The current doping scandal enveloping the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) took another turn on Monday afternoon after a report from Dick Pound and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recommended that the Russian Athletics Federation be suspended from competition.
The investigations were focused on systemic failures to prevent anti-doping in the Russian federation, as well as bribery and cover ups of doping within the IAAF.
Former International Association of Athletics Federations president Lamine Diack was questioned last week by French police in relation to the allegations made, and today Dick Pound presented the findings of the independent commission in charge of the investigations.
The report, which is 350 pages long, made several recommendations including stripping the Moscow laboratory of its accreditation, removing its director Grigory Rodchenkov from his position with immediate effect, and suspending Russia from competition, including the 2016 Olympics.
WADA report into doping - overall outcomes pic.twitter.com/a0FZcw1XlU
— Dan Roan (@danroan) November 9, 2015
Speaking on Off The Ball on Sunday, Paul Kimmage highlighted the possibility that there was further trouble to come for Sebastian Coe, and the IAAF as a whole, but that there were also "strong suggestions" the Russian federation were not the only nation involved.
Portions of the full report have not been published today, as a result of ongoing investigations. That evidence has been turned over to Interpol to make a decision on whether they will prosecute for criminal violations.
Pound's committee has withheld most of the chapter on the IAAF in order not to compromise the ongoing criminal investigation.
— Owen Gibson (@owen_g) November 9, 2015
The report also recommended that five athletes and five coaches be handed lifetime bans, while Lamine Diack should also be suspended as an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee.
ATHLETICS DOPING: WADA commission recommends that 5 athletes and 5 coaches be given lifetime doping bans.
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) November 9, 2015
Speaking on the place that Sebastian Coe now holds in the IAAF, Pound was asked if he believed him to be the right man to lead them out of this crisis, to which he responded "I hope so, his sport is at risk if he doesn't".
Commission chairman Dick Pound said Russia's behaviour amounted to "state-supported doping" and that there was an inexplicable laissez-faire attitude toward drug cheats from the IAAF and the Russian Anti-Doping Association.
Furthermore, Pound stated that the London Olympics had been "sabotaged" by the Russian athletes that should have been banned from competition.
The report found that Rodchenkov had ordered the destruction of 1,417 doping control samples in order to hide evidence from the enquiry three days before a team arrived in Moscow to collect them last December. They further highlighted evidence of "direct intimidation and interference by the Russian state with the Moscow laboratory operations" including the FSB, Russia's intelligence service, which interfered with the anti-doping process at the winter Olympics in Sochi.
Moscow lab chief Grigory Rodchenko admits to intentionally destroying 1,417 samples.
— Matt Majendie (@mattmajendie) November 9, 2015
The commission stated that Russian Sports Ministry Vitaly Mutko also had undue influence and directly ordered the Russian Anti-Doping Agency to "manipulate particular samples".
Mutko is also a FIFA executive committee member and is part of the 2018 World Cup organising committee.
Pound: "For 2016 our recommendation is that Russia is suspended...I hope they recognise that it's time to change."
— Dan Roan (@danroan) November 9, 2015
While the recommendation from WADA is that Russia should be suspended, a timeframe has been attached to that, allowing them to be able to clean up their act which "should mean that no significant competitions will be missed".
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