Germany backs total ban on Russian competitors

FILE — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (C) speaks during an awarding ceremony for Russian athletes, winners of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, in Sochi, on February 24, 2014. AFP PHOTO/ RIA-NOVOSTI/ POOL / MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV / AFP PHOTO / RIA-NOVOSTI / MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV

The German Olympic body (DOSB) called for all Russian competitors to be excluded from the Rio Games next month, after the publication of a report on Monday that revealed state-run doping.

The probe by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren found that the Russian secret service helped athletes cover up doping during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, with 30 different sports implicated.

Russian track and field athletes have already been banned from competing in Brazil, but the DOSB joined the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in advocating a total ban on all Russian competitors from Rio.

“Since it is clearly fraud and systematic actions taken by the state to cover up doping, appropriate sanctions must be imposed up to the possible exclusion of other sports, or even to ban the entire Russian national Olympic committee,” DOSB president Alfons Hormann said in a statement.

“Those who consciously trample on the values of sport, such as fair play and equal opportunities, should be penalized.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) could impose sanctions on Russia on Tuesday, with the Games getting under way in less than three weeks’ time.