Russia backs retesting of Sochi Olympic doping samples

By: 9 years ago

FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2014, file photo, a man walks past a sign reading doping control, at the Laura biathlon and cross-country ski center, at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. The IOC "would not hesitate" to retest drug samples from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi if there is evidence that doping controls were manipulated, according to the Olympic body's medical director. A Russian whistleblower told CBS' "60 Minutes" that four Russian gold medalists from the Sochi Olympics used steroids and Russian security agents worked as doping control officers during the games. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

In this 2014 file photo, a man walks past a sign reading doping control, at the Laura biathlon and cross-country ski center, at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. The IOC “would not hesitate” to retest drug samples from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi if there is evidence that doping controls were manipulated, according to the Olympic body’s medical director. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

MOSCOW — Russia says it supports retesting drug test samples from the 2014 Sochi Olympics after accusations it operated a mass doping program at the games.

Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Russian national testing laboratory, told the New York Times he switched tainted urine samples for clean ones for athletes allegedly identified by the Russian government as being part of a state doping system.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko tells the state R-Sport news agency “it all needs to be retested, that’s easiest.”

Rodchenkov has also offered to assist in retesting, and to identify any samples which may have been tampered with.

It is far from clear how any retesting could work since Rodchenkov told the Times he threw away as many as 100 original samples.