‘Fundamental attack’ on integrity of sport

There was a fundamental attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and on sport in general. IOC STATEMENT

The International Olympic Committee has described the extent of the statesponsored doping in Russia revealed by the second report by Richard McLaren as an attack on the integrity of the Olympics.

In a statement, the IOC said: “The IOC thanks Prof McLaren and his team for the completed Independent Person (IP) Report and acknowledges the evidence produced. The detailed findings show that there was a fundamental attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and on sport in general.”

As sports federations across the world digested the findings, UK Anti-Doping chiefs said it showed that more money needed to be available to fund future investigations in order to foil the cheats.

The UKAD chief executive Nicole Sapstead said: “Today’s report from Richard McLaren is hugely significant for sport and those who fight to keep it clean…

“It is clear that the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and the national antidoping organisations around the world must be given the powers and resources they need to carry out investigations.

“In a landscape where anti-doping is woefully underfunded, more money needs to be found to support investigations.”

The International Paralympic Committee described the revelations in the second part of McLaren’s report as “unprecedented and astonishing”.

The IPC went one step further than the International Olympic Committee in August when it issued a blanket ban on Russian athletes competing at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio.

World athletics’ governing body the IAAF said: “The IAAF has been working in close co-operation with Prof McLaren’s team and WADA and continues to do so.

“Based on the individual athletes that Prof McLaren’s team have shared with us, over half (53%) of the elite athletes have already been sanctioned or are currently undergoing disciplinary proceedings.

“We will follow up on the rest as soon as the evidence from the IP’s investigation is made available to us via Wada.

Russia continues to defend itself, and Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov said: “There has not been and could not have been any conspiracy.”