WADA commission recommends banning of Russian athletes

Pound agreed with the suggestion that the Russian situation amounted to “state-sponsored doping” but Coe declined to compare it with the Stasi-backed regime that turned East Germany into a sporting superpower in the 1970s and 80s.

The report says more than 1,400 samples were “intentionally and maliciously” destroyed by a Moscow laboratory even after a WADA plea to preserve them.

It is also claimed that the London 2012 Olympic Games were effectively sabotaged by athletes that may otherwise have been banned and that the Moscow anti-doping laboratory in question should be stripped of its accreditation.

A 2012 photo of Russia’s gold medalist Mariya Savinova (left) celebrating with bronze victor Ekaterina Poistogova (right), and coach Vladimir Kazarin at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Interestingly, there is no mention of Russia’s own Anti-Doping Agency, the (RUSADA) in the report.

Pound said that “overwhelming portions” of the program had been proven accurate.

And Coe is adamant that unless the Russian Athletics Federation can offer an explanation to the raft of allegations then their athletes can expect to be chucked out of the Rio Olympics next summer.

“I think they can do it. I hope they can, ” Pound added. Either get this done or you are not going to Rio.

“We need time to properly digest and understand the detailed findings included in the report”. “However, I have urged the Council to start the process of considering sanctions against ARAF”.

Paula Radcliffe said: “We do need to take the step of banning them form worldwide competition until they do clean up”.

“Dick Pound said very clearly that this was not IAAF policy – it was rogue individuals who have infiltrated the IAAF and if there are failings in our governance or our anti-doping programme I will fix them”.

“In this context the International Olympic Committee welcomes the clear commitment expressed by IAAF to do “whatever it takes to protect the clean athletes and rebuild trust in our sport”. Acting president of the Russian athletics federation, Vadim Zelichenok, said that he does not believe the government is engaged in efforts to cover up doping violations.

The IAAF has since responded with a statement that said it will consider sanctions against Russian Federation, including a possible suspension.

Russia’s prospects in the upcoming 2016 Olympics in Brazil could be badly affected by a doping scandal that was allegedly sponsored by senior sports officials from the country.

The crisis which has shaken world athletics first erupted with allegations of doping aired in a German TV documentary in December 2014.

Last week, French authorities detained those two IAAF officials-former president Lamine Diack, a native of Senagal, and former anti-doping official Gabriel Dollé, who is French-and have opened criminal investigations into their conduct.

The commission, chaired by former WADA president Dick Pound, recommended that the Russian athletics federation be immediately declared non-compliant and be suspended by the worldwide Association of Athletics Federation.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) also released a statement, praising the Wada commission for its work and giving its backing to the calls for Russian Federation to be suspended.

The newly released 350-page report uncovered doping among track and field athletes during the Sochi Olympics in 2014, according to the group’s findings.