Putin’s commission calls for change, after doping scandals

Rio Olympic planning assailed for ‘white elephant’ venues

MOSCOW, May 23, (AP): A Russian anti-doping commission set up by President Vladimir Putin called for new measures to claw back prize money from drug cheats and to restore trust in Russian athletes.

The commission, headed by 82-yearold former International Olympic Committee member Vitaly Smirnov, denies the Russian government played any role in covering up drug use, as alleged by a World Anti-Doping Agency investigator last year.

However, it said rules need to be tightened and admitted some coaches were motivated to use “any means” to propel their athletes to victory.

Russian dopers benefit from “a lack of mechanisms to recover income from athletes, coaches and other specialists” if they break anti-doping rules, the commission said in its report, arguing for the law to be changed to make this easier.

Track athletes from other countries have complained that Russian dopers white elephants” that were built with “no planning.” The scathing report offered Monday at a public hearing confirms what The Associated Press reported several months after the games ended. Many of the venues are empty, boarded up, and have no tenants or income with the maintenance costs dumped on the federal government.

“There was no planning,” federal prosecutor Leandro Mitidieri told the public hearing on the Olympics. “There was no planning when they put out the bid to host the Games. No planning.

“They are white elephants today,” Mitidieri added. “What we are trying to look at here is to how to turn this into something usable.”

Rio de Janeiro spend about $12 billion to organize the games, which were plagued by costcutting, poor attendance, and reports of bribes and corruption linked to the building of some Olympic-related facilities.

The Olympic Park in suburban Barra da Tijuca, which was the largest cluster of venues, is an expanse of empty arenas with clutter still remaining from the games. The second largest cluster, in the northern area of Deodoro, is closed despite plans to open it as a public park with swimming facilities for the mostly poor who live in the area.

Patricia Amorim, the undersecretary for sports in the city of Rio, said highly publicized plans were on hold to dismantle one arena and turn the remains into four schools. The arena was the venue for handball.

“It will be dismantled,” she said. “We are just waiting to know whether we will actually have resources to build these schools on other sites, or whether we will dismantle it and wait for the resources to come. Our schools need to be reformed and that’s our priority, not new schools.”

Nine months after the Rio Olympics ended, the local organizing committee still owes creditors about $30 million, and 137 medals awarded during the games are rusting and need to be repaired.

Smirnov