- Title: Russian team "corrupted" 2012 Olympics - McLaren
- Date: 9th December 2016
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (DECEMBER 9, 2016) (REUTERS) PROFESSOR RICHARD MCLAREN WALKS INTO NEWS CONFERENCE CAMERAMAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR RICHARD MCLAREN SAYING: "The results speak for themselves. The Russian team won 24 gold, 26 silver and 32 bronze medals. No Russian athlete was found positive for a prohibited substance during the Games and testing at the time. Yet the Russian team corrupted the London Games on an unprecedented scale, the extent of which will probably never be fully established. This corruption involved the ongoing use of prohibited substances, washout testing and false reporting. The desire to win medals superseded their collective moral and ethical compass and Olympic values of fair play." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR RICHARD MCLAREN SAYING: "For years international sports competitions have unknowingly been hijacked by the Russians. Coaches and athletes have been playing on an uneven field. Sports fans and spectators have been deceived. It's time that this stops. Yes, stops. Over the past few months, we have seen infighting between many different actors within International Federations and among the anti-doping world. I find it difficult to understand why we are not on the same team. We should all be working together to end doping in sports." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR RICHARD MCLAREN SAYING ON RUSSIA: "Can they be trusted? I think the answer to that is yes but they need to reform themselves. I had the opportunity to speak with Russian officials in the period between July and now, and they have a very comprehensive programme which if it is implemented properly and effectively will and could make a major difference in how things are performed in Russia. I have confidence that the different world agencies including WADA should be able to ensure that occurs." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR RICHARD MCLAREN SAYING ON WHETHER THEN SPORTS MINISTER VITALY MUTKO KNEW: "Information is provided to the ministry and like any hierarchical organisation it flows upwards in the organisational structure, so I would think that information came to him through the ministry but it was a deputy minister who was in charge of the process I described. I don't have any direct evidence as to whether he knew or didn't know. I have met with him and I have discussed the matter with him, he didn't indicate to me that he knew." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR RICHARD MCLAREN SAYING: "You have to remember that we have as I said in my comments limited amount of data available, we used it to the full extent that we could and we have analysed all of it, but we have recognised that it is a thin slice from certain sources that I can't disclose. There is much more that could be made available, and if that were available, there could be a different picture. It wouldn't change at all what I have put forward, but it might round out other information or confirm what I have put forward. So we have done everything we could with the limited database and covered perhaps only a fraction, we just don't know that." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR RICHARD MCLAREN SAYING ON RUSSIANS BEING STRIPPED OF SOCHI MEDALS: "The IOC is going to have to deal with the fact that the retests already show the likelihood of adverse analytical findings which is going to change the medal results, I was just speaking about that earlier with the 15 different medalists, so I think that will inevitably be a result of what came out of this report. What the IOC does beyond that is for them to decide." NEWS CONFERENCE ENDS
- Embargoed: 24th December 2016 14:19
- Keywords: Russia Doping WADA McLaren Sochi
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: Russia
- Reuters ID: LVA0015C5UFRB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: More than 1,000 Russian competitors across more than 30 sports were involved in an institutional conspiracy to conceal positive doping tests as Moscow 'hijacked international sport', an independent WADA report said on Friday (December 9).
The second and final part of the report for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) by Canadian sports lawyer Richard McLaren provided exhaustive evidence of an elaborate state-sponsored doping scheme operated by Russia's Sports Ministry.
"The results speak for themselves. The Russian team won 24 gold, 26 silver and 32 bronze medals. No Russian athlete was found positive for a prohibited substance during the Games and testing at the time. Yet the Russian team corrupted the London Games on an unprecedented scale, the extent of which will probably never be fully established. This corruption involved the ongoing use of prohibited substances, washout testing and false reporting. The desire to win medals superseded their collective moral and ethical compass and Olympic values of fair play," he said.
"For years international sports competitions have unknowingly been hijacked by the Russians. Coaches and athletes have been playing on an uneven field. Sports fans and spectators have been deceived. It's time that this stops. Yes, stops. Over the past few months, we have seen infighting between many different actors within International Federations and among the anti-doping world. I find it difficult to understand why we are not on the same team. We should all be working together to end doping in sports," McLaren added, in a scathing attack on Russian sport.
But McLaren did say he believed the situation could be turned around and trust regained.
"Can they be trusted? I think the answer to that is yes but they need to reform themselves. I had the opportunity to speak with Russian officials in the period between July and now, and they have a very comprehensive programme which if it is implemented properly and effectively will and could make a major difference in how things are performed in Russia. I have confidence that the different world agencies including WADA should be able to ensure that occurs," he added.
WADA president Craig Reedie called the findings "alarming" and said the report would be of immediate value to sporting bodies responsible for punishing doping cases.
But Russia showed no sign of accepting the report's conclusions.
The Sports Ministry said it would study the WADA report and cooperate fully with anti-doping bodies, but "denies that any government programmes exists to support doping in sport".
Asked whether the preview Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko knew about the wrongdoings, McLaren said:
"Information is provided to the ministry and like any hierarchical organisation it flows upwards in the organisational structure, so I would think that information came to him through the ministry but it was a deputy minister who was in charge of the process I described. I don't have any direct evidence as to whether he knew or didn't know. I have met with him and I have discussed the matter with him, he didn't indicate to me that he knew."
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday (December 7) extended provisional sanctions against Russian sport over the scandal, and an international ban on its track and field athletes remains in force pending a reform of its anti-doping programme.
McLaren accepted that there could be widespread doping elsewhere, though not on the same level as in Russia, the sole focus of his investigation. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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