WADA boost for Lausanne

WADA has been temporarily based in Lausanne since 1999 Keystone

The Swiss city of Lausanne has received a major boost in its bid to become the permanent home of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Along with two other bidding cities, Lausanne has received special mention from the agency's evaluating committee.

Of the five cities still in contention to house the high-profile organisation, Lausanne, Montreal and Vienna were picked out as having “distinguished themselves” in the bidding to host the agency. The committee said that it was not criticising the other two bids by Bonn and Stockholm, but simply stating that the other three offered “the best guarantees”.

“WADA could find a good home in any of the five bid cities”, said the committee’s chairman Robert Ctvrtlik. “After weighing the applications though, Lausanne, Montreal and Vienna did distinguish themselves as potential host cities.”

Lausanne has housed the agency on a temporary basis since its founding in 1999 and was given further support on Wednesday when it received the backing of the Association of Summer Olympic Sports Federations. However the committee’s 104-page report warns that none of the three lead cities is “clearly in front of the others.”

“The aim of the selection process,” explained WADA’s secretary general, “is to determine, by the most professional and transparent means, which headquarters will be the most functional and the most viable both economically and technically.”

A final decision on WADA’s permanent home will be announced in Tallinn on August 21.

swissinfo with agencies