US anti-doping head says WADA handling of Russian lab a 'total joke'

United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) head Travis Tygart urged that immediate action be taken to address the refusal of Russian officials to grant their investigators access to a Moscow lab at the heart of the Sochi Olympics doping scandal.

Tygart, in an interview with Reuters, said the situation is "a total joke" and is urging the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to hold an emergency meeting of their executive committee and declare Russia non-compliant.

The designation would reverse a recent decision to allow Russian athletes to compete in international competition provided certain steps were taken, including access to the lab by December 31.

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The WADA Athlete Committee said Wednesday that anything less than declaring Russia non-compliant would be a considered a failure now that a crucial deadline to hand over laboratory doping data has lapsed.

Russian authorities failed to provide access to the data and WADA's Compliance Review Committee (CRC) will now meet Jan. 14-15 to review the situation and make a recommendation to WADA's executive committee on how to proceed.

"I think athletes were hoping to wake up on New Year's Day excited about the opportunity to compete clean in 2019, a year out from the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and unfortunately they are very disappointed," Tygart told Reuters.