Reedie lines up to replace Fahey as WADA head

Craig Reedie is set to take over from current World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President John Fahey, who will step down at the end of the year.

British Olympic official, Reedie was selected by the IOC executive board on Friday, beating off Edwin Moses and Patrick Schamasch to the nomination.

The vote for the next WADA head takes place in November with Reedie’s victory already a formality. Britain already has one nomination for the head of the UCI in place, with Brian Cookson taking on Pat McQuaid for the chair in Aigle, Switzerland.

The main challenge ahead of Reedie will be to establish credibility in clean sport. Cycling has been hit by a number of damaging revelations since the USADA report last year, while the UCI. It’s not the only sport to have faced negative headlines, with tennis, sport in Australian and now athletics all facing up to positive tests and systematic doping.

"It is daunting, if you look at the last seven, eight weeks of news," Reedie is reported to have said on the ottawacitizen.com website. "Yes, it is daunting."

Reedie, 72, is already on WADA's executive committee, and is a former Chairman of the British Olympic Association (1992–2005). He is also still a representative of the International Olympic Committee