With the fate of Russian Athletics announced today I was intrigued by the details and claims within the report. A few specific findings:
- "there was direct intimidation and interference by the Russian state"
- "conspiracy to extort money from athletes to cover positive doping tests"
- delays by the IAAF in following up suspicious test results "led to athletes competing in the London 2012 Olympics who should have been prevented from competing"
- An entire chapter dedicated to allegations against the IAAF that have a criminal component and are be investigated by interpol is shocking.
Full report can be found here.
Whatever happens today we are into our 5th high profile major sporting crisis, this probably being the worse after football, cycling, cricket and baseball. Seb Coe has a tough task today and is under huge pressure given his relationship with Diack and refusal to give up his links to Nike. Today will dictate the future of our sports.
Russia hopes to prevent its athletes being banned from next year's Rio Olympics by claiming "irregularities" around its drug-testing system were down to the sport's "old leadership". The country's athletics federation has written to athletics' governing body after allegations of "state-sponsored doping" were made by a World Anti-Doping Agency independent report. The response will be discussed by the International Association of Athletics Federations on Friday, with a decision expected to be made public afterwards. "In our report for the IAAF, we agreed with some of Wada's positions," Vadim Zelichenok, acting president of the Russian athletics federation, told TASS news agency.
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