An independent investigation, ordered by the World Anti-Doping Agency and conducted by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, found a far-reaching conspiracy to subvert drug-testing, extending from sports officials to the Russian security service.
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Russian Sports Ministry officials have acknowledged a “culture of doping” in the country but have denied allegations of government involvement.
“How many athletes have quit the sport because they couldn’t compete?” asks Dr. Stellingwerff.
“The Moscow laboratory was operated for the protection of athletes doped with the complicity of the state, a cheating system that we have described as being contrary to good behavior”.
“However, the real catalyst to develop the Sochi scheme was the abysmal performance of the Russian delegation at the Vancouver Winter Games in 2010”, the WADA report said Monday.
But McLaren, whose report went public Monday, said Russia’s cheating also included the 2013 track world championships in Moscow and was in place during the 2015 swimming world championships in Kazan.
Many organisations, including the United States Anti-Doping Agency, have said that the Sochi revelations should lead to a blanket ban on Russian Federation.
With doping officials from other countries also working in the Sochi lab, Russian Federation involved its security service, the replacement of the Soviet KGB.
“Should Russia be hosting unless it’s cleaned up?”
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.
McLaren, an expert on sports law from Western University, said he was confident that his information was valid even if he would have liked more time to examine evidence and interview witnesses.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev suspended Deputy Sports Minister Yury Nagornykh, who was named in a report on the doping of Russian athletes at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. But there is far from a consensus on what those sanctions will be, as the sports world toes the line between what Bach called “collective responsibility and individual justice”.
“The findings of the McLaren report are truly shocking”, the committee said.
The Australian Olympic Committee says it won’t comment on the issue until after the International Olympic Committee meets on Tuesday, European time. On Monday, July 18, 2016 WADA investigator Richard McLaren confirmed claims of state-run doping in Russian Federation.
The Olympics are 18 days away, and the IOC and worldwide sports federations will have to decide the fate of Russia’s Olympic team.
Inside Story – Is it fair to ban Russian athletes?
Although, McLaren does claim that at least one foreign footballer playing in the Russian Premier League had a positive drugs sample swapped for a negative one in the Moscow lab, as ordered by Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko.
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“We look forward to working with the IOC, WADA and the entire Olympic family to address the flaws in the current system so that a uniform approach to anti-doping can be implemented and enforced around the world”, Blackmun continued.
