In May, a slew of allegations emerged accusing Russian athletes – with involvement from government officials – of doping during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
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The state-sponsored cheating happened after an “abysmal” medal count at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, WADA said.
Professor Richard McLaren was appointed by WADA to investigate allegations of Russian state manipulation of the doping control process, which were made by the former director of the WADA-accredited laboratory in Moscow, Dr Grigory Rodchenkov. This was all spearheaded by the Ministry of Sport, which worked with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to protect Russia’s best athletes.
“Therefore, the International Olympic Committee will not hesitate to take the toughest sanctions available against any individual or organisation implicated”.
In response to that report, the International Association of Athletics Federations – the global agency that governs international track and field – imposed a ban on Russian track and field athletes competing in international events that will effectively bar the global superpower’s track team from the Rio Games.
“Now, the so-called doping scandals have come into play, attempts are being made to extend the sanctions for the exposed doping abuse cases to all, including “clean” athletes under the pretext of allegedly protecting their interests”.
Ahead of the report, WADA President Craig Reedie had said if the findings showed a cover-up across Russian sports, he might recommend no Russian athletes compete at Rio.
Reedie said WADA is working to establish non-binding guidelines that will help the IOC and worldwide sports federations identify exceptions to the Russian ban – notably, Russian athletes who trained in other countries that had robust, clean anti-doping systems.
While not calling for a Rio ban, he did add: “We must come to come together as an worldwide community.to ensure this unprecedented level of criminality never again threatens the sports we cherish”.
However, McLaren said he was “supremely confident” in his report.
It identifies Russia’s deputy sports minister, Yuri Nagornykh, as the man who chose which samples should be concealed.
Responding to the findings in a statement released by the Kremlin, Putin said: “The accusations against Russia’s athletes are based on information given by one single person [Rodchenkov], an individual with a notorious reputation”.
With the shock of this recently uncovered corruption Team USA is focusing its energy into preparing for the upcoming Rio Games and simply hopes that appropriate sanctions will be enforced which allow clean athletes the respect of even competition in Rio. The IOC will make a decision on the matter on Tuesday. During that time, the report found, Russian officials had destroyed thousands of urine samples from Russian athletes.
We have no doubt that the International Olympic Committee must respond decisively to the findings in the report.
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Only the Russian track and field team, so far, is banned from the Summer Games starting August 5.
