Russian state-sponsored doping scandal

[Lineker]

Quote

Russia operated a state-sponsored doping programme at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, claims a new report.

An investigation commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency says Russia's sports ministry "directed, controlled and oversaw" the manipulation of urine samples provided by its athletes.

The commission looked into allegations made by the former head of Russia's national anti-doping laboratory.

Grigory Rodchenkov claimed he doped dozens of athletes before the Games.

The commission was led by Dr Richard McLaren, a Canadian law professor and sports lawyer who said he had "unwavering confidence" in his findings.

Rodchenkov also alleged he had been helped by the Russian secret service.

He claimed they had worked out how to open and reseal the supposedly tamper-proof bottles that were used for storing urine samples so the contents could be replaced with "clean" urine.

To prove this allegation, McLaren sent a random amount of samples from "protected Russian athletes" at Sochi 2014 stored by the anti-doping laboratory in Lausanne to another in London to see if they had scratch marks around the necks of the bottles that would indicate they had been manipulated.

McLaren said "100% of the bottles had been scratched" but added that this would "not have been visible to the untrained eye".

The damning report will fuel calls for a complete ban on Russia from the 2016 Summer Olympics, which start in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil on 5 August.

As it happened

Pretty damning stuff the word is that this will start to trickle into other sporting bodies over there, like the Russian Premier League.

[Gazz]

We've known this since Rocky IV.

[Lineker]

But now they've been rumbled  

[HailtotheYo]

Seriously, how is this just now a thing?  Kind of like college football in the 80's/early 90's EVERYONE knew who was doing and what they were doing ... I mean between CCCP/Bulgaria/East Germany the USA was educated on "performance enhancement" going back to the 50's/60's ...

[Lineker]

The International Olympic Committe has released a statement, saying it will "not hesitate to take the toughest sanctions available against any individual or organisation implicated" in the Russian doping report.

[GA!]

If this is true, how come the strongest team in their group Russia were so crap in Euro 2016 despite being the strongest team in their group?

[GhostMachine]

Fuck Russia. They should be banned from the Olympics, period. Not just for this year. 

The Russians have gold medals in basketball from the 72 games that rightfully belong to the U.S. because a communist judge put time back on the clock after the U.S. won.

Plus the year the Russians won gold in pairs figure skating and it turned out that the judging was rigged (and a judge admitted vote trading was going on!) they should have stripped the Russians instead of also awarding gold to the Canadians, who should have been given the gold medals over Russia in the first place.

China cheats in gymnastics. Russia cheats in everything. 

Edited July 18, 2016 by GhostMachine

[FestiveJack]

I mean, it's not like America or American athletes (or indeed athletes from many leading nations - including my own) haven't done the same. 12 American track and field stars abruptly the 1983 Pan American Games prior to it beginning after it was announced there would be more stringent drug testing. Of those 12, Duncan Atwood had won gold at the 79 games in the javelin throw and would subsequently test positive for banned substances and banned for life (reduced and he came back to win another Pan American Games gold in 87).

To this day, the world records in both indoors and outdoors shotput are held by the same man, the banned for life Randy Barnes. Should his records be struck out?

[HailtotheYo]

Nobody is denying or pretending like their representative athletes don't cheat or use illegal/banned "supplements" at any given point in the past or currently.  However, there is a huge difference in Russia having a GOV SPONSORED PROGRAM WIDE endeavor, and having athletes over the course of the history of your endeavor having popped hot. 

Ben Johnson didn't get to keep his records because he popped hot at the time of the competition in which he set the records. 

Randy Barnes was banned after testing positive for the banned, but OTC supplement Andro (hell Mr McGwire).  It was also AFTER he set the records.  The two instances were separate.  When he set the records he didn't pop hot.  How do you strip them?  Regardless of everyone in the world "knowing" he was likely on SOMETHING, there is zero actual proof of it. 

 

[apsham]

Does this invalidate medals or anything?

[MDK]

2 hours ago, HailtotheTortureRack said:

Nobody is denying or pretending like their representative athletes don't cheat or use illegal/banned "supplements" at any given point in the past or currently.  However, there is a huge difference in Russia having a GOV SPONSORED PROGRAM WIDE endeavor, and having athletes over the course of the history of your endeavor having popped hot. 

 

I mean, the fucking FSB were in on it.

[Lineker]

Well, Russia has managed to avoid a blanket ban from the games.

[MDK]

What bollocks 

[MDK]

The International Judo Federation have allowed Russian Judoka to compete at Rio.

In completely unrelated news, Vladimir Putin is honorary president of said federation.

[Colly]

In fairness that is fairly unrelated given the list of other sports that Russian athletes will be competing in.

[MDK]

3 hours ago, Colly said:

In fairness that is fairly unrelated given the list of other sports that Russian athletes will be competing in.

That's why I said unrelated, Colly.

[apsham]

The Olympics are a joke anyways and even more so this year in particular. If this goes through without some seriously fucked up shit happening, I'll be surprised.

[Colly]

3 hours ago, MDK said:

That's why I said unrelated, Colly.

Sorry, my phone for some reason doesn't recognise comic sans so I have to assume everyone's being sarcastic all the time.

[Lineker]

Russia is at the centre of another doping scandal after it emerged the country’s entire 23-man squad from the 2014 World Cup is being investigated by Fifa over possible drugs offences. Russia is currently hosting the Confederations Cup and in under a year will stage the World Cup but these allegations are likely to throw its suitability to stage such events into serious doubt.

The 23-man squad, who were knocked out in the group stages of the Brazil World Cup three years ago, are among 34 Russian footballers being investigated by football’s world governing body. Five of the 23 players tested in 2014 are members of the squad that was knocked out of the Confederations Cup on Saturday.

The state-sponsored doping and cover-up in Russia are well known but this is the first time top-level footballers in the country have been placed under investigation, although there is no proof of any anti-doping violations. However, a report by the Mail On Sunday alleged the footballers were among 1,000 “people of interest” to the officials charged with establishing where the tentacles of Russia’s doping racket extended.

A Fifa spokesman told the Mail On Sunday: “Fifa is still investigating the allegations made against [Russian] football players.”

It is understood Fifa is in possession of detailed evidence and intelligence. It is likely to face pressure to act on whatever evidence it has. Dick Pound, a former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), told the Mail On Sunday: “There is a huge onus on Fifa to reach a sensible conclusion on these matters before the World Cup takes place. It is incumbent on them to say what steps they are taking, what they find, and take whatever action necessary to protect the integrity of sport. Even within a governing body with as little credibility remaining as Fifa, if you were a senior official you wouldn’t want to be part of a body that ignores this.

“There has been an institutional denial of doping in football for years … I’ve seen too many presentations by Fifa, straight out of fantasy land, about how they don’t have a problem. They absolutely have to take this case seriously.”

The new allegations follow the publication of two reports commissioned by Wada and authored by the Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren. It found at least 1,000 people were assisted by what McLaren described as an “institutionalised manipulation of the doping control process in Russia”.

More than 200 of those are thought to have competed in athletics with 13 other sports having competitors in at least double figures being implicated and several cases in other sports.

[MDK]

Wrong thread.

Should be the World Cup thread.