WADA boss asked Helleland to drop meeting in the WH
Former Norwegian Cabinet Minister, Linda Hofstad Helleland (Conservatives), was on Wednesday in the White House, Washington DC, in an anti-doping meeting. WADA President Craig Reedie has allegedly urged her not to show up at it beforehand.
This according to the Norwegian newspaper, VG. The newspaper writes that Reedie sent Helleland a letter stating that he did not want WADA’s Norwegian Vice President to show up in Washington, but for Helleland it was out of the question to decline the invitation.
The journalist Nick Butler goes so far as to assert that Reedie wrote a letter in an attempt to exclude Helleland from attending the meeting as a representative of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Critics of WADA’s decision to lift the expulsion of Russia’s anti-doping agency (RUSADA) were invited to Wednesday’s meeting at the White House in Washington DC. Helleland was one of the very few on the WADA board who voted against letting Russia back in as a full member.
One-sided
WADA says that they were not invited to the White House meeting. This appears in a statement by journalist Aaron Bauer in «Around The Rings» has posted on Twitter.
«It seems that they solely invited those who question WADA and disagree with a democratic board decision to reinstate RUSADA,» The statement reads. It ends as follows:
«We welcome the debate and we support people’s right to discuss and wish for changes. But unfortunately, only one side of the matter seems to be heard in Washington.»
Resistance
Helleland answers the allegation that WADA was not invited such:
– When I, as Vice President, was invited along with Clayton Cosgrove, Education Co-chair Edwin Moses and the Athletes Representative, Beckie Scott, it speaks volumes on how they view things when they claim that no one from WADA was invited, Helleland tells VG.
RUSADA was kicked out of WADA in August 2015 due to disclosures of extensive doping use in Russian sports. Despite resistance and clear warnings, the Russian anti-doping agency was readmitted to the fold three years later.
Full statement from @wada_ama on not being invited to the White House Summit pic.twitter.com/kCpPBEerYp
— Aaron Bauer (@AaronBauer91) October 31, 2018
© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today