Advertisement

Reaction to McLaren report into Russian doping

LONDON (Reuters) - The second and final part of an independent commission report, led by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren, was published on Friday and provided more details of an elaborate state-sponsored doping scheme operated by Russia. Here are some reactions from the world of sport: WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY (WADA) PRESIDENT CRAIG REEDIE "The Report, and its evidence published today, shows the scope of subversion; and focuses on the number of athletes that benefited over a prolonged period of time. "It is alarming to read that 1,000 Russian athletes - competing in summer, winter and Paralympic sport - can be identified as being involved in, or benefiting from, manipulations to conceal positive doping tests." ALL-RUSSIAN ATHLETICS FEDERATION PRESIDENT DMITRY SHLYAKHTIN “We agree that Russian athletics has problems and don’t hide it... but these problems did not start yesterday. I think our reforms and changes in the time since we were suspended prove our worthiness. Today we are able to fully prove that the demands presented to the Russian Athletics Federation have been met. RUSSIAN SPORTS MINISTRY "The Russian Ministry of Sports will examine carefully the information provided in the report to shape a constructive position. At the same time, the Ministry of Sports denies that any government programmes exist to support doping in sport and declares that it will continue to fight doping from a position of zero tolerance. "The Sports Ministry is ready to cooperate with international organisations to improve the Russian and world anti-doping programme." VITALY STEPANOV, RUSSIAN WHISTLE-BLOWER "The corruption that exists in Russia is destroying the belief of young Russian athletes and their parents in clean and fair sport. It is also destroying the Olympic values in Russia and globally. Don't apologise for others, admit your own mistakes, serve the punishment, learn from it and move on. Clean and honest athletes exist and they are training hard. They follow the competition rules and they expect sports officials to enforce those rules, get rid of cheats, and not to be blind." WADA DIRECTOR GENERAL OLIVIER NIGGLI "Yet again, more deeply troubling facts have emerged. While some progress has been made with (Russian anti-doping agency) RUSADA’s efforts to regain compliance with the Code, there remain a number of challenges that must be addressed. "RUSADA must demonstrate that its processes are truly autonomous, independent from outside interference and properly resourced for the task of protecting clean athletes both in Russia and abroad." US ANTI-DOPING AGENCY CEO TRAVIS TYGART "It’s another staggering example of how the Olympic movement has been corrupted and clean athletes robbed by Russia’s state-supported doping system. The IOC has to act - and clean athletes won’t be satisfied until WADA is empowered to be a truly independent global regulator and the Russian Olympic Committee is suspended until deemed Code compliant. "No international sporting events should be held in Russia until its anti-doping programme is fully Code compliant and all the individuals who participated in the corruption are held accountable." THE INTERNATIONAL PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE (IPC) "The full findings of the report are unprecedented and astonishing. They strike right at the heart of the integrity and ethics of sport. "We wholeheartedly agree with Professor McLaren that the best course of action is to work together to fix the broken and compromised anti-doping system in Russia." INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ATHLETICS FEDERATIONS (IAAF) "The IAAF agrees with Prof. McLaren that it is time that this manipulation stops. "Based on the individual athletes that Prof. McLaren’s team have shared with us, over half (53 percent) 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." IAAF PRESIDENT SEBASTIAN COE “We will continue to test intelligently, retest smartly, work collaboratively and seek swift justice. The independent Athletics Integrity Unit launching in April 2017 will give us, and clean athletes the world over, the strongest platform possible to deliver this.” U.S. OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (USOC) "As we have said consistently, the current anti-doping system is in need of substantial reform. We need to continue to embrace the opportunity to shine a light on bad actors and take the necessary steps to make global anti-doping efforts independent, robust and respected by athletes and fans alike." USA TRACK AND FIELD, ATHLETES ADVISORY COMMITTEE "These findings are absolutely devastating to clean athletes, athletes who have sacrificed day in and day out for years to accomplish their goals only to find out the system has completely failed to ensure they are competing on an even playing field. If the corruption detailed in the report was able to occur on such an "unprecedented scale" in one country, where else has it been happening?" UK ANTI-DOPING CHIEF EXECUTIVE NICOLE SAPSTEAD "Today’s report from Richard McLaren is hugely significant for sport and those who fight to keep it clean. Everyone engaged in sport needs to ensure that the right processes, sanctions and safeguards are in place to protect everyone’s right to clean, fair and honest sport." JOSEPH DE PENCIER, CEO OF THE INSTITUTE OF NATIONAL ANTI-DOPING ORGANISATIONS (INADO). "This was an unprecedented national doping programme. Even in the darkest days of state-sponsored doping in former East Bloc in the 1970s and 1980s, the organised drugging of athletes was not also propped up by the deliberate corruption of anti-doping measures on such a shocking scale." (Compiled by Toby Davis; editing by Ed Osmond and Ken Ferris)