Russia's Federal Security Service interfered with a Moscow laboratory set up to test for doping, a report has alleged (Agence France-Presse photo)
Moscow:
Russian authorities oversaw a systematic doping program for its track-and-field athletes, the World Anti- Doping Agency commission said Monday in a report that threatens Russia's participation in the Olympics and other competitions.
Russia's Federal Security Service directly interfered with a Moscow laboratory set up to test for doping, the report alleged, and implicated coaches, athletes and doctors in efforts to conceal the practice.
After the report's publication, Sebastian Coe, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, called on his organization to consider sanctions against Russia. On Sunday, French prosecutors announced an investigation of former IAAF President Lamine Diack on suspicion of accepting bribes from the Russian athletics federation in exchange for covering up positive doping tests, The New York Times reported.
The International Olympic Committee has provisionally suspended Diack's honorary membership and said in a statement that, if appropriate, it would react to the WADA report "with its usual zero tolerance policy."
The WADA commission found that "there were organized efforts on the part of many senior coaches and officials, inside and outside Russia, to promote doping and make it possible for such efforts to be successful, including the cover-up of certain positive cases of doping."
Interpol will coordinate an investigation into corruption surrounding the alleged doping cover-up, it said in an emailed statement Monday.
"We will do whatever it takes to protect the clean athletes and rebuild trust in our sport," Coe said in a statement. "The IAAF will continue to offer the police authorities our full co- operation into their ongoing investigation."
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said WADA only made recommendations, which Russia will reply to later, and has no right to sideline athletes or coaches, RIA Novosti reported.
Russian athletics has long been dogged by doping charges, with several race walkers sanctioned earlier this year after IAAF found "aggravating circumstances" in their blood tests.
© 2015 Bloomberg L.P.
Russia's Federal Security Service directly interfered with a Moscow laboratory set up to test for doping, the report alleged, and implicated coaches, athletes and doctors in efforts to conceal the practice.
After the report's publication, Sebastian Coe, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, called on his organization to consider sanctions against Russia. On Sunday, French prosecutors announced an investigation of former IAAF President Lamine Diack on suspicion of accepting bribes from the Russian athletics federation in exchange for covering up positive doping tests, The New York Times reported.
The International Olympic Committee has provisionally suspended Diack's honorary membership and said in a statement that, if appropriate, it would react to the WADA report "with its usual zero tolerance policy."
The WADA commission found that "there were organized efforts on the part of many senior coaches and officials, inside and outside Russia, to promote doping and make it possible for such efforts to be successful, including the cover-up of certain positive cases of doping."
Interpol will coordinate an investigation into corruption surrounding the alleged doping cover-up, it said in an emailed statement Monday.
"We will do whatever it takes to protect the clean athletes and rebuild trust in our sport," Coe said in a statement. "The IAAF will continue to offer the police authorities our full co- operation into their ongoing investigation."
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said WADA only made recommendations, which Russia will reply to later, and has no right to sideline athletes or coaches, RIA Novosti reported.
Russian athletics has long been dogged by doping charges, with several race walkers sanctioned earlier this year after IAAF found "aggravating circumstances" in their blood tests.
© 2015 Bloomberg L.P.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
