Back in September 2018, Beckie Scott resigned from the World Anti Doping Agency's compliance and review committee.

She made the decision in opposition to the recommendation to reinstate the Russian Anti-Doping Agency following its suspension.

Scott is in Dublin for the launch of the Team Ireland Athletes Commission plans.

Tonight on Off The Ball, she joined Joe Molloy to discuss her resignation from WADA  as well as her own experience as an athlete affected by the doping of rivals.

WADA's decision to reinstate Russia still surprises Scott, who is a former Cross-Country Skier.

"It was surprising. There's no question," she told Joe.

"When it happened, I was genuinely surprised by their recommendation. I was not surprised by the decision that was taken afterwards. After the recommendation was made, it seemed that was trend that everything was going and leading to.

"But it just felt like athlete, we'd been hearing for two years that there were these conditions, this roadmap that was being adhered to. And that that wasn't going to change.

"That that was going to be unwavering. And we believed it."

Big Problem

Scott also added that the "pressure is coming from the sports movement to reinstate a country that was very well resourced".

Scott also discussed her own experience as an athlete. She won bronze at the 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City in the 5-Kilometre Pursuit.

But then she got an upgrade to silver and ultimately to gold after the winner and runner-up's suspensions for PED use.

"The silver medal, I would say I was very neutral on that," she said.

"I didn't really want a silver medal. It doesn't change my life and it isn't really justice. I think silver would have been a very half-way compromise."

However, Scott did have "definite" suspicions about her rivals at the time as she explained.

"Doping was an open secret in our sport, in cross-country skiing," she said.

"I would say it's as prolific and well-known as cycling and it's a problem - a big problem. You might have heard of the recent drug raid in Austria at the Nordic World Championships. And that happens - not regularly - but regularly enough that it's a known problem."

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