In an interview with New York Times, published in mid-May, Rodchenkov claimed that an unnamed official from the Russian Sports Ministry used to send him lists of national athletes, whose doping samples he had to substitute during the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
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A WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) report found that India was the “third most doped country in the world” in sport, and Agarwal said that the agency, which is in its nascent stages, was looking to help the country move away from that tag.
Former WADA chairman Dick Pound, who led the prior track and field investigation, has called a full ban of all Russian athletes at the Olympics the “nuclear option”-but it’s one that appears to be gaining momentum”.
LONDON (AP) – International Olympic officials will try to find “the right balance between collective responsibility and individual justice” in dealing with Russian doping allegations ahead of the games in Rio de Janeiro, IOC President Thomas Bach said Wednesday.
Rodchenkov said he is ready to provide evidence to WADA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and also evidence about the need to re-check the doping samples from the 2014 Winter Olympics kept in Lausanne.
Bach said Klishina’s case could not be “put in the same basket” as whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova who must wait to see if an Olympic ethics board accepts the 800m runner’s request to take part as a neutral.
“Everybody not implicated can not be made responsible for the misbehavior of others”, he said. “We have to see how far it goes, what the evidence is and then we have to evaluate the report. If, at the end of this procedure, there should be proven infringements of the anti-doping rules or manipulation of tests, then together with the winter sports federations we will take the necessary measures”.
McLaren said last month that his preliminary findings supported allegations that the Russian sports ministry was involved in manipulating test results before, during and after the track world championships in Moscow in 2013. Tygart, the leader of the USA anti-doping effort, says nothing short of removing the Russian flag from this summer’s Olympics would suffice if an upcoming report about Russian doping is as damning as expected.
More than 90 Russians applied to the IAAF for Rio eligibility but only two were approved, although the Russian Olympic Committee is challenging this at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
But, with McLaren’s report arriving before that tribunal concludes on July 21, there is a very real prospect that athletes and officials from around the world will be demanding the same treatment for the entire Olympic team, which would mean no Russian anthem, kit or flag and only a small band of foreign-based athletes with spotless anti-doping records, competing under the Olympic flag.
The IAAF also passed a rule allowing for Russian athletes who have been outside the country and subject to reliable testing to apply to compete as neutral athletes.
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The International Association of Athletics Federations said on Sunday that Klishina was clear to compete in Rio as a neutral athlete. “She has been declared eligible by her International Federation (IAAF) and, in accordance with the Olympic Charter, it is for her national Olympic committee to decide on her selection for the Games”.
