Russia’s "sporting reputation has been dealt a fresh blow" after an independent report revealed that more than 1,000 of its athletes were involved in an "unprecedented" operation to "manipulate or conceal" positive drugs tests, according to Bond & Seddon of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Unveiling the second part of his investigation into Russian doping, Richard McLaren set out in detail what he described as an "institutionalised and disciplined medal-winning strategy and conspiracy" across at least 30 sports. He said, "For years international sports competitions have unknowingly been hijacked by the Russians. Coaches and athletes have been playing on an uneven field. Sports fans have been deceived. It’s time that this stops." Cheating methods "included the swapping of urine samples" in the Winter Olympics at Sochi in '14 -- a practice "widespread among summer and winter athletes," according to the report. Other findings revealed the presence of "physiologically impossible salt readings" among female medal winners. To make clean urine samples appear authentic, officials "added coffee granules or sediment," McLaren added. The report identified 15 Russian medal winners at the London 2012 Olympics. Of these, 10 have "since been stripped of their medals" (FT, 12/10). In London, Martyn Ziegler reported revelations of Russia’s "unprecedented corruption" at the London 2012 Olympics "may lead to the country being banned" from sending a team to next year’s athletics World Championships in London. The IAAF, which excluded Russia's track and field team from the Rio Olympics, "may now extend that ban to include the World Championships." Unless Russia’s "disgraced anti-doping body recovers its official recognition, then it is almost certain" that the exclusion from int'l athletics competition will remain. The IOC has recommended that sports federations "do not stage World Championships in Russia until its investigations into the scandal are completed." There are also 33 footballers among the 695 athletes reported by McLaren’s investigation for doping violations, but there "appears no threat" to the 2018 World Cup taking place in Russia. The investigation used a "firearms ballistics expert to examine sample bottles" and, McLaren said, he was "able to prove beyond question that numerous bottles had been tampered with." Tiny scratches and marks, "almost invisible to the naked eye, showed investigators there was evidence of tampering." McLaren’s report "reiterates how, during Sochi, sample bottles would be passed out" through a "mousehole" -- specially drilled in the wall -- when a Russian secret service (FSB) agent known as Blokhin, and posing as a maintenance engineer, "would swap them for clean urine" (LONDON TIMES, 12/10). REUTERS' Mitch Phillips reported the second and final part of the report provided "exhaustive evidence of an elaborate doping scheme." McLaren said, "We are now able to confirm a cover-up that dates back until at least 2011 that evolved from uncontrolled chaos to an institutionalized and disciplined medal-winning conspiracy." He added that the scale was "unprecedented." McLaren: "We have evidence revealing that more than 500 positive results were reported as negative, including well-known and elite-level athletes and medal winners, who had their positive results automatically falsified." WADA President Craig Reedie called the report "alarming," but Russia "showed no sign of accepting its conclusions." The Russian Sports Ministry said that it would study the WADA report and cooperate with anti-doping bodies, but that it "denies that any government programs exist to support doping in sport." Two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva, the newly-elected head of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency supervisory board, said shortly before the report was released, "It is well known to us that many foreign athletes have a history of doping but compete at an international level with no problems." McLaren pointed out that Russia had won 24 Gold, 26 Silver and 32 Bronze Medals at London 2012 and "no Russian athlete had tested positive." He said, "Yet the Russian team corrupted the London Games on an unprecedented scale, the extent of which will probably never be fully established." Forensic investigations by McLaren's team "detailed how a bank of clean urine samples was kept in a Moscow laboratory." The report included cases "where a doctored B sample did not match the DNA of previous specimens, and of samples that contained a mixture of male and female urine" (REUTERS, 12/9).
'NOTHING NEW': The BBC reported Russian MP Dmitry Svishchev, who is also the head of Russia's Curling Federation, said, "This is what we expected. There's nothing new, only empty allegations against all of us. If you are Russian, you'll get accused of every single sin." McLaren said of those comments, "I would say read the report. Its findings are not challengeable. He is reacting in a vacuum because he has not read the report." The IOC said that the report showed "there was a fundamental attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and on sport in general." UK Anti-Doping CEO Nicole Sapstead said that the report was "hugely significant for sport and those who fight to keep it clean." British marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe said that Russia had committed a "huge fraud." She added, "We need to know this cannot happen ever again." British Olympian Katherine Grainger said, "This is a reminder that, along with all those high points in sport, there is a very dark side. It's depressing and it's slightly soul-destroying that it's on this scale." Russian Parliament Deputy Speaker Igor Lebedev, a member of the exec committee of the Russian Football Federation, said, "This is yet another torrent of lies, disinformation, rumors and fables." Russian Luge Federation President Natalia Gart said, "Where are the facts? You can say this is nothing but rubbish ... I am convinced that all of our athletes are clean and the Silver Medals that we won at Sochi are well deserved" (BBC, 12/9).
BACH CALLS FOR LIFE BANS: In N.Y., Futterman & Germano reported the IOC said Friday that it established two commissions to "address the doping conspiracy and the manipulation of samples, respectively." As part of the process, more than 200 urine samples from Russian athletes who competed in the 2014 Sochi Games will be re-analyzed. IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement Friday that he believes "any athlete or official who took part in such a sophisticated manipulation system should be excluded for life from any participation from the Olympic Games in whatever capacity." Anti-doping officials said that the Russians "have started the process of reform but athletes, coaches and athletics leaders continue to create roadblocks," such as having athletes train in "hard-to-access" military sites to prevent int'l doping officials from testing their athletes (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/9). ABC NEWS reported Australian Olympic administrators and athletes are "joining the chorus of condemnation." Australian Olympic Committee VP Ian Chesterman said that the findings were "deeply disappointing." He said, "The fact that they've had this blatant cheating program in place is enormously disturbing and I find quite disgusting." Gold Medalist Kim Brennan said that the report "highlights the need to give WADA more resources and powers, as well as greater independence from the interests of the IOC and national sporting federations." Brennan: "WADA has some power in terms of testing of athletes but they're actually under-resourced to be able to do a better job in terms of broader corruption" (ABC NEWS, 12/10).
