Jiří Janák became the head of the Anti-Doping Committee of the Czech Republic on June 28 last year. He won the competition and was appointed director of Filip Neusser, chairman of the National Sports Agency. They planned to carry out a major reform of the Czech fight against doping. However, external factors and pressures soon came into play, which significantly accelerated the realization of their ideas.
In November, a quartet of inspectors from Montreal appeared on the behalf of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in Prague. Their inspection within the Anti-Doping Committee of the Czech Republic revealed 42 errors.
“It simply came to our notice then. Especially since a large part of those shortcomings were classified as critical or priority errors. We immediately started to remove them on an ongoing basis, “says Jiří Janák.
According to Filip Neusser, the crisis caused by the inspection report arose from the poor quality and unsystematic work of the previous management of the Anti-Doping Committee, at a time when this institution fell under the Ministry of Education and the Czech Olympic Committee.
The expedition of urine samples stalled
The shortcomings revealed are mostly of an administrative nature. But also more fundamental. “WADA commissioners have criticized us that most sampling takes place in connection with competitions, at races. And a small part in the preparatory period. At the same time, WADA has a completely opposite trend, ”explains Janák.
Even work with the samples taken has not yet taken place in the Czech Republic in accordance with regulations. “We send the samples to a laboratory near Dresden. Blood samples must go there on the day of collection, for urine samples there is a tolerance of several days. But WADA has found cases where there has been a delay of 8–32 days in sending samples, and that is of course a problem, ”Janák continues.
The inspectors found a number of procedural errors, with doping judges appearing to be insufficiently qualified or exposed to direct conflicts of interest.
WADA has set a timetable for the Czech Anti-Doping Committee to eliminate and correct individual errors. The key date for correcting a number of bugs is the approaching June 10th.
Russian samples were bought and manipulated
“If we did not correct the mistakes in the prescribed terms, the so-called WADA compliance commission would start dealing with the Czech Republic. And we would be in danger of the Czechia ending up where the Russian sport, which due to problems in the fight against doping is not allowed to participate in the Olympic Games under the national flag, its national anthem and the like must not sound at big events, “says Jiří Janák the darkest possible picture of the consequences of the whole case.
The described measures apply to Russian sport since the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. They are related to the detection of fraud with the exchange of samples at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, which took place there in cooperation with the anti-doping agency RUSADA with the Russian secret service FSB.
Based on the testimonies of its former employees, RUSADA’s activities revealed cases in which samples were manipulated or statements about punishments based on corrupt influences.
Further sanctions, in addition to doping problems, were imposed on Russia in the world of international sports in connection with the military aggression conducted against Ukraine since the end of February this year.
They did not reveal any mistakes comparable to those of the Russian WADA inspectors in connection with the Czech fight against doping, yet the consequences of this inspection cannot be taken lightly.
The shortcomings were also described by the NSA inspection and audit
“The management of the Anti-Doping Committee has often changed over the past, with Jan Janák being the fourth director in four years. For several years the institution was headed by Mr. Brabec, for several months by Mr. Lukavský, a little over a year by Mrs. Volková. When I joined the National Sports Agency last May, I had numerous indications that the Anti-Doping Committee was not working well. I had to react, “says Filip Neusser, head of the Czech Sports Agency from the position of the chairman of the National Sports Agency.
“The Anti-Doping Committee now falls under the NSA. Shortly after taking office, I dismissed Director Volková from the position of Director of the Anti-Doping Committee and announced an abbreviated selection procedure, in which Mr. Janák succeeded. It was a good choice, “says Filip Neusser.
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The NSA’s inspection and Ernst & Young’s forensic audit found a number of irregularities in the management and registration of the Anti-Doping Committee’s contracts in the era of Director Volková.
“Among other things, it was a non-transparent selection of service suppliers in connection with marketing items, there was an amount of 768,000 crowns. There was also a lack of documentation that would prove the fulfillment of legal and consulting services in the amount of 274,000 crowns. Exceeding the approved budget was also recorded, “Jakub Večerka, a spokesman for the National Sports Agency, summarizes the shortcomings revealed.
Beer inspected the WADA inspectors
However, the biggest shortcomings were found by the already mentioned inspection of WADA commissioners, which was postponed several times due to the covid. And finally, it took place last November. In addition to the defects already described, she also drew attention to many others.
“Among other things, it was a poorly designed program of so-called biological passports of athletes. And also about insufficient consumption for high-priority athletes. What does it mean? Let’s assume that the Olympians underwent two control tests a year instead of the three imagined by WADA, ”says Janák.
All communication of the Anti-Doping Committee of the Czech Republic was set up catastrophically. “Both towards athletes and WADA, as well as towards other agencies,” says Janák.
“There have been cases where athletes have been suspended for 2 years. And the whole protocol of this decision fit in half a page. This is a completely insufficient justification, which does not correspond to the parameters of WADA, “adds Janák.
The Anti-Doping Committee of the Czech Republic was criticized for minimal communication with the public and athletes. For example, there was virtually no training. “We fixed that immediately,” says Janak.
Even the actual sampling procedure was not in order. “The inspectors were horrified that the Czech protocol allowed the athlete to drink a glass of ten-degree beer so that he could submit the required sample. That had to be deleted, WADA only allows clean water, “adds Janák for further detail.
Neusser no longer cooperates with Károly
WADA had a major problem with the fact that in the first stage of deciding on doping offenses, the disciplinary commissions of individual national sports federations come into play. “Some sports have it set up correctly and such bodies are staffed by independent experts. In other sports, however, it does not work like this, and logically there were cases when people from the management of a sport tried to close their eyes as part of disciplinary proceedings against a competitor, “notes Filip Neusser.
The appellate body has long been the Arbitration Commission at the Czech Olympic Committee, often associated with the influence of Alexander Károlyi, the WWTP ombudsman. “We have evidence that Dr. In fact, Károlyi managed her entire agenda, and as chairman of the Board of Experts of the then Anti-Doping Committee, he found himself in a direct conflict of interest, “says Neusser.
Milan Hnilička, the first head of the National Sports Agency, also worked closely with Károly. “I met with Dr. after taking office. Károlyim once and I informed him that I would not cooperate with him, “Neusser emphasized.
Under his leadership, a new body was created. It is called the National Arbitration Court for Sport. “At the moment we are ready to work as the top Czech body for solving doping cases, in the future we can expand the sphere of arbitration proceedings in Czech sport on this platform,” says Jan Brodec, who heads the National Arbitration Court for Sport.
His colleagues in the presidency are also Pavel Hamerník, Markéta Vochoska Haindlová, Miloš Olík and Petr Šustek.
The National Arbitration Court should work with the intentions of the International Sports Arbitration (CAS) in Lausanne, and President Jan Brodec is one of the CAS arbitrators.
The individual sports federations were approached to appoint their representatives to the tribunals of the National Court of Arbitration for Sport. Each case should consist of a three-member tribunal, with one of its members always being a member of the court’s presidium.
