Monday’s report, commissioned by WADA and written by arbitrator Richard McLaren, said allegations made by Moscow’s former anti-doping lab director about sample switching at the Sochi Olympics went much as described in a New York Times story in May.
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Medvedev’s press secretary Natalia Timakov said on July 18 that the suspension will last “until the investigation into the [World Anti-Doping Agency’s] report on the involvement of Russian state officials in the doping scandal is over”.
“For the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017, as for all FIFA competitions, FIFA will be in charge of the anti-doping program, ensuring the highest standards, including the latest science and recommendations by WADA”, FIFA said in a statement.
Following the release of the report, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced on Monday that the officials in question would temporarily be suspended, AP reported.
McLaren said the report was “credible and verifiable” and called Rodchenkov “was a credible and truthful person”.
The report found: “The Ministry of Sport directed, controlled and oversaw the manipulation of athletes’ analytical results or sample swapping and the active participation and assistance of the FSB [Russian Federal Security Service], CSP [Centre of Sports Preparation for Russian athletes] and both Moscow and Sochi laboratories”.
The report shows state-sponsored drug programs were impacting most sports but Putin says the calls for Russia’s expulsion from the games are politically motivated.
The report claims that Russian anti-doping staff used a variety of methods including the “Disappearing Positive Methodology”, as well as the replacement of some “dirty” urine samples with previously gathered clean ones.
The report said that Russian Deputy Sports Minister Yuri Nagornykh had decided which athletes would benefit from a cover-up, known as a SAVE order, although Mutko appeared to make the decision with regard to footballers.
Across town, the IAAF governing body’s expulsion of the Russian track team is being challenged by the Russian Olympic body at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. But this included most of the winter and summer sports.
But McLaren said the bottle tampering in Sochi was a one-shot deal.
Still, when Russian Federation hosted worldwide sports events which brought independent observers – the Sochi Olympics, the 2013 track world championships – then deeper deception was needed.
The full McLaren independent investigations report can be downloaded here.
The IOC will decide on Tuesday about any “provisional measures and sanctions” for the Rio Olympics, which start on 5 August.
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“I’m shocked and devastated by what’s been going on”, Melia said.
