Members recommended that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) take immediate action to stop Russian athletes from competing in next month’s Olympics, especially since the report underscores WADA’s own findings.
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Though the report focuses exclusively on the Olympics and does not make any conclusions about the 2018 World Cup, the report does say that the doping case of “at least” one soccer player in Russia’s Premier League was covered up and 11 positive tests for Russian soccer players “were made to disappear”.
The report is an embarrassment for Putin, who personally oversaw preparations for the US$50 billion games in Sochi the most expensive in Olympic history.
Pound said prohibiting Russia from taking part in the Rio games wouldn’t hurt the competition, noting the absence of Russian athletes during the Eastern Bloc boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Reports of Russian doping have been uncovered in multiple media outlets over the last two years, with the first major investigation broadcast by German public television network ARD in December 2014.
With the Rio Games so near, the executive board of the International Olympic Committee will determine any sanctions of the game during a conference call meeting on Tuesday.
The new WADA investigation found that doping affected nearly every sport, not just track and field, and provided fresh evidence it was controlled directly by the Russian state.
The World Anti-Doping Agency released a bombshell report Monday concluding that Russian authorities deliberately tried to cover up their athletes’ use of performance-enhancing drugs at the 2014 Sochi Olympics by swapping out and manipulating urine samples.
Drug Free Sport New Zealand supports the position of dozens of its peers in calling for a ban on Russian participation at the Rio Games after damning allegations of state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes were confirmed this morning. He also wrote that the scheme was highly organized, with involvement from Russia’s anti-doping organization, its ministry of sports, and the Russian secret service.
These samples were given to an FSB agent, who was given security clearance into the laboratory as a sewer engineer.
Before the report was released on Monday, Russia’s track and field team had already been banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations – the world governing body for track and field – from competing in the Olympics due to doping violations.
The letter, which drew criticism from some including the president of the European Olympic Committee who called the move “premature” and said it “seems to have been an attempt to agree [on] an outcome before any evidence has been presented”, also called for Russian athletes to be prohibited from competing in the Games.
The global community is witnessing “a risky recurrence of politics interfering in sport”, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. From the samples available to them, McLaren said, Russia’s ministry of sport (CSP) had issued 312 orders of “Save”, while saying “Quarantine” in 265 cases – including most cases of foreigners’ tests. It did not say which officials would be affected.
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“A mind-blowing level of corruption within both Russian sport and government”, said Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. He added that the officials named in the report will be suspended pending an internal investigation.
