WADA hires law firm to investigate Canadian Beckie Scott's claim of being bullied
An initial probe by the organization found no evidence to support allegations
The World Anti-Doping Agency has hired a law firm to look into athlete committee chair Beckie Scott's claims of being bullied after she opposed the reinstatement of Russia's anti-doping agency.
An initial WADA probe did not find evidence of bullying, but Scott was among those who were not interviewed as part of that investigation.
WADA decided that more investigation was needed and hired an outside law firm "to help in determining a path forward," according to a news release.
Scott resigned from WADA's compliance review committee after it recommended RUSADA's reinstatement. Still chair of the athlete committee, she faced harsh criticism from insiders at the subsequent WADA meeting, and reported that she was bullied for her opposition.
WADA officials are now under pressure to reinstate the ban because Russia failed to meet the Dec. 31 deadline to turn over samples and data from its Moscow testing laboratory.
Scott tweeted out a statement from the athlete committee this week expressing disappointment in Russia's failure to meet the deadline.
"We now expect that following the process recommended by the CRC that Russia will be declared non-compliant. Only this action will be suitable and appropriate in the view of the athletes," the statement said. "Anything less will be considered a failure by WADA to act on behalf of clean athletes."