The world's "leading anti-doping agencies have come together to demand Russia be banned" from the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and to warn the IOC that it "must stop paying lip service to the fight against doping," according to Sean Ingle of the London GUARDIAN. In "strongly worded comments after a meeting in Colorado between 17 anti-doping agencies," which included the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and UK Anti-Doping, the organizations "also warned the IOC that its continuing reluctance to hold Russia to account" for what it called "one of the biggest scandals in sports history" at the 2014 Sochi Games "threatens the future of the Olympic movement." The national anti-doping leaders said in a statement, "The IOC needs to stop kicking the can down the road and immediately issue meaningful consequences" (GUARDIAN, 9/14). The BBC's Dan Roan reported the national anti-doping organizations said that Russia must be punished "for proven corruption of the Sochi 2014 Games and continuing failure in its obligations to clean sport." Earlier this week, the N.Y. Times revealed that of 96 cases among athletes implicated in the Russian doping program, "95 have been closed due to a lack of hard evidence." The anti-doping execs said, "Those appear to have been shut prematurely before the IOC or international federations have obtained complete evidence from the Moscow laboratory or interviewed the relevant witnesses." They demanded that Russia accept investigator Richard McLaren's findings, and "grant full access to samples from the Moscow laboratory." The statement from the leaders of the anti-doping organizations added, "The IOC and Wada must insist that Russia turn over this key additional evidence. A full account and justice for clean athletes cannot be achieved without this information" (BBC, 9/14).
