps the most frank interview with the President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Witold Banka has been released. Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus spoke with the Polish official through the mouth of a certain high-ranking African politician. They found out why WADA really doesn’t want to hold the Friendship Games in Russia and restore the status of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA).
They are afraid of the Friendship GamesThe WADA Executive Committee just two weeks ago “expressed concern” about Russia’s plans to hold the Friendship Games. But under the sauce of a certain “threat to the health of athletes and fairness towards them” — they say, the event will not be held under the protection of the World Anti-Doping Code. But to the begging question — what, in fact, prevents this very protection from being provided, since the Russian Anti-Doping Agency is not limited in any way in its functions, and doping tests taken on the territory of Russia, in the absence of a WADA-accredited laboratory in the country, are analyzed abroad — the answer The WADA executive committee did not give it.
But now it was given to him by the WADA president in a conversation with a high-ranking “African politician” who was slipped to him by Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus. As always, everything was done with high quality. Not only Banka, but also WADA General Director Olivier Niggli participated in the video conference with the fake political figure from Africa — however, without saying a word during the 18 minutes of communication. But the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency started talking.
So, this is the essence of the entire campaign against the Friendship Games. «We are not happy with this initiative. So, if you want my opinion, we will not be there. We will not control or oversee the anti-doping program. From WADA's point of view, this event does not look good. But this is more of a political issue, it is a political question, which country will or will not take part,” said Banka.
«I believe that federations should avoid participating, committees and countries should also avoid participating in this event. The idea of holding the Friendship Games is a little contrary to the Olympic Games. We are part of the Olympic idea, since the main stakeholder of WADA is the International Olympic Committee. And this event is something outside the system,” added the President of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
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"African politician" also got out of his system — he played along with Banka as best he could, formulating the questions more and more sharply each time. He achieved the following statements about the Friendship Games: “The event does not inspire confidence and does not add confidence to the athletes and countries that will participate in it,” “I will talk to (IOC President) Thomas Bach, he will be happy with your opinion.” and others in approximately the same rhetoric.
But the strongest of them confirms that WADA, as well as the IOC, are afraid to see in the Friendship Games an alternative to the Olympics, to which, as is known, representatives of Russia and Belarus will be allowed only in a neutral status. That is, they are afraid of losing their monopoly status in world sports, and therefore control over financial flows.
«This (the participation of Russians in a neutral status in the Olympics) creates tension, retaliatory actions from Moscow, and they want to organize these Friendship Games in order to undermine the Olympic Games, to create an initiative that will be detrimental to the Olympic movement. We know very well that sport is very «is strong in Russia. And I think that's why they know that they need to promote sports, sports are very important for them. That's why we need to make sure that this event does not have any impact on the Olympic Games,» said the WADA president.< br>«We need to stop this, or at least really make these Games extremely insignificant. If they want, they can organize their own domestic championships only for Russian athletes, but not as a counterweight to the Olympic Games. They can do whatever they want in Russia. But we must unite as leaders, sports leaders, political leaders. We must stop them from destroying the Olympic Games or at least creating discord and chaos,» Banka also emphasized.
And this is, of course, an exposure – both for the IOC and for WADA itself. It is useless to tell them, as the Russian side patiently does, that the Friendship Games are not an alternative to the Olympic Games. Proof of which, by the way, although restrained, but ultimately voiced several times already, is the approval by the Russian sports authorities of the participation of athletes in a neutral status in the Olympics, if they do not have to violate the laws of the country. Thomas Bach, Witold Banka, like many others, are pawns in the hands of more serious political forces, whose goal is to weaken our country in all areas, including sports.
Banka spilled the beans Another important topic from the conversation with the imaginary African politician — he did not fail to ask the head of WADA what claims the organization had against the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), which, despite the expiration of the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in December 2022 ) due to sanctions against him remains deprived of the status of compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code. It turned out they were all the same – political.
«»At first glance, this (RUSADA's work) looks good, but we are not present there, we have no way to assess whether they are independent. This is the main thing that worries us — whether they act independently of the state. We do not trust them, because -due to the war and the political situation, we cannot go there to conduct the interview properly. I think there are a lot of people working at RUSADA who are very interested, and they work very well in terms of anti-doping issues and testing. But ultimately I cannot to assure you that they are completely independent from the state, I cannot give guarantees of trust in them, especially due to the geopolitical situation,” said Banka.
Here you can see a direct contradiction of WADA’s official position regarding RUSADA. Previously, the reason for not restoring his full status was the inconsistency of Russian anti-doping legislation with the World Anti-Doping Code. They say that our law does not stipulate all types of violations of anti-doping rules. RUSADA took these claims extremely seriously — it initiated communication with the State Duma, where a bill has been being prepared for more than a year in which WADA's comments should be corrected.
Now Banka, in fact, admits that all this is chicanery — only a formal reason not to return full status to the Russian Anti-Doping Agency. But the real reason is political. Clinical mistrust, not based on any facts, whether RUSADA is an independent structure from the state. Audits and checks, of which there have been more than enough over the past years, turn out to have no significance for WADA.
We must give Witold Banka his due — he refrained from saluting in response to the nationalist slogan with which the “African politician” tried to provoke this reaction. He just barely smiled. Let’s not speculate about the former Polish runner, who has headed WADA since 2019, either approvingly or condemningly. He already said a lot of things in plain text to understand that in a coalition with the IOC, his organization is waging a real hybrid war with Russia under the slogans of clean sport.
The author’s opinion may not coincide with the position of the editors.
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