Paralympian resigns from WADA in fallout from Russia case

Former British Paralympian Victoria Aggar resigned from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s athlete committee, saying “I simply can no longer be part of an organization that places politics over principle.”

Aggar’s departure from the committee is the latest in an avalanche of fallout from WADA’s decision to forego a full ban of the Russian team from next year’s Olympics in the wake of evidence that officials tampered with data that was supposed to help corroborate cases against athletes involved in the country’s doping scandal.

Aggar, a retired rower, was in the majority on the committee when it issued a statement last weekend pressing WADA to issue the full ban. WADA did not heed that call and instead will allow some Russian athletes to compete as neutrals in Tokyo next year.

Aggar said Thursday in a statement that WADA’s actions “have fundamentally shaken my belief in an organization that I felt initially served a great purpose in protecting the integrity of sports.”

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Athletes Advisory Council was among those supporting Aggar.

“WADA’s decision to ignore the majority of its own Athlete Committee … is out of touch and the current sanctions will not be enough to cause significant change in Russia,” the AAC said in a statement.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, WADA compliance chairman Jonathan Taylor said disallowing the Russian flag and its Olympic officials from the Tokyo Games, but not barring all its athletes, “was the appropriate line to draw.”