Putin Asks Internal Investigation on Doping Scandal

Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov, who is also an IOC member, arrived this week in Lausanne and met with worldwide Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach in a hastily-arranged meeting in a bid to contain the fallout from the scandal, a source within the Olympic movement said.

Bach dismissed a suggestion Wednesday that he was confident in Russia’s ability to field a track team in Rio.

Mutko said he wanted to solve Russia’s doping problem once and for all.

In southern Black Sea resort of Sochi, the host city of last year’s Winter Olympics, a few Russian track and field athletes trained in the sun on Thursday.

In comments reported on the Kremlin’s website, Putin said: “It is necessary to conduct our own internal investigation and to provide the open – I stress – the most open and professional cooperation with the global anti-doping agencies”.

It also said that six athletes were allowed to compete at the London Olympics after earlier anti-doping cases against them were slowed down.

Savinova-Farsonova is one of five Russian athletes facing lifetime bans.

Fears were growing that the scandal could widen to include other countries and other sports, as WADA suggested in its report.

However, the ARAF’s current interim president Vadim Zelichenok, who replaced Balakhnichev, was also criticised in the WADA report for not co-operating.

Submitted on Monday, it alleges that Russian athletes have been part of a systematic, state-sponsored doping programme that led to changes in the results of worldwide competitions, including the London Olympics of 2012.

“According to a Sputnik News translation, Putin said: “[Russia] must do everything possible to protect [its] athletes from banned substances…as the competition should be fair and promote sportsmanship”.

With suspension looming, Olympic hopefuls in Russian Federation remain upbeat about their chances of competing in Rio de Janeiro. “Not only we, if it’s proved, are using doping”.

Former European 400-meter relay champion Ksenia Aksyonova says “everywhere there are problems”.

VTB was the first Russian company to sign a sponsorship contract with the IAAF when an original five-year deal from 2007 to 2011 was agreed in 2006. We think all the goals have been achieved regarding this.

Diack ended his 16-year reign as IAAF president in August, when Briton Sebastian Coe, a double Olympic 1500m victor, was elected as his replacement.

Asked if the Olympic body could show leadership in the Russian doping scandal, Bach replied: “We have already shown this leadership”.