Russian officials for the first time admitted to mass doping in the country’s sports system, the New York Times reported, but dismissed suggestions the “institutional conspiracy” was state-sponsored — meaning backed by President Vladimir Putin and his closest associates.
“It was an institutional conspiracy,” Anna Antseliovich, the acting director general of Russia’s anti-doping agency, told the New York Times, while adding that top officials were not involved.
The final part of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s independent report into doping in Russia this month provided exhaustive evidence of an elaborate doping scheme. The report found more than 1,000 Russian competitors in more than 30 sports were involved in a conspiracy to conceal positive drug tests over a period of five years. Officials at the time denied it was a state-backed program.
“It’s damage control,” said Richard McLaren, the author of the WADA report. “There are a number of different labels you can put on the facts, and they take a different view of government, but it’s a bit of a vocabulary game.”
Indeed, Russia’s anti-doping agency RUSADA used a different vocabulary Wednesday, retreating from the admission of mass doping and claiming Antseliovich’s words had been “distorted” and “taken out of context.”
“We want to underline that RUSADA does not have and could not have the authority to admit or deny such a fact,” RUSADA said. “The Russian Federation’s Investigative Committee is looking into the matter. Every accused sports person has the indisputable right to object to the accusations.”
More than 100 Russian athletes were barred from competing at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this year after the International Olympic Committee set criteria for Russian athletes to meet, including a clean doping past and sufficient testing at international events. Russia’s track and field athletes remain banned from global competition.
“From my point of view, as a former minister of sport, president of the Olympic committee — we made a lot of mistakes,” Vitaly Smirnov, head of a new commission created to combat doping, was quoted as saying by the New York Times.
“We have to find those reasons why young sportsmen are taking doping, why they agree to be doped.”
Smirnov also pointed to medical records — stolen and posted online this year by the Russian hacker group “Fancy Bears” — showing prominent American athletes’ “Therapeutic Use Exemptions,” which allow them to use substances that are banned if there is a verified medical need.
“Russia never had the opportunities that were given to other countries,” Smirnov said. “The general feeling in Russia is that we didn’t have a chance.”
With Reuters