RIO DE JANEIRO — The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) hit back Monday after Olympics boss Thomas Bach complained about the timing of a bombshell report into Russian doping which has rocked preparations for the Rio Games.
WADA said it had acted as quickly as it could in publishing the report by Canadian expert Richard McLaren, which came less than three weeks before Rio and left the Olympics body scrambling for a response.
Bach's International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been criticized after it stopped short of banning Russia over a state-backed doping program, and instead left the decisions over Russian participation to individual sports federations.
"WADA's executive committee... supported Professor McLaren's independent mandate, which was to obtain evidence as quickly as possible in the interest of clean athletes," WADA President Craig Reedie said in a statement.
"While it is destabilizing in the lead-up to the Games, it is obvious, given the seriousness of the revelations that he uncovered, that they had to be published and acted upon without delay."
WADA acknowledged that the McLaren report had been "destabilizing for a number of organizations" but said it had been published as quickly as possible.
A 2015 commission, prompted by a German TV expose, found no concrete evidence, and it wasn't until May this year that a former director of Russian anti-doping laboratories spoke about the state-backed scheme in interviews with American media, WADA said.
"It was only when CBS 60 Minutes and the New York Times, on 8 and 12 May 2016 respectively, published the allegations from the former director of the Moscow and Sochi laboratories, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, that WADA had concrete evidence suggesting Russian state involvement that could be investigated by initiating the McLaren Investigation, which we did immediately," Reedie said.
WADA's response follows Bach's comments on Sunday when he rejected criticism of his handling of the scandal, telling journalists: "The IOC is not responsible for the timing of the McLaren report.
"The IOC is not responsible for the fact that different information which was offered to WADA ready a couple of years ago was not followed up."
