Wada accuses Russia of ‘hijacking’ sports for years

AFTER six months of doping investigations, Richard McLaren delivered an emphatic verdict on Friday: Russia has “hijacked” sporting competitions for years, cheating rivals out of medals, and deceiving spectators.

A 144-page report backed up by 1,166 supporting documents was sent by McLaren to the World Anti-Doping Agency, building on his initial findings in July into Russia’s state-sponsored doping program.

Here is a breakdown of McLaren’s case against Russia:

The Catalyst

Four years out from hosting the Winter Olympics, Russia was embarrassed by an 11th-place finish in the medals standings at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

With no time to cleanly enhance athlete performance in Sochi, Russia had to rely on its scientists and secret service agents known as “’magicians” to subvert WADA processes to power the country to the top of the standings. The doping deception continued through to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

The Scale

More than 1,231 samples reported by a Moscow laboratory to the sports ministry as containing a prohibited substance were recorded as negative tests on the WADA database or never reported at all.

And at least 246 athletes were “knowingly participating” in the manipulation of results, according to McLaren. At the London Olympics, 15 Russian medal winners were identified as being part of a deception, and 10 have already been stripped of their medals.