A member of security guards a Russian Olympic committee building in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Nov. 9, 2015. Russian track and field athletes could be banned from next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after a devastatingly critical report accused the country’s government of complicity in widespread doping and cover-ups. AP Photo
GENEVA, Switzerland—Russia’s athletics federation should be suspended from all competition, including the 2016 Olympic Games, over widespread doping, a damning report by an independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said Monday.
The report outlined evidence of systematic cheating with the consent of the government in Moscow, noting that drug tests for athletes were conducted at a Russian lab which totally lacked credibility.
“It’s pretty disturbing,” said former WADA chief Richard Pound, who headed the three-man commission, adding that the extent of the cheating was “worse than we thought.”
The panel’s findings called for athletics’ governing body (IAAF) to suspend Russia’s athletics body (ARAF) and declare it “non-compliant” with globally agreed doping regulations.
IAAF President Sebastian Coe said he would give Russia until Friday to respond to the scathing report.
“I want an explanation,” Coe said on a conference call. “I am completely shocked by the allegations.”
“My instinct remains to encourage engagement not isolation, but the extent of what’s being said, I need to seek (IAAF) council support to have them (ARAF) report back by the end of the week.”
The IAAF Council are due to meet Friday to discuss the crisis facing the Olympic’s flagship sport.
In their initial reactions to the commission’s bombshell findings, Russian officials offered conflicting messages.
Sports minister Vitali Mutko pledged Moscow “will certainly fulfil” any recommendations that emerge from the IAAF or WADA following the report.
But separately, the head of the country’s anti-doping agency, Nikita Kamayev called the report “groundless” and dismissed evidence that officials had destroyed test samples and accepted bribes from athletes.
Olympics ‘sabotaged’
WADA’s commission also called for five Russian athletes—including 800m Olympic winner Mariya Savinova—to be given lifetime bans, suggesting the presence of doped athletes had “sabotaged” the 2012 Games in London.
The Moscow anti-doping laboratory needed to be stripped of its accreditation and its director fired, the commission further said.
Pound told journalists that given the extent of the cheating among Russian track athletes, the doping was state-supported and “could not have happened” without tacit approval of authorities.
Pound suggested that the rot within the country’s track program was so severe, he hoped that Moscow would “volunteer” to remove its athletes from the Rio games.
He also voiced hope that Russia would “take the lead in fixing a problem that could…destroy” athletics.
Pressed on the consequences of inaction, especially if tainted Russian athletes compete in Rio, Pound insisted that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would step in.
“The IOC is not going to sell out athletes that need to be protected” from those who dope, said Pound, a former IOC vice president.
The head of the US anti-doping agency, Travis Tygart, demanded tough consequences if the allegations are proven true.
“If Russia has created an organized scheme of state-supported doping, then they have no business being allowed to compete on the world stage,” Tygart said in a statement.
Crisis could deepen
The crisis first erupted with allegations of doping aired in a German TV documentary in December 2014.
Pound said that “overwhelming portions” of the program had been proven accurate.
Britain’s Sunday Times and the ARD channel also obtained a database belonging to the IAAF which contained more than 12,000 blood tests taken from around 5,000 athletes between 2001 and 2012.
The affair took a dramatic twist last week when former IAAF chief Lamine Diack was charged with corruption on suspicion of taking bribes to cover up doping cases.
The 82-year-old Senegalese was also charged with money laundering and conspiracy. His legal advisor Habib Cisse and former IAAF anti-doping doctor were charged with corruption.
As global police body Interpol announced it was launching an investigation into the affair Monday’s dramatic WADA findings gave Coe plenty of food for thought just 270 days before the Rio Olympics.
But, contrary to some expectations, Pound’s report did not address allegations of IAAF officials receiving bribes to cover up positive tests for athletes, including potential medal winners from past Olympic games.
Pound made clear, however, that Monday’s release included only the first part of the commission’s report, which focused largely on Russian athletics.
Further evidence of misconduct, including potentially among “rogue” individuals within the IAAF, is expected by the end of the year, Pound said.
“We certainly do not think that Russia is the only country with a doping problem and we don’t think athletics is the only sport with a doping problem,” said Pound.
“It seems pretty clear from both ARD program and subsequent developments that Kenya has a real problem. It’s been very slow to acknowledge that there is a problem.
“If they don’t do a good job (investigating doping) then I think somebody else will do a job for them.”
The WADA revelations were greeted with astonishment in the world of athletics.
“Suspected some of this for years but way worse than imagined,” said women’s marathon world record-holder Paula Radcliffe, 41.
“Athletics needs to take strong action and move quickly forward in right direction.”
Ironically hours before the storm broke President Vladimir Putin urged his compatriots to take up sport, telling Russian television: “If you do it in a rather subtle way then success will come.”
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