According to The New York Times, the names of bobsledder Alexander Zubkov (two gold medals at the 2014 Olympics in two-and four-men bobs), skier Alexander Legkov (the gold medallist in the 50-kilometre race and the silver medallist in the relay race) and skeleton racer Alexander Tretyakov (gold) were allegedly mentioned in that “doping program”.
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The absence of Kenya at an Olympics meet would rob the world event of glamour considering that in its own right, Kenya is a powerhouse in athletics and arguably, provides the yardstick by which other athletes measure their performance. At a news conference in Moscow though, Russia’s deputy sports minister Yuri Nagornykh says Russian Federation could not have carried out such a fraud because there were foreign observers constantly watching the drug-testing process.
Rodchenkov has offered to assist in retesting, and to identify any samples which may have been tampered with.
Russia, second behind the United States in the athletics medal table at the 2012 London Olympics, is banned from all competitions after an independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) revealed widespread doping.
“He’s a professional, worked for a hundred years in this system. We are ashamed of them”, Mr Mutko said in his strongest comments over the doping scandal. We are ashamed of them. We are very sorry because Russian Federation is committed to upholding the highest standards in sport.
The IAAF is expected to decide next month whether the country has done enough to fix the problems and have its eligibility reinstated.
Last year, Russian Federation was formally banned from global competition after a report was released by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) which revealed a systemic level of “state-sponsored” doping. Athletes wanting to join the Olympics will be undergoing a minimum of three anti-doping tests carried out by the IAAF.
Russian Federation has again urged the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to lift its athletics ban as the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro draws closer.
Rodchenkov, who has moved to Los Angeles, also told the Times that he gave athletes a cocktail of anabolic steroids that would help them recover more quickly.
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Earlier this year the World Anti-Doping Agency announced that Russian swimming was being scrutinized for allegations of its own culture of doping. “Since Russia was suspended last November, with RUSADA, the Moscow laboratory and the ARAF all losing their WADA status, we have agreed a road-map with WADA aimed at restructuring these organizations, taking a series of steps to demonstrate how committed we are to ensuring that sport in our country is clean and fair”. The documentary said that Russian athletes systematically took banned substances on instructions from their coaches.
