• President says he will serve full term despite pressure • Reedie admits even his wife has urged him to stand down

The World Anti-Doping Agency president, Sir Craig Reedie, has vehemently denied making a backroom deal with Russia and insisted he will not resign despite mounting criticism from athletes and anti-doping groups.

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Speaking at a Wada conference at Lord’s, Reedie promised to serve his full term which ends next November, even though his wife had urged him to quit because of the pressure he is facing. “Every now and again the lady that I have lived with for 50 years gives me the option of resignation or divorce,” he said. “But I don’t think the world gets better by me not being there.”

Reedie said his wife, Rosemary, had brought up the question again a few days ago but had “fortunately calmed down” since. Asked how he persuaded her, Reedie said, in an attempt at humour: “I decided to develop a new kitchen ... which is very nice.”

Wada has come under sustained fire since lifting the Russian Anti-Doping Agency’s suspension in September, especially as the Russian government did not appear to fulfil its obligation under Wada’s roadmap to accept it had run a massive state-sponsored doping programme.

Reedie admitted he had been “bruised” by the criticism but denied anything underhand had gone on and again insisted the deal struck with Russia would give Wada access to the Moscow lab, which could help it catch more cheats.

“How can you describe it as a backroom deal, if I write publicly to the Russian authorities and I copy that letter to all of my executive committee?” he added, before denying that he ever got too close to Russia despite writing a glowing email to the assistant of the then sports minister Vitaly Mutko in 2015.

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The pressure on Reedie intensified on Wednesday following an extraordinary emergency summit at the White House during which the athlete Emma Coburn accused Wada of “bullying and disheartening” those arguing for reform and the US Anti-Doping Agency chief, Travis Tygart, accused Reedie of being too close to the International Olympic Committee, which is seen as sympathetic to Russia.

Reedie disagreed, saying he was “disappointed” with Tygart’s comments. “Travis should know more than anybody else that over the last few years I have had as much difficulty with the IOC as with anybody,” he said. “I would like to think that at some future date he might address Usada’s efforts to look at the large area of American sport which is not code-compliant. I think that would be a greater contribution to clean sport than continually complaining about what Wada does.”

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Reedie also took aim at his vice-president at Wada, Linda Helleland, who attended the meeting at the White House – apparently against Reedie’s wishes. Lelleland, who voted against the decision to readmit Rusada in the Seychelles last month and has been a vocal supporter of athletes having a greater say in Wada, was told by Reedie she should be loyal to Wada’s position on Russia.

“When Madame Helleland told me she was going I reminded her of our structures, and I actually nominate who will represent Wada at an event,” said Reedie. “I asked her if she had any briefing or authority from the public authority she was due to represent but if she attended as an individual I expected her as vice-president of Wada to be loyal to the democratic decision taken by the executive board in the Seychelles and secondly to recognise the work that is being done on governance. I didn’t hear a reply.”

Helleland later posted a riposte on Twitter. “Dear President Reedie, I meet who I want,” she wrote. “Athletes, national anti-doping organisations or government representatives. And yes, I think athletes should be represented at all governing bodies at Wada. I will never accept bullying of athletes or any other. #FreedomOfSpeech”