(MENAFN- UkrinForm) Witold Bańka, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), said this in an interview with Ukrinfor.

According to him, WADA has maintained a very clear position regarding Russian athletes from the very beginning of the doping scandal during the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games. He noted that Operation LIMS (the case involving the manipulation of samples in the Moscow anti-doping laboratory's LIMS database) was“the most complex and one of the most thoroughly conducted investigations in the history of sport.” Bańka recalled that WADA's investigation led to more than 340 Russian athletes being banned from sport, prohibited from participating in the Olympic Games, and stripped of their medals.

“We were the first to introduce sports sanctions against Russia in 2019,” the WADA President emphasized.

He reminded that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) currently has the status of“non-compliant,” meaning that it does not comply with the World Anti-Doping Code.

“Most likely, at some point we will need to conduct an audit there, because we need some way to monitor what is happening,” Bańka stressed.

He added that it is still unknown when this might take place.

At the same time, he noted that after RUSADA's reinstatement in the anti-doping system in 2018, WADA gained access to data and uncovered manipulation in the Moscow laboratory - which resulted in more than 300 Russian athletes being excluded from sport.

“If RUSADA had not been reinstated at that time, as USADA (the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency) wanted, those Russian athletes who cheated would have kept their medals, and some of them would still be competing today,” Bańka emphasized.

Read also: Anti-doping situation in Ukraine has improved significantly – WADA president

He noted that the sports community should place greater trust in the World Anti-Doping Agency because the institution employs highly qualified experts and its decisions are not influenced by politics.

“These decisions are highly technical, and we are genuinely very determined: no matter who violates anti-doping rules - athletes from Poland, Ukraine, or the U.S. - we will be equally uncompromising,” Bańka concluded.

As reported by Ukrinform, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has upheld sanctions against Russia for non-compliance with the anti-doping code.

Photo: WADA

MENAFN10112025000193011044ID1110320989