The president and vice president of the world anti -doping agency were re -elected to third unprecedented terms on Thursday in a movement that agency’s critics say that they undermine their promise to make significant reforms of governance after years of doping scandals.
The third terms for President Witold Banka of Poland and Vice President Yang Yang of China will extend until the end of 2028 and will extend their time in office to nine years.
The United States anti -doping agency, In a publication on social networksHe called him the “last” bait and change “, first promising governance reforms after the Russian anti -doping scandal and then changing the rules in the moment when the world looked the other way.”
AMA James Fitzgerald spokesman He outlined the changes of rules made in 2023, which eliminated the tradition that a president represents sports organizations or governments, each of which represents 50% of the main Wada policy formulation board. When Bankka was first chosen, he was a government candidate, but is now considered an independent candidate.
“This change was made to accommodate the introduction of an initial cooling period and the formal choice process for those positions,” said Fitzgerald. “It was also made to harmonize the nine -year term limit with other members of the Wada Foundation Board and the Executive Committee.”
Banka said he was “honest” to be tabulated for a third term.
“Despite the many challenges we have faced in the last five and a half years, it has also been a period of transformation, resilience and unnegiable progress,” he said.
Although the Russian doping scandal began before Banka assumed the position, Wada was under his control during the most recent case that involved 23 Chinese swimmers who were not prohibited after Wada refused intervene in a contamination case managed by the anti -doping agency of that country.
The United States government is Retention of your annual payment of more than $ 3.6 million for the AMA. When that decision was announced, the Tsar of American drugs at that time, Rahul Gupta, said that “the Ama must take concrete measures to restore confidence in the world anti -doping system and provide athletes with the total confidence they deserve.”
Used it portrayed Banka’s re -election process as the last of a series of long -term movements that have undermined the credibility of the Wada.
The German Ardo media reported that the Dutch Olympic triathlete Chiel Warners had wanted to enter the race, but the obstacles to enter the ballot, which included obtaining two nomination forms signed by different members of the Wada Foundation Board, were too large.
“The fact that you need support letters to run for an independent position does not seem particularly democratic,” Warners told Ard. “Especially because it is not entirely clear how this support is supposed to obtain. In practice, this means that candidates can be excluded from the beginning, and that is exactly what has happened here.”
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