The World Anti Doping Agency has asked that Russia be banned from the Rio Olympics in a light of a damning report into widespread doping in the country.
The report found Russia’s government, security services and sporting authorities colluded to hide widespread doping across “a vast majority” of winter and summer sports and in the lead up to the London Olympics in 2012.
The review, led by the highly respected Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, also found a comprehensive cover up of doping during the World Championships in Moscow and the World University Games in Kazan in 2013 and the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in 2014.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has now urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to consider banning Russia from the Olympics, it does not have the authority to ban itself. The IOC has promised it will not hesitate to take the “toughest sanctions available” against those implicated.
IOC president Thomas Bach called the McLaren report “a shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sports and on the Olympic Games”.
