Mariya Savinova was one of the athletes mentioned in WADA's report that revealed "state-sponsored" doping practices in Russia. 

From Colorado Springs, Colo., leaders of the World Anti-Doping Agency declared Russia’s anti-doping operation noncompliant. The news follows an extensive report published by WADA on Nov. 9 that recommended to the IAAF that the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) be suspended for “state-sponsored” systematic doping practices.

 

According to a report from The Associated Press, members of the WADA foundation board voted to approve the recommendation made in the original 323-page report titled “The Independent Commission Report #1” which revealed years of doping within Russian athletics. According to The AP, nobody voted “no” but it was unclear whether some abstained. 

 

“The Board declared six signatories non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code with immediate effect,” Ben Nichols of the World Anti-Doping Agency wrote in a statement. 

 

According to the statement, WADA declared Andorra, Israel, Argentina, Bolivia and Ukraine along with Russia noncompliant  as a result of using non-accredited laboratories. 

 

The vote follows the IAAF Council’s meeting on Friday, which provisionally suspended ARAF for the charges made in the report. Now that WADA has voted in favor of the report’s recommendation, ARAF no longer has an operating anti-doping agency, which makes Russia ineligible to host or bid for international events. 

 

In the meeting, Russia’s representative on the foundation board Pavel Kolobkov presented his country’s case. He proposed the possibility that the Russian government could strip funding from the Moscow anti-doping lab. The lab was recently declared noncompliant as well. 

 

Dick Pound, the author of WADA’s independent commissioned report responded to the presentation by saying, “throwing out funding is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.”

 

Pound’s report detailed a “deeply rooted culture of cheating,” that was “worse than we thought,” which he revealed when presenting the report that took a year to produce. It was prompted when German broadcasting group ARD alleged that former Chicago Marathon Champion Liliya Shobuhova paid ARAF $550,000 to cover up her positive doping result.