The leader of the U.S. anti-doping effort says nothing short of removing the Russian flag from this summer’s Olympics would suffice if an upcoming report about Russian doping is as damning as expected.
The report, due to be made public on Monday, is expected to include details about the country’s sports ministry telling its drug-testing officials which positive tests to report and which to conceal.
If those details do show up in the report, Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, told The Associated Press he would support the same sort of action for all Russian sports that track and field’s governing body, the IAAF, took regarding the country’s track team: It barred the team but gave a small number of athletes who could prove they were clean a chance to compete under a neutral flag.
“If it’s proven true, and there’s been intentional subversion of the system by the Russian government […] the only outcome is they can’t participate in these Olympic Games under that country’s flag,” Tygart said.
The World Anti-Doping Agency commissioned an investigation, being headed by Richard McLaren, into Russian doping following a New York Times story in May that detailed a state-run system that helped athletes get away with cheating and win medals at the Sochi Olympics in 2014. The McLaren report is due tomorrow , with public release set for next Monday.
An earlier investigation, headed by former WADA chairman Dick Pound, looked into Russian doping inside the track team; the McLaren investigation is expected to delve into all sports.
In June, based on information from Pound’s report and its own follow-up, the IAAF barred Russia’s track team from competing in the Olympics after deciding it had not moved aggressively enough on widespread reforms. AP
No Comments