Russia’s Enormous Doping Conspiracy Is Reportedly Much More Widespread Than Previously Thought

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A new report resulting from the continued investigations of Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren suggests over 1,000 Russian athletes from 30 different sports participated in their country’s systematic use of doping between 2011 and 2015. As a result, McLaren’s latest findings — which were published by the World Anti-Doping Agency on Friday — implicate athletes, trainers and “layers of government employees” in numerous international sporting events, like the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia and this summer’s 2016 Rio Olympics.

McLaren, whose previous report concluded Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko’s being unaware of the doping scheme was “inconceivable,” argued on Friday “it is impossible to know just how deep and how far back this conspiracy goes” since the evidence suggests “international sports competitions have unknowingly been hijacked by the Russians” for quite some time. Russian officials meanwhile have continually criticized McLaren’s investigations and the agency’s support of them, but his new report offers plenty of material for a rebuttal:

Asked for their evidence, they zeroed in on the individuals who enabled the cheating as well as those who benefited from it, publishing on Friday more than 1,166 pieces of proof — “immutable facts” — including emails, documents and expert analysis of laboratory and forensic analysis of doping samples.

Said emails included exchanges between Russia’s former deputy sports minister Yuri Nagornykh and former antidoping lab director Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov. In some of the correspondence McLaren’s report cites, Nagornykh gave Rodchenkov “explicit direction to cover up top athletes’ use of performance-enhancing steroids.” (What’s more, the NYT interviewed Rodchenkov last spring for a breaking article detailing the ins and outs of Russia’s systematic doping.)

The International Olympic Committee has yet to officially respond to the new report. However, many suspect the new wealth of evidence against Russia will encourage the IOC to punish them ahead of the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea.

(Via New York Times)

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