THE McLAREN REPORT
Q What is it?
A 97-page report produced by a team headed by Richard McLaren, a law professor at Western University in London, Ont., and an expert in international sports law.
Q Where did it come from?
A The World AntiDoping Agency appointed McLaren after the New York Times and 60 Minutes in May published allegations from the longtime director of two Russian drug labs, who said his country ran a state-sponsored athletic doping program created after Russia’s poor performance at the Vancouver 2010 Games. McLaren was also part of the WADA committee that previously investigated allegations about Russian doping aired in a German television documentary and which led to the ban of Russian track and field athletes from international competition. An appeal of that decision is pending.
Q What are the key findings?
A That the Moscow drug laboratory would routinely change positive test results to negative simply by erasing the accurate finding and replacing it with a false result.
That the Sochi laboratory, because international staff were present, created a more elaborate system in which urine samples were smuggled out of the controlled lab area using a “mouse hole” that was drilled into the wall of an adjacent office. Those samples were then opened, and “dirty” urine was replaced with clean.
That both operations were ultimately overseen by the Ministry of Sport, with assistance of the FSB — the federal security service — and sports officials. The report says the scheme was directed by the ministry.
Q What athletes were involved?
A The report does not name anyone, although it says medal winners were definitely involved and that “the vast majority” of sports were covered. One chart of samples that had results altered in the Moscow drug lab included sports from track to hockey to curling to table tennis.
Q What evidence was compiled?
A The report says it relied on witness interviews, plus thousands of pages of email and documents, including deleted-but-recovered files. In most cases, the report summarizes the evidence rather than provides it in detail. For example, regarding the system where positive samples were changed to negative in the Moscow drug Lab’s computers, the report says the investigative team “can demonstrate the existence of this system beyond a reasonable doubt.”