The Russian Olympic and Paralympic Committees on Friday sacked the director of their anti-doping agency (Rusada), Yuri Ganous, who had been campaigning since his appointment in 2017 to denounce the authorities' lack of commitment against sports cheating. “The general assembly decided to remove Ganous. The decision was taken unanimously ”, declared during a press conference the president of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdniakov, while the boss of Rusada had been implicated by a management audit accusing him of offenses . "This decision was taken only on the basis of revelations of administrative and financial violations" by Rusada, he added, saying that he was "convinced" that the Russian anti-doping agency will remain "independent".
Yuri Ganous not surprised by this decision
Mr. Ganous, who expected the decision, told AFP that it "does not mean anything good (for Russian sport) because Rusada has become a bridge for restoring confidence" between Russia and world sports bodies. Yuri Ganous, 56, denounced the audit targeting him at the beginning of August, explaining that he saw it as "revenge" for his stance often against the Kremlin. He had thus accused the authorities of his country of being responsible for the falsifications of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, which led at the end of last year to the exclusion of Russia from the Olympic Games and world sports competitions for four years.
Mr. Ganous had considered logical this banishment of Russia from world sport, given the scale of the frauds alleged against Moscow. Commissioned by the Russian Olympic and Paralympic Committees, the audit targeting Ganous pointed to financial irregularities, including allegedly too high taxi fares or English lessons paid by the agency to Yuri Ganous.
At the beginning of August, the supervisory board of Rusada, a body which had already gone against some of the positions taken by its leader, had recommended the dismissal of Mr. Ganous. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said it was “extremely concerned” by this recommendation.
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