Sochi-2014 Report: WADA recommends removing the entire Russian team from the Games in Rio

Фото: Depositphotos

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recommends that all athletes from Russia be removed from the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games of the Year in Rio de Janeiro. Such a resolution was published on the agency's website following the announcement of the report of the independent WADA commission, which found evidence of frauds with doping at the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014.

The commission, led by Canadian specialist Richard McLaren, concluded that Russian authorities encouraged the doping program through the Ministry of Sports, which reportedly “led the manipulation of test results” with the active participation and assistance of FSB officers.

The temporary anti-doping laboratory in Sochi used, according to WADA experts, a unique sample substitution methodology that allowed Russian athletes to participate and win prizes at the 2014 Games using doping.

The McLaren Commission investigated the allegations made by the former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, who also headed the temporary laboratory in Sochi. Rodchenkov, who is now in the United States, said earlier that at least 15 Russian medalists Sochi-2014 took doping.

“Our experts were able to confirm beyond any doubt a number of assumptions and versions that Rodchenkov put forward,” Richard McLaren said at a press conference in Toronto.

The Investigative Committee of Russia claims that Rodchenkov allegedly supplied athletes with illegal drugs for money. Maclaren said that from an ethical point of view, Rodchenkov may have questions, but he does not intend to comment on this.

Among other things, in an interview with the New York Times, Grigory Rodchenkov said that he added salt to some urine samples in order to achieve the same mass that was indicated in the documents.

According to McLaren, they were able to detect an elevated salt content in the urine of Russian athletes from Sochi, which is still stored in the laboratory in Lausanne. According to the investigation, the level of salt significantly exceeded the indicators possible in a normal person.

In addition, it was possible to identify technologies for hacking and replacing containers with analyzes that the Federal Security Service of Russia allegedly developed and carried out. The substitution was carried out by replacing with the imperceptible burglary packages of standard containers used in all international competitions.

According to Rodchenkov, every night, for several hours, fraud participants worked in a dark laboratory in Sochi, handing over samples manually through a small hole in the wall to prepare for successful testing the next day.

The President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, called the findings of the McLaren investigation shocking.

“This is an unprecedented attack on the integrity of sport and the Olympic Games,” the IOC chief said.

At the same time, Richard Maclaren said that the doping system in Russian sport worked not only at the Olympic Games in Sochi, but also at the World Athletics Championships 2013 of the Year in Moscow, at the Universiade in Kazan, and at the World Aquatics Championships, which also took Kazan.

17 Jun. Council of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) decided leave a suspension All-Russian Athletics Federation in force. The organization said that Russian athletes, to take part in the games in Rio, must prove that they did not take doping.

At the moment, only the long jumper Darya Klishina, who has been training in the USA for several years, received the right to participate in the Olympics.

On Tuesday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne will consider the claims of other Russian athletes, including two-time Olympic champion Elena Isinbayeva, who insist on their right to participate in the Olympic Games in Rio.

As for WADA's recommendations based on the McLaren Commission report, the International Olympic Committee will have the final say. Officials took a break for a day - on Tuesday, members of the IOC Presidium will hold a telephone meeting and, possibly, make a decision.

After the publication of the report, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to temporarily suspend the officials named in the report who are accused of involvement in the doping scandal. Among them is Deputy Minister of Sports of Russia Yuri Nagornykh. However, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, according to President Vladimir Putin's press secretary, will continue his work, since his name was not mentioned in the report.

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