Russia’s track and field athletes should be banned from competition, anti-doping agency says

All of Russia’s track and field athletes could be barred from the 2016 Summer Olympics after a much-awaited report by the World Anti-Doping Agency on Monday detailed evidence of an orchestrated program of cheating within the country.

A WADA independent commission alleged that Russian track officials, coaches and doctors promoted a “win at all costs” mentality that encouraged and sometimes pressured athletes into using performance-enhancing drugs.

NEWSLETTER: Get the day’s top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

With language that evoked memories of state-sponsored doping in the former East Germany, the commission wrote that Russia’s intelligence service, the FSB, infiltrated an anti-doping lab in Moscow and intimidated personnel.

“It’s worse than we thought,” said Dick Pound, chairman of the commission and an influential member of the International Olympic Committee.

Speaking at a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Pound added: “It may be a residue of the old Soviet Union system.”

A disturbing number of Russian athletes have tested positive for banned substances in recent years.

The report, triggered by a 2014 German television documentary, claimed that athletes who resisted doping were denied top-flight coaching and support. Hundreds of testing samples allegedly were manipulated or destroyed to avoid detection.

Investigators suggested that Russia may also have used a laboratory on the outskirts of Moscow to pre-screen samples and circumvent positive results.

“While written evidence of government involvement has not been produced,” the report stated, “it would be naive in the extreme to conclude that activities on the scale discovered could have occurred without explicit or tacit approval of Russian governmental authorities.”

The commission recommended that international track and field officials immediately bar the Russian track federation from competition.

“The information in WADA’s independent commission report is alarming,” said Sebastian Coe, president of the International Assn. of Athletics Federations. “We need time to properly digest and understand the detailed findings included in the report. However, I have urged the Council to start the process of considering sanctions against [the Russian federation].”

Despite all the bad news contained in the report, Pound suggested that Russian athletes could participate in the upcoming Olympics if their federation quickly begins a reform process.

“I think they can do it,” he said. “I hope they can.”

ALSO

Secrecy was crucial in missile test launch that rattled L.A., experts say

As L.A. eyes 2024 Olympics, Tokyo struggles to plan 2020 games

Volkswagen offers cash, credit to help placate diesel owners