The WADA report says Russian Federation succeeded in covering up 580 positive tests from 30 different sports, in part by infiltrating the laboratory where samples were stored during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. McLaren says the chain of command went as high as the Russian Federal secret service and the Ministry of Sport oversaw and controlled the swapping of tests.
Advertisement
Chief investigator McLaren was appointed by WADA in May following allegations made by Dr Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of the WADA-accredited Moscow laboratory, who claimed he had covered up positive doping samples from Russian athletes in Sochi with the aid of the national security services.
“The Moscow laboratory operated, for the protection of doped Russian athletes, within a state-dictated failsafe system”, McLaren said.
The move comes in the wake of an independent report, written by Western University Law Professor Richard McLaren and released by WADA on Monday, that alleges numerous Russian athletes took performance-enhancing drugs at previous Olympics, including the 2014 Winter Games, hosted by the Russian city of Sochi.
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.
However, Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) indicated last week that he was reluctant to see athletes from one sport punished for the crimes of those, or officials, from another.
McLaren said “100 per cent of the bottles had been scratched” although added that this would “not have been visible to the untrained eye”.
Efforts to ban Russia from the Rio Olympics inappropriate – PutinBy Swastika Singh Tuesday 19/07/2016A Gold medalist Russian track team from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin has said officials who are named and shamed in the report will be suspended, WADA has said it insists on “the imposition of the most serious consequences to protect clean athletes from the scourge of doping in sport”.
Shortly after the report was released, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s executive board said it wants the International Olympic Committee to ban all Russian teams from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Among the other recommendations, WADA said worldwide federations from sports implicated in the report consider action against Russian national bodies and that McLaren and his team complete their mandate provided WADA can secure funding. Thirty other sporting codes are involved.
“WADA also recommends that Russian government officials be denied access to global competitions, including Rio 2016”.
According Mclaren, doping does not only concern the Russian athletics.
Advertisement
The report said the sports ministry in Moscow under Vitaly Mutko organised a subterfuge under which tainted urine samples were replaced and kept away from worldwide observers.
