The Russian track federation plans to partially admit to the charges leveled against it by the World Anti-Doping Agency commission "as it bids to avoid a ban from competition," according to James Ellingworth of the AP. The federation's acting president, Vadim Zelichenok, said on Thursday that Russia "has prepared a response to the sport's governing body, whose council is due to decide Friday on whether to suspend Russia." If Russia is banned, "the country's track and field team could be excluded from next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro." Zelichenok said, "We admit some things, we argue with some things, some are already fixed, it's a variety. It's not for the press." Even if Russia's track and field team is banned, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Thursday that "the country has no intention of boycotting the Olympics." Mutko said, "Russia is against a boycott. Russia is against political interference in sport" (AP, 11/12).
IAAF PONDERS BAN: REUTERS' Ian Chadband wrote IAAF President Sebastian Coe will chair a meeting of world athletics on Friday "to discuss suspending Russia over allegations of state sponsored doping of its athletes, a crisis that has put his leadership under the spotlight barely three months into the job." Coe "will preside over a meeting in Monaco" at which possible sanctions, including suspension, will be decided. Coe said on Sunday that "his instinct was against banning Russia, but a day later he said the scale of the doping regime exposed by the report meant that the IAAF Council should consider" a temporary ban. Coe: "We will investigate and if we find failures in our governance we will act." His comments "represent a major shift in tone" (
REUTERS, 11/12).
SHARED SPACE: REUTERS' Jack Stubbs wrote the Moscow laboratory tasked with catching drugs cheats in Russian athletics "shared a building complex with the doctor accused of masterminding the cheating scheme." WADA identified Dr. Sergei Portugalov, former deputy director of the Russian Federal Research Centre of Physical Culture and Sports (VNIIFK), "as the mastermind of the scheme, advising athletes on doping, administering injections and helping cover up positive drugs tests." One of the people whose job was to detect and stop Portugalov's activities "was Grigory Rodchenkov, the director of Russia's leading anti-doping center." But "in fact the two men and the agencies where they worked had a closely intertwined relationship." At number 10 Elizavetinsky lane in eastern Moscow, Rodchenkov's laboratory "stands next to the VNIIFK head office." Both buildings "list the same address on their websites and are connected by an overhead walkway" (
REUTERS, 11/12).
WADA'S ROLE: In London, Owen Gibson wrote WADA "has much to be proud of since it was set up in 1998." In the face of myriad competing forces, "it has drawn up an agreed list of banned substances and sought to maintain a set of consistent sanctions across sport that are defensible both in law and in the court of public opinion." It has done laudable work in trying to standardize out-of-competition testing, educating athletes about its "strict liability" stance and made progress in shifting cultures and attitudes. But what it has not done "is curb the scourge of the determined cheat, backed by a network of rogue coaches or an entire nation." It "is widely accepted that between 10-15% of athletes are cheating, with the percentage probably higher in certain endurance events." Many seasoned anti-doping veterans worry that WADA has been "captured" by the IOC. The IOC "is never likely to throw its own sports out of the Olympics, certainly none of the major ones, for all sorts of political and commercial reasons." So a properly independent WADA "should be given the power to sanction sports and nations" (
GUARDIAN, 11/12).
