London 2012 Olympics were not ‘sabotaged’ by doping scandal, insists WADA chief Sir Craig Reedie

London Evening Standard

Among the many headlines to come out of the report into the Russian doping scandal was that the London Olympics had been “sabotaged” by the cheats.

That comment came from Dick Pound, a former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency and head of the commission investigating Russian athletics.

It could be assumed that the current head of WADA, Sir Craig Reedie, agrees with the Canadian. But Reedie is a former chairman of the British Olympic Association and was on the organising committee of London 2012 and he does not think the golden glow of those three weeks has been destroyed.

He says: “It is hugely disappointing to know some athletes should not have taken part and quite clearly sanctions were not brought against them, presumably, so they were able to run in London. But I don’t think sabotage is the right word. Russia had a pretty good athletics team. The London Games were splendid in every way.”