World Anti-Doping Agency recommends banning Russian Federation from Olympics

Drug Free Sport New Zealand supports the position of dozens of its peers in calling for a ban on Russian participation at the Rio Games after damning allegations of state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes were confirmed this morning.

Rodchenkov, for example, had claimed that the Russian secret service (FSB) had worked out how to open and re-seal the supposedly tamper-proof bottles that are used for storing urine samples so that the contents could be replaced with “clean” urine. The commission was able to identify at least three FSB employees that had direct access to the Sochi laboratory, one of whom was disguised as a “sewage worker”.

“Furthermore, the Investigation reveals that State oversight and directed control of the Moscow laboratory in processing and covering up urine samples of Russian athletes was applied to all sport disciplines whose urine samples were being analyzed by the Moscow laboratory”.

In May, the New York Times and 60 Minutes first reported on the doping scheme after scoring interviews with Grigory Rodchenkov, former head of Russia’s anti-doping lab in Moscow, and Vitaly Stepanov, who once worked with the Russian Anti-Doping Agency.

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.

The report, led by Canadian law professor Dr Richard McLaren, alleges that Russian Federation chose to ramp up its doping cheating after picking up just 15 medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics. According to the World Anti-Doping Agency, 30 sports – including 20 summer Olympic sports and paralympic sports – were subverted. It included the run-up to the London 2012 Olympics, as well as during the athletics World Championships in Moscow and the World University Games in Kazan in 2013 and the Winter Olympics in Sochi a year later.

“In an ideal world, we would’ve done a great deal more work with the data, ‘” McLaren said.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which will determine whether all Russian teams should be barred from competing in Rio, has said the findings show a “shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sports and on the Olympic Games”.

“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.

President Vladimir Putin said earlier on Monday that Russian officials named in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s report would be temporarily suspended.

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”.

McLaren did not make any recommendations for the future of the Russian team at the upcoming Games, saying it was up to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and others to “absorb and act upon” the content of the report.