IAAF Doping
This is a collection of several articles about the Doping problems in track and field and how the IAAF is dealing with it
The pressure on Athletics Kenya intensified further on Tuesday as the IAAF revealed it had been investigating alleged doping cover-ups in the country since March. The IAAF’s admission came just hours after Dick Pound, who led the damning Independent Commission report into Russian athletics, also warned “a lot of performance-enhancing drugs” were being used in Kenya.
Athletics’ world governing body confirmed that its Ethics Commission, which is to publish a report into the alleged corrupt behaviour of several former members of the International Association of Athletics Federations next month, is investigating the African country. “An IAAF staff member referred allegations of the covering up of doping in Kenya to the IAAF Ethics Commission in March of 2015,” the federation admitted.
Meanwhile Pound has claimed the problems in Kenya are not only a concern for the World Anti-Doping Agency but should worry every endurance athlete. “It is pretty clear that Kenya have enjoyed huge success in the endurance events and it is also pretty clear that there is a lot of performance-enhancing drugs being used in Kenya,” he said. “That should be a matter of concern for athletes. It certainly is a matter of concern to Wada. And it should be a concern anyone participating in those events.”
Pound’s comments follow those of the Kenyan Olympic Committee chairman, Kipchoge Keino, who warned last week that Wada was “seriously considering” banning Kenya from track and field for four years. There have also been rumours that unnamed marathon runners have paid bribes to avoid serving doping bans.
Detectives have also questioned three of the most senior officials at Athletics Kenya – Isaiah Kiplagat, the chairman, David Okeyo, the vice-president, and Joseph Kinyua, its former treasurer – over claims they pocketed close to $700,000 from Nike, an accusation the sportswear manufacturer has strongly denied. Okeyo, who sits on the IAAF’s 26-person ruling council, and Kiplagat have denied the allegations, which they claim were made by a disgruntled former employee.
POUND, WHO WAS SPEAKING BEFORE A TWO-DAY WADA MEETING IN COLORADO WHICH WILL DISCUSS HIS REPORT INTO RUSSIAN ATHLETICS, THE POSSIBLE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEW INDEPENDENT ANTI-DOPING TESTING ORGANISATION AND OTHER COUNTRIES THAT MAY NOT BE WADA-CODE COMPLIANT , ALSO WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO DEFEND THE NEW IAAF PRESIDENT, SEBASTIAN COE
Co has come under widespread criticism for not speaking out against corruption in the IAAF and lavishing praised on his predecessor, Lamine Diack, who is now under investigation by French police, but Pound told Radio 4’s Today programme Coe was the “right man” for the job.
“His ascension to the presidency gives the IAAF the unique opportunity that it has not had for many years to really tackle some of these issues,” he added. “Don’t forget that for a good part of the time he was vice-president his every waking moment – and I’m sure many of his sleeping moments – were focused on getting the London Olympics delivered and properly wound out.”
Pound also left open the possibility for Russia’s track and field athletes to return to compete in next year’s Rio Olympics but said they must make the widespread changes recommended by his independent commission last week.
“I think if there is a will there is certainly a way. There are some changes that have to be made and imposed in Russia and I assume they won’t just limit it to athletics but across the board,” he said. “While I don’t think you can necessarily change the culture that has developed over the years you can certainly change the conduct pretty quickly if you want to. There is whole range of things that can be done with the supervision of Wada.”
Meanwhile the IAAF has announced that their five-person investigation team that will verify the reforms programme in the All-Russia Athletics Federation (Araf) will be headed by Rune Andersen, a Norwegian international anti-doping expert, and include the former 200m runner Frankie Fredericks.
The investigation team, which will monitor whether Araf takes the measures needed to regain IAAF membership, will also include three other IAAF council members: Abby Hoffman, Anna Riccardi, and Geoff Gardner.
Coe said: “After consultation with Wada, we will set the verification criteria. The five-person inspection team, led by a renowned anti-doping expert Rune Andersen, has an extraordinary amount of experience to ensure Araf meets the criteria and is eligible to once again enter athletes into international competition.”
Coe keeps his cool and does a good job not punching this guy out http://www.letsrun.com/news/2015/11/seb-coe-gets-absolutely-grilled-by-channel-4s-jon-snow/
The Sunday Times Reports That Nike/Athletics Kenya Bribery/Theft Allegations Are Now Part of a Criminal Probe
Kenyan police official: “It’s upon the prosecutor to decide the way forward. If he says we arrest and charge, we will do it but if he recommends a further probe, we are ready. We are waiting.”
by LetsRun.com
November 16, 2015
Yesterday, The Sunday Times in the UK had a lengthy follow-up piece on its ongoing investigation into potential criminal wrong-doing involving Athletics Kenya’s deal with Nike. The big development in the story is that the allegations are now being investigated as a criminal matter in Kenya.
The Sunday Times article can be read in its entirety here (subscription required).
The story has been summarized briefly elsewhere but we’ve read it and give you the key details.
The story focuses on previous allegations made by former Athletics Kenya staffer Matthews Kiprono Kiptum in a sworn affidavit seen by the paper. Kiptum first became concerned that the relationship between Nike and Athletics Kenya wasn’t kosher way back in 2003.
According to Kiptum’s affidavit, his suspicions were aroused during the renegotiation of AK’s and Nike’s multimillion-pound sponsorship kit deal in 2003. He claims to have seen an email from a Nike official to Kiplagat explaining how the contract would include an “honoraria fee” to AK, which was “to be shared between the chairman, the secretary-general and the treasurer in the amounts of $29,000, $18,000 and $18,000 respectively.”
Kiptum claims the Nike official said in an email that the honoraria fee was “to ensure certain federation members will have adequate funding for certain services that Nike considers critical to maximising our value from the agreement and investment.” These are said to have included travel costs and ensuring that officials could be available to receive calls “24 hours a day.”
According to Kiptum, the deal between Athletics Kenya and Nike became strained by the time 2010 rolled around.
In 2010, Papa Massata Diack tried to encourage Athletics Kenya to terminate its deal with Nike and sign with Li-Nang. The story says Diack’s firm actually put $200,000 into Athletics Kenya’s account and that amount was quickly taken out by Athletics Kenya’s VP David Okeyo without justification according to Kiptum.Nike then countered with a new offer.
Nike was determined not to lose its deal with AK and a 10-year contract extension was agreed worth $13.8m. The contract included a $500,000 “commitment bonus” that is alleged to have disappeared from the AK account days after it arrived. The “bonus” was personally requested in an email from Kiplagat.
Kiptum says that Kiplagat ordered $200,000 of the sum to be sent to a Hong Kong account and that his secretary withdrew an additional $100,000 in cash. The remaining $200,000 was withdrawn in cash by Okeyo. Kiptum again alleges that there was no justification for such a huge withdrawal.
Kiptum says large sums from Nike were pocketed by Athletics Kenya officials over the next few years as $100,000 in cash was taken out by Joseph Kinyua (the treasurer at the time) in 2011 and $100,000 by Okeyo in 2012.
Papa Diack of course was furious as his firm lost out on both commissions from the Li-Ning deal and the $200,000.
Kiptum says he raised concerns with Nike about this as it was happening but Nike said it was their policy to not talk about individual contracts and he needed to raise his concerns with Athletics Kenya directly.
Last week, a spokesman for Nike told the paper it had operated with “integrity” and with “expectation and understanding” that its funds would be “used to support and service the teams and athletes.” The spokesman said they are cooperating with the local authorities in their investigation.
In terms of the investigation, Athletics Kenya officials have been interviewed by detectives and the head of Kenyan police’s criminal investigation department is quoted as saying: “It’s upon the prosecutor to decide the way forward. If he says we arrest and charge, we will do it but if he recommends a further probe, we are ready. We are waiting.”
The paper also notes how IAAF president Seb Coe is a paid ambassador for Nike.
The disclosure that Nike is linked to a police corruption inquiry will be particularly embarrassing to Coe, who is already under pressure to stand down from his lucrative role as an ambassador for the company.
In our continued effort to be as transparent as possible and to ensure that the public have the same access to the information that the IAAF provides the media, we now share the last set of frequently asked questions and our answers.
QUESTION: What action has the IAAF taken concerning a Kenyan police investigation into the conduct of officials from Athletics Kenya, in particular the African Area Association representative on the IAAF Council David Okeyo?
ANSWER: The IAAF was not aware of the investigation into Mr Okeyo in Kenya and the information has immediately been passed on to the independent IAAF Ethics Commission.
QU: What checks does the IAAF operate with respect to the officials who are appointed or elected to hold IAAF offices?
AN: As part of the root and branch governance reform project that Sebastian Coe has announced, there will be new processes introduced to ensure all persons appointed to IAAF Commissions and advisory groups in the future have been duly vetted and declared as ‘fit and proper persons’ to hold office. More than 200 people were due to be appointed to new commissions and advisory groups at the Council meeting at the end of this month but their appointment will now be delayed until the new procedures are in place.
QU: Given recent comments by a member of WADA’s independent Commission, is it possible that the IAAF and athletics could be banned from the Rio Olympic Games?
AN: Our job right now is to focus on the work that needs to be done to make ARAF compliant with the IAAF and, together with WADA, compliant for re-entry into international competition. We will continue to work alongside WADA with whom we developed the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) to review its processes and, if any failings are found, redress them and we have already begun a root and branch reform programme within the IAAF.
Kenyan coach alleges 3 marathon runners paid bribes in doping scandal
Associated Press4:10 p.m. EST November 15, 2015
by LetsRun.com
November 10, 2015
Yesterday track and field’s doping problem became “front page” news across the globe as the Independent Commission (IC) created by WADA to investigate doping in Russia released a 323-page report (you can view the report in its entirety here) that totally validated the work of Hajo Seppelt and Germany’s ARD tv network.
The new IAAF head, Seb Coe, who was criticized last week by Reuters for not speaking to the press when the first reports came out that there was a criminal probe of his predecessor Lamine Diack, wasted little time in facing the media. He appeared on the UK’s Channel 4 where he was absolutely grilled by Jon Snow. Snow did an excellent job of asking the tough questions that needed to be asked.
Watch for yourself.
NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenyan athletics faced more allegations Sunday as a coach claimed three marathon runners paid bribes to the national track federation in exchange for lenient doping bans.
Paul Simbolei told The Associated Press he had informed police about the bribes and that he has been receiving threats since going to authorities with the allegations.
In a separate case, the IAAF said it was investigating allegations that a Kenyan athletics official who sits on the governing body’s decision-making council embezzled sponsorship money.
Both cases add to the scrutiny on athletics in Kenya, a country that was already facing doping allegations similar to those directed at Russia, which was banned from international track and field competitions over what a report claimed was systematic state-sponsored doping.
Simbolei, a coach in the famous high-altitude training town of Iten, declined to name the runners involved but will meet police for a formal interview. Since he first made the allegations, he had avoided answering some phone calls out of fear, he said.
(Photo: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
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ATHLETE BIOLOGICAL PASSPORT - STEROIDAL MODULE
In 2009, WADA released the first version of the Athlete Biological Passport Operating Guidelines (ABP Guidelines), which introduced a standardized approach to the profiling of individual Athlete haematological variables (the ‘Haematological Module’).
Since then, the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) has been successfully integrated into the anti-doping strategies of numerous International Federation (IF) and National Anti-Doping Agency (NADO) programs, resulting in countless targeted adverse analytical findings (AAFs) and many direct Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs).
This notice is intended to update the anti-doping community on the status of the ABP and the Steroidal Module, which took effect since January 2014.
At WADA’s Executive Committee Meeting September 11, 2013, a new Technical Document (TD) on the Measurement and Reporting of Endogenous Anabolic Androgenic Steroids for Laboratories was approved. This technical document (TD2014EAAS) came into force January 2014, and set the stage for the introduction of the new ABP Steroidal Module.
Accordingly, ABP Operating Guidelines were revised by WADA to account for this new TD, which was a pre-condition for the launch of the Steroidal Module. The Operating Guidelines provide guidance on the optimal way to implement this new anti-doping tool.
Enhancements to the existing Guidelines bring modest changes to existing mandatory documents on Sample collection, transportation of Samples and results management. The revised TDs were tabled for approval at WADA’s Executive Committee Meeting in November, and take effect January 1, 2014.
Following four month operation of the Steroidal Module and feedback from the stakeholders, TD2014EAAS was revised and submitted for approval to the WADA’s Executive Committee Meeting in May. TD2014EAAS 2.0 takes effects on September 1st, 2014.
To address immediate questions that Athletes and the anti-doping community at large may have about the ABP Steroidal Module, please see the following series of questions and answers.
WADA continues to keep all stakeholders apprised of ABP developments, and provide new resources to support implementation.
If the Q&As below did not address your questions, please feel free to contact us:
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Since 2004, and as mandated by World Anti-Doping Code, WADA has published an annual List of Prohibited Substances and Methods (List).The List, which forms one of the five International Standards, identifies the substances and methods prohibited in- and out-of-competition, and in particular sports. The substances and methods on the List are classified by different categories (e.g., steroids, stimulants, gene doping).
WADA’s role, through its List Expert Group and Health, Medical and Research Committee, is to facilitate a consultation period before preparing and publishing the List by 1 October in order to allow for its introduction at the start of the following year.
All Stakeholder issues and comments were discussed in detail at List Committee meetings. Further information on topics included in the Summary of Modifications and Explanatory Notes, and on many other issues or queries brought to the attention of the List Committee as part of the stakeholders comments are in theQuestions & Answers on the Prohibited List.
MONITORING PROGRAM
WADA, in consultation with signatories and governments, shall establish a monitoring program regarding substances which are not on the Prohibited List, but which WADA wishes to monitor in order to detect patterns of misuse in sport.
WADA shall publish, in advance of any testing, the substances that will be monitored. Laboratories will report the instances of reported use or detected presence of these substances to WADA periodically on an aggregate basis by sport and whether the samples were collected in-competition or out–of-competition. Such reports shall not contain additional information regarding specific samples.
WADA shall make available to International Federations and National Anti-Doping Organizations, on at least an annual basis, aggregate statistical information by sport regarding the additional substances. WADA shall implement measures to ensure that strict anonymity of individual Athletes is maintained with respect to such reports. The reported use or detected presence of a monitored substance shall not constitute an anti-doping rule violation.
In December 2014, WADA launched an Independent Commission (IC) to investigate the validity of allegations made by ARD’s documentary titled ‘The secrets of Doping: How Russia makes its winners?’. The documentary alleged doping practices; corrupt practices around sample collection and results management; and, other ineffective administration of anti-doping processes that implicate Russia, the IAAF, athletes, coaches, trainers, doctors and other members of athletes’ entourages; as well as, the accredited laboratory based in Moscow and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA).
The attached Report, which was released on 9 November, summarizes the IC’s findings.
the first link is the report itself. about page 199 they are talking about specific athletes
More: LRC Detailed Reaction The 12 Most Interesting / Important Things From The WADA Report On Russian Doping Don’t have time to read all 323 pages of the blockbuster report? Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with the 12 best points.
LRC Quick Reaction It’s Worse Than We Thought: LRC Reacts To WADA Russian Doping Report The 300+ page WADA report is out (full report here, thread here) on a huge doping conspiracy in Russia that first garnered attention via a German ARD documentary late last year. The details are very amusing and depressing.
His comments followed a report published by British newspaper The Sunday Times, in which Simbolei said he had been told by police that his life could be in danger after he made allegations of a larger doping cover-up in Kenya in a previous interview with German broadcaster ARD.
“I told (police) everything I knew,” the newspaper quoted Simbolei as saying. “I told them officials approach athletes, or their coaches, and demand cash by saying, ‘you know your athlete uses drugs’.”
Simbolei claimed Kenyan track officials ask for a share in race winnings, “or else they will expose you for cheating.
One police officer warned him “to be careful with this information,” said Simbolei. “Another officer told me that the matter was extremely serious and could cost people their jobs. He also said it could cost me my life to make such claims. I insisted that it was all the truth.”
The report did not name any athletes or officials.
The IAAF case centered around council member David Okeyo, one of three track officials under investigation in Kenya for embezzling around $700,000, some of it sponsorship money from Nike, from the Kenyan athletics federation’s accounts. Most of the money was withdrawn in cash, according to the allegations.
“The IAAF was not aware of the investigation into Mr. Okeyo in Kenya and the information has immediately been passed on to the independent IAAF Ethics Commission,” a spokesman for the IAAF said in an email to The AP.
Okeyo, who is also a vice president of Athletics Kenya, was accused alongside AK President Isaiah Kiplagat and Joseph Kinyua, the former federation treasurer. Kiplagat is a former IAAF council member and was a candidate for an IAAF vice president position in elections earlier this year.
Kenyan prosecutors are considering whether to lay criminal charges against the three, director of public prosecutions Keriako Tobiko said.
The investigations relating to Okeyo and Kiplagat — some of which date back years — bring more allegations of wrongdoing into the heart of the world body following revelations that ex-IAAF president Lamine Diack is under criminal investigation in France for taking bribes to cover up Russian doping.
Okeyo said that he had cooperated with Kenyan police and initially declined to comment further. In a later statement, he said: “I welcome investigations by theInternational Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Ethics Committee on allegations that in the course of discharging my duties as the then Secretary General of Athletics Kenya (AK), I was involved in embezzling of monies in the federation.”
A series of damning revelations had already left the IAAF reeling under new presidentSebastian Coe, beginning with news that Diack, Coe’s predecessor as head of the sport, was under criminal investigation. Following a World Anti-Doping Agency report of a vast, state-sponsored cover-up, Russia was suspended on Friday in a vote of the IAAF’s decision-making council.
‘IAAF trying to divert from own failings’
November 15 2015 at 03:00pm
By Reuters
Russia cannot simply be isolated after this scandal Photo: KEYSTONE
Doping scandal: 'Dialogue and engagement our best hopes of enacting change that is real and verifiable'
Sebastian Coe: Our best hope to protect clean athletes is to be unflinching in our commitment to them, not just in words but in our actions, too
EPA
A file picture dated 23 February 2014 of the Olympic flag (L) and the Russian flag (R) during the Closing Ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games in the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, Russia. File Photo: HANNIBAL HANSCHKE
Moscow - The acting head of Russia's Athletics Federation said on Sunday the sport's world governing body was punishing Russia to divert attention from its own failings, the state-owned R-Sport agency reported.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) voted overwhelmingly on Friday to suspend the Russian Athletics Federation from the sport following allegations of widespread and state-sponsored doping.
The allegations, by a special commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), could cost Russia its place at next year's Olympic Games in Rio.
“We understand that the publication of the second part of the WADA report will deal a serious blow to the IAAF. This partially explains such a tough decision with regard to Russia's Athletics Federation,” Vadim Zelichenok, the acting head of the Federation, was quoted by R-Sport as saying.
“It was intended to divert the blow from themselves,” he said.
Russian Sport Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Saturday Russia had told WADA that the IAAF was hiding doping cases.
Former IAAF president, Lamine Diack, is being investigated by French police over allegations he received bribes to cover up positive doping tests of Russian athletes.
The commission has so far withheld other aspects of the IAAF's actions regarding Russia as they form part of an investigation by Interpol into international corruption involving officials and athletes.
On Sunday, R-Sport quoted Mutko as saying there was an attempt to shift all blame to Russia.
“Russia is not the main problem in the world athletics. Yes, there are problems, we do not deny it, but the Russian problems did not begin in Russia. People have been playing by the rules established in the world athletics,” Mutko said.
Reuters
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It is a quote attributed to Burke, though not actually found in his writings, but I think most people understand the sentiment: “It is necessary only for good men to do nothing for evil to triumph.” But in any variant, at the end of last week, it is an observation that stabs between the ribs, and something that I have thought about restlessly and incessantly over the past awful week for athletics.
Four months ago, and a handful of weeks before the elections in Beijing for the International Association of Athletics Federations presidency, I sat late one night with the wife of a colleague in the hotel at one of our area championships. The lobbying for votes at all levels of our sport in advance of the election was all around us – and some of it unedifying. She turned to me and asked a penetrating question and it was asked with more than a tinge of sadness. “How did we get to this?”
At the end of a week that began with a shocking report into anti-doping violations and finished with the suspension of one of our biggest athletics federations; at the end of a fortnight when I sat with a French prosecutor being confronted with criminal accusations involving senior figures — including my predecessor — of a shocking nature; and as we approach the anniversary of a German TV exposé into drug taking in athletics that spawned three independent inquiries — including last week’s independent commission report that laid bare the industrial scale of the doping pathology — this, too, is a question with which I am wrestling.
On Friday night, at the end of a three‑hour conference call, my council colleagues voted almost unanimously to provisionally suspend Russia. The atmosphere was a suffusion of sadness and anger. The recognition that unless we fully grasp the enormity of our plight, there were unlikely to be many tomorrows for athletics.
Nor did we kid ourselves that this was just a rogue or isolated case in one country. Last week, in a lengthy charge list, I was criticised for suggesting that most seemingly intractable problems are best addressed throughdialogue and engagement and not through isolation. It is an instinct to which I will always adhere.
And when asked in the past and recently about banning federations and even with a caveat of 'never say never’, the shocking scale of the report’s findings left my colleagues, doves and hawks alike, with no other choice to make. It was the toughest sanction we had.
The scale of Russia's doping problem shocked "doves and hawks alike" Photo: Reuters
Now, however, our focus has to be on enacting change that is real and verifiable. And this can only be done by agreeing criteria that will ultimately be the arbiter of our efforts – and yes, it will only be achieved with dialogue and engagement.
The road to change may be quicker than some think but the journey to rebuilding trust will outlast my mandate as president.
The decisions and actions we take have to be without partial affection or self-interest. And there is another principle to which I am wedded and not ashamed to espouse right now. I joined an athletics club at the age of 11 and in my 59th year became president of our sport. If this is not about creating opportunities for clean athletes to showcase their God-given talents, then it is about nothing else.
By Sebastian Coe,
President of the IAAF
7:00PM GMT 14 Nov 2015
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For questions about the ABP, please contact athlete.passport@wada-ama.org.
For questions about how the ABP operates within ADAMS, please contact ADAMS@wada-ama.org.
What are the differences between the Haematological and the Steroidal Modules?
What are the requirements to run a Steroidal Passport Program?
How are anonymous tests matched to a specific athlete’s Steroidal Passport?
How many values/samples are necessary for the Steroidal Passport?
What is an Atypical Passport Finding (ATPF) and how is it generated?
Do ADOs bear any additional costs to implement the Steroidal Module bear any additional costs?
1. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE HAEMATOLOGICAL AND THE STEROIDAL MODULES?
The Haematological Module monitors an athlete’s unique haematological (blood) variables over time that may be indicative of the effects of blood doping, such as blood transfusions or the use of Erytrhopoiesis-Stimulating Agents (ESAs). These haematological variables form a `blood profile´ that is measured from an athlete’s blood samples.
The Steroidal Module monitors an athlete’s steroidal variables over time that may be indicative of steroid abuse. These steroidal variables form a `steroid profile´ that is established from an athlete’s urine samples.
2. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE STEROIDAL MODULE?
The primary benefit to all anti-doping organizations (ADOs) is that the steroidal data and automation in ADAMS alerts ADOs to those athletes who may be cheating, and provides intelligence from urine samples already being collected that can improve the effectiveness of any anti-doping program.
From 2004 to 2013, isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) analysis was required when an Athlete had a T/E ratio greater than 4:1. The Adaptive Model used by the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) replaces this ‘population reference’ approach with an ‘intra-individual’ approach, which allows for a more refined evaluation.
With the Haematological Module, when an atypical Athlete Passport is identified, an automated notification is sent to the ADO’s Athlete Passport Management Unit (APMU) by ADAMS, and the APMU is required to evaluate the Passport. (For more information on APMUs, please refer to the General Q&A on the ABP). With the Steroidal Module, IRMS analysis is conducted as a first step, and evaluation by experts required only when the IRMS is negative or inconclusive.
The costs to ADOs should eventually drop as more of the process is automated within ADAMS and the IRMS confirmation is applied on a more appropriate personalized approach.
3. IS THE GUIDELINE FOR THE REPORTING AND MANAGEMENT OF ELEVATED T/E RATIOS AND ENDOGENOUS STEROIDS STILL APPLICABLE?
WADA accredited laboratories and ADOs need to follow the new Technical Document on Anabolic Steroids (TD2014EAAS2.0).
4. FOR WHICH ATHLETES SHOULD AN ADO USE THE STEROIDAL MODULE?
All athletes automatically have a Steroidal Passport as the steroid profile is measured in all urine samples and the Adaptive Model applied to every steroid profile.
5. WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS TO RUN A STEROIDAL PASSPORT PROGRAM?
There are two main requirements to run a Steroidal Passport Program:
To enter the DCFs in ADAMS for every collected urine sample;
To have an APMU, ideally associated to a WADA accredited laboratory, for the management of the Steroidal Passport Program.
6. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN A STEROID PROFILE?
A steroid profile is measured on all urine samples. It consists of the urinary concentrations of Testosterone, Epitestosterone, Androsterone, Etiocholanolone, 5a-androstane-3a,17β-diol and 5β-androstane-3a,17β-diol, together with the specific gravity of the urine sample. The steroid profile is reported in ADAMS by WADA accredited laboratories for all urine samples. Further ratios are calculated to detect multiple forms of steroid doping.
7. HOW ARE ANONYMOUS TESTS MATCHED TO A SPECIFIC ATHLETE’S STEROIDAL PASSPORT?
"The architecture of anti-doping has failed our athletes"
That is why the decision last night to penalise Russia was also a difficult one and running against every instinct around that conference call. But the best way to protect clean athletes is to be unflinching in our commitment to them, and not just in words.
We have to create structures that are always in their corner and here none of us come out very well, including my federation. The architecture of anti-doping has failed them and, we have to ask, were the walls too high in many of our organisations to properly investigate abuses?
Almost certainly 'yes’, has to be our uncomfortable answer. And while we can address these structural deficiencies, create tighter governances and penalise wrongdoing, it is not the whole answer.
And the toughest question I grapple with is inevitably a very personal one – self-examination is never easy. When I joined that athletics club, my first coach drove our cross-country team around South Yorkshire in a camper van. We never questioned what else he might have been balancing in his life to devote this amount of time to us all. His wife told me later in her life that the only night of the year he wasn’t coaching was Christmas.
I guess the question I am asking myself at this very moment is: 'How on earth have we got from a sport that was underpinned by people like that to the horror show that played out on the global stage last week?’ Could I, should I have inserted myself into the three independent investigations? Possibly. Should we all have been more alert and in tune with our natural instincts? Almost certainly.
That is probably the toughest truth to face, but the sport must if we are to start our recovery. And the search for the answer will be my North Star.
How athletics' great doping scandal unfolded
The allegations surface
Dec 3, 2014
German state broadcaster ARD airs "Secret doping dossier: How Russia produces its winners" - a damning 60-minute documentary alleging systematic state-sponsored doping in Russian athletics.
The first casualties
Dec 11, 2014
Russian athletics chief and IAAF treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev, and IAAF marketing consultant Pape Massata Diack, son of the then IAAF president Lamine Diack, step down while corruption and doping allegations are investigated by IAAF's ethics commission.
Independent commission set up
Dec 16, 2014
When doping controls are performed, the authorizing agency (Testing Authority or Sample Collection Authority) must enter the doping control forms (DCFs) into ADAMS. The DCFs and the laboratory results are matched automatically by ADAMS and the new steroid profile collated in the athlete’s Passport. The athlete is assigned a Biological Passport Identification Code (BP ID) to maintain anonymity within the system.
8. HOW MANY VALUES/SAMPLES ARE NECESSARY FOR THE STEROIDAL PASSPORT?
By definition, any athlete that has a urine test and its corresponding DCF entered into ADAMS has a Steroidal Passport. A single test may be sufficient either for targeting purposes or to prompt IRMS confirmation, although generally two or three urine tests are necessary for a longitudinal analysis.
9. WHAT IS AN ATYPICAL PASSPORT FINDING (ATPF) AND HOW IS IT GENERATED?
As soon as the Laboratory Results are matched with a DCF in ADAMS, the Adaptive Model is automatically applied to detect Atypical Passport Findings(ATPFs). The Adaptive Model is an algorithm that calculates whether the result, or results over time in the case of a longitudinal profile, is likely the result of a normal physiological condition. An Atypical Passport Finding (ATPF) is generated in ADAMS if the athlete’s T/E ratio is out of the individual range generated by the Adaptive Model to a specificity of 99%. An Atypical Passport Finding (ATPF) requires further investigation.
10. WHAT HAPPENS IF AN ADO DOES NOT ENGAGE OR POSSESS AN APMU?
If for some reason, the ADO has not already engaged an APMU, and an Atypical Passport Finding (ATPF) is reported with a negative or inconclusive IRMS, then the responsible ADO should seek further guidance from the laboratory that performed the analysis. Further investigation and/or analysis are required.
11. WHAT IF AN ADO DOES NOT USE ADAMS?
If the DCFs are not entered in ADAMS, ADAMS automatically applies less cost-efficient rules to trigger IRMS analyses. These IRMS analyses are mandatory except when the ADO can show that the steroid profile is the result of a normal physiological condition.
When the sample cannot be processed by the Adaptive Model in ADAMS (i.e. because no DCF was entered, and the Sample remains unmatched to the result that has been entered by the laboratory), the laboratory receives an automatic notification from ADAMS 14 calendar days after sample reception.
The laboratory then proceeds to a confirmation procedure if the criteria as described in article 3.0 of the TD2014EAAS are met (> 4:1 T:E ratio). The laboratory subsequently contacts the Testing Authority to inform it of plans to proceed to IRMS unless the Testing Authority can justify to the laboratory and WADA that the confirmation procedure(s) is/are not necessary.
The detrimental consequences for ADOs that do not utilize ADAMS are twofold:
ADOs are unable to build athlete steroid profiles that consist of results from tests conducted by multiple agencies; and
ADOs are likely be required to conduct more IRMS analyses, as the 4:1 ratio is a less refined predictor of possible doping than the Adaptive Model available in ADAMS.
12. WHICH LABORATORIES DO MEASURE STEROID PROFILES?
All WADA accredited laboratories measure steroid profiles and report them in ADAMS. However only a certain number of laboratories manage the results through an Athlete Passport Management Unit (APMU). Consult the list of APMUs.
13. DO ADOS BEAR ANY ADDITIONAL COSTS TO IMPLEMENT THE STEROIDAL MODULE BEAR ANY ADDITIONAL COSTS?
November 10, 2015
WADA Acts Immediately to Suspend Accreditation of Moscow Laboratory
Following the release yesterday of the WADA Independent Commission Report, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has acted immediately on one of the Report's key recommendations: to suspend the accreditation of the Moscow Antidoping Center.
The suspension, which takes effect immediately, prohibits the Moscow Antidoping Center from carrying out any WADA-related anti-doping activities including all analyses of urine and blood samples. The Moscow Antidoping Center may appeal this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 21 days of receipt of notice.
Pursuant to article 4.4.13.2.1 of the International Standard for Laboratories, whenever WADA has justified reason to believe that the suspension or revocation of a laboratory accreditation is required in order to protect the interest of the Anti-Doping Community, WADA may immediately suspend a laboratory’s accreditation. This monitoring process is conducted in conjunction with ISO assessment by independent national accreditation bodies that are full members of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).
A Disciplinary Committee will therefore be formed shortly and will be required to review the case, on the basis of the Procedural Rules adopted by the WADA Executive Committee. This Disciplinary Committee will issue a recommendation with respect to the laboratory’s accreditation status.
In the meantime, all samples for the Moscow Antidoping Center will now be transported securely, promptly and with a demonstrable chain of custody to an alternative WADA-accredited laboratory.
“WADA has acted swiftly to one of the key recommendations made by the Independent Commission in its Report,” said WADA President, Sir Craig Reedie. "The Moscow Laboratory is provisionally suspended, and the status of the laboratory’s accreditation beyond that will be decided by a Disciplinary Committee which will be formed shortly to review the case.”
DECISION
1. The accreditation of the Moscow Antidoping Center is provisionally suspended with immediate effect.
2. This provisional suspension shall remain in effect until the earlier of:
2.1 6 months from the notification of this decision.
2.2 Decision of the Chairman of the WADA Executive Committee or of the WADA Executive Committee upon possible suspension or revocation of the WADA accreditation of the Moscow Antidoping Center, on the basis of the recommendation to be issued by the Disciplinary Committee for the International Standard for Laboratories.
3. In the interim, samples analysed by the Moscow Antidoping Center shall be transported securely, promptly and with a demonstrable chain of custody to another WADA-accredited laboratory.
4. This decision is notified to all relevant national public authorities, national accreditation bodies, national anti-doping organizations, national Olympic committees, international federations and the International Olympic Committee, as stipulated in the International Standard for Laboratories.
While the World Anti-Doping Agency has said it found widespread doping and corruption by Russian athletes, Russian officials have said their country is being held to a double standard and called the watchdog’s report a “political hit job”.
The former Wada president, Dick Pound, who led the extensive investigation into doping in Russian athletics, said on Monday that violations “sabotaged” the London 2012 Olympics and recommended that the IAAF suspends Russia from competition. He also recommended that five coaches and five middle-distance runners from Russia, among them gold and bronze medal winners in London, be banned from athletics for life.
If implemented in accordance with the ABP Operating Guidelines, the Steroidal Module has negligible additional costs. On the contrary it improves the cost-effectiveness of testing programs by enabling a more refined approach to IRMS analysis. Urine samples are already being collected, and the Steroidal Module offers greater intelligence for each sample – beyond it being merely ‘negative’ or ‘positive.’
APMU engagement and evaluations, as well as expert reviews (when necessary), are the only new costs. If the risk of steroid abuse is low in a sport, it is highly unlikely that the longitudinal profile results in an Atypical Passport Finding (ATPF) and thus need further evaluation. Although costs may vary, WADA is working closely with laboratory-based APMUs to develop a transparent process for the aforementioned costs.
If an Atypical Passport Finding (ATPF) is reported with a negative or inconclusive IRMS and the APMU experts nevertheless believe there is a high likelihood of doping, there may be a recommendation to proceed to a results management process. These costs are variable, as with any form results management.
French police in Paris charge Diack with corruption on suspicion of accepting bribes to cover up doping cases. Diack also charged with money laundering and conspiracy. His legal advisor Habib Cisse and former IAAF anti-doping doctor Gabriel Dolle charged with corruption.
The fall-out intensifies
Nov 6, 2015
IAAF opens disciplinary proceedings against Pape Massata Diack, Balakhnichev, Alexei Melnikov, former chief coach of Russia's long distance walkers and runners, and Dolle.
Wada's bombshell
Nov 9, 2015
Wada publishes its report into the scandal, claiming that Russia had been guilty of state-sponsored doping on an industrial scale and that there had been a cover-up at the highest levels of the IAAF which had effectively 'sabotaged' the London 2012 Olympics. They call on Russian athletes to be banned from all competition.
Russia respond
Nov 10, 2015
British track legend Sebastian Coe - who had called the allegations a "declaration of war" on athletics - is elected to succeed Lamine Diack as IAAF president
Diack faces corruption charges
Nov 4, 2015
World-Anti-Doping-Agency (Wada) sets up a three-person independent commission to investigate claims headed by its former chief, Canadian Dick Pound.
New revelations
Aug 1, 2015
ARD airs second documentary "Doping - top secret: The shadowy world of athletics", featuring new accusations aimed at Russian and Kenyan athletes. ARD and The Sunday Times said they were leaked a database belonging to athletics' governing body with details of 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 competitors which revealed "extraordinary" levels of doping. IAAF accused of failing to follow up suspicious tests by hundreds of athletes including world champions and Olympic medal winners.
A new president
Aug 19, 2015
But Wada’s findings were widely seen here as part of a western campaign against Russia. Several athletes and officials have suggested that doping investigators are trying to put unnecessary pressure on Russian athletes and hinder them at competitions. State television and other media quoted officials saying Russia had been singled out. “We don’t deny that we have problems but they exist around the whole world; we have the same percent as all countries do,” the sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, told the news agency Interfax.
Pound said on Monday it was “not possible” that Mutko could have been unaware of such extensive doping. Fifa has said it will study theWada report’s findings about the sports minister, who is also the head of Russia’s football union and the top official in charge of the World Cup that the country will host in 2018. But Mutko said his surname was not included in the report and that its findings were not backed up with evidence. He repeated the Russian saying “a fish rots from the head”, arguing that cheating and corruption are a problem at the highest levels of world sport.
Artyom Patsev, the lawyer of the All-Russia Athletics Federation, told the state news agency R-Sport that, if there were any truth to the allegations, Russian athletics would have been suspended “a long time ago”. He said Wada was using vague ethics claims to pressure Russia and said there was “no logic, no common sense” in the recommendation.
Russian president Vladimir Putin promises action against anyone found guilty of abetting a doping programme and orders an internal investigation.
Russia provisionally banned from athletics
Nov 13, 2015
The IAAF has announced it has provisionally suspended the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) as a member with immediate effect.
IAAF to-do list: Invite in, step aside & break the orbit
Category: Doping, High performance management, Track and Field, Uncategorized, World Championships
The core issue about trust and the IAAF is this:
When reality knocked on the door in the form of the German documentary and other investigative pieces (not to mention the glaringly obvious realities of doping), Lord Coe led this response:
“This is war, we’ve done nothing to deserve this, we will not cower, we will fight”
But then reality barged the door down, and now the tune has changed:
“We are shocked. Shocked. Staggered. We didn’t know. But now that we do, we will fix it. Trust us!”
So basically, we are asked to give over and trust in either:
An organization so out of touch and unaware of reality that its new leader didn’t know what its “spiritual leader” (Coe’s words), athletes and member federations were doing, even though he was there for seven years in a high-ranking position
An organization that knew, but did nothing until reality was standing there, in their house, with the door lying in pieces
Neither scenario fills me with hope. So what’s the solution?
Coe could stay, and survive, and even be part of the solution, but it would take a 180-degree shift in his attitude, and historical precedent. It means inviting in the ‘so-called scientists’ and people like Renee Anne Shirley to lay bare all the cover-ups and denials. Imagine Ashenden, Parisotto, Shirley, plus independent officials charting the strategic solution.
Imagine inviting in journalists whose mandate is to expose EVERYTHING. One of the great problems is that the media become acolytes and enablers because access depends on it. Turn that around, and while the ugliness of the truth will cause discomfort, it may be the start of change. Nothing can be sacred.
It means bringing independent businesspeople in and then getting out of their way while they work to bring real corporate governance to the sport. That means people completely ‘untainted’ by association with any sport (it really is so ‘incestuous’ – remember that Coe was Chairman of FIFA’s Ethics Committee). Men and women who built and led trustworthy companies and charities, possibly without any involvement in sport, and then hold IAAF governance to a higher standard. It means using this as an opportunity to create transparency never seen before in a sport.
It also means taking the lead on what is an obvious part of the solution, which Pound alluded to in the report yesterday. That is, this current situation where national anti-doping agencies are tasked with policing their own athletes is not trustworthy, and is therefore untenable given the current cynicism.
This is the hardly the first instance where it’s been shown to be flawed, but the conflict of interests created when the nation who benefits from doping must catch and sanction its own athletes will never work. It’s either abused as we’re seeing, or it creates enormous imbalances in the level of anti-doping efforts from one country to the next (think Kenya and Jamaica).
Pound called for an independent body to take on the task of all anti-doping control. Whether that means giving WADA more powers, as opposed its oversight role of its signatory members, or the creation of a new agency, I don’t know. But the IAAF could implement exactly this in their own capacity. Set aside the millions that Coe promised to nations in his election campaign, and add a good slice of the TV revenue, and create that independent body for track and field. And again, get the hell out of the way.
If they did that, I’d be willing to give the IAAF (and WADA) the opportunity to change things around.
On a positive note, what any sport has going for it are two things:
1) Athletes who do want to compete clean, and who are genuinely, justifiably and righteously pissed off at how they’ve been let down by their own administrators. They have the kind of energy that can carry change if it is invested in.
2) Fans who want to believe. I know that we are skeptical, even cynical. Some maybe beyond “salvation”. But the core values and attributes that brought us to sport in the first place have not disappeared, they’ve just been buried under a pile of deceit, and if that is genuinely cleared away, then I think the goodwill can return.
But we are tired of the half-truths, deflections, outright lies and patronizing attitude.
All the Russia cases shows is that we’re seeing the latest version of a doping culture and attitude that we know began in the 1960s. It may have morphed, taken on a different guise, but it’s the same thing in a different era. And with that truth should come the realization that the same doping that tainted the Ben Johnson 1988 100m race remains alive today too (there were no Russians in that race, remember).
So too, the doping of cycling in 1990s remains alive, though it looks different. Doping in cycling didn’t start with Lance, it didn’t end with Lance, as much as some media love that narrative.
This stuff doesn’t just disappear, it adapts. Why would it vanish? The same or greater incentives exist, and clearly, there’s no appetite from sports to completely eradicate it. Some even saw it as their retirement nest-egg (the industrious Lamine Diack).
So we move forward, in pursuit of clean sport, but constantly seeking ‘marginal gains’ (yeah, doping is on the table as one of those), and we end up where we began, just with a little more sophistication, and a touch of good old-fashioned bribery and extortion.
If that doesn’t end, we’ll never get out of this orbit. Track and Field has the chance to break it.
IAAF, athletics could face suspension from international competition after doping report, WADA commissioner tells ABC
Updated Sat at 8:12pm
Russia's sport minister Vitaly Mutko responds angrily to the claims. “You can’t just go on like this," he says. "You need to understand our sentiment. Sometimes it is just offensive. The country has done so much to provide support for sports and still all the time we have to prove something to someone."
Putin intervenes
Nov 11, 2015
Russia accu for athletics ban
Read more
“This whole case smells of a political hit job and nothing more,” Patsev said. The MP Sergei Poddubny, deputy head of the physical education and sport committee, told the state news agency RIA Novosti that the Wada commission’s doping allegations were “completely political statements”, arguing that Russia was being held to a double standard.
“Let’s not mince words. American, Canadian athletes, they’ve caught even more of them than Russians. They engage in doping literally every year,” he said. “They catch athletes. But there wasn’t such an extensive campaign. Why not?
“Maybe there is a problem with doping but I don’t think it’s connected to the cases you’re talking about,” the former athletics head coach Valentin Maslakov told the Guardian when asked about allegations of doping at the London Olympics. Maslakov resigned in January after the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said it was concerned about the number of Russian doping cases.
Moscow appeared to be preparing to challenge the new findings. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency said it would conduct its own internal investigation of the allegations included in the report. Wada recommended on Monday that the Moscow anti-doping laboratory be stripped of its international accreditation.
Valery Ryazansky, the head of the social committee in the upper house of parliament, told the state television channel Russia-24 that Russia needed to punish those found guilty of doping while also lobbying against suspension from competition. He also said Russian delegates to international sporting organisations should seek to change regulations and implement a statute of limitations on suspected doping violations.
The argument that Russia was under unfair scrutiny is one that officials have used in the past. Following accusations in August that doping was suspected in most of Russia’s athletics wins between 2001 and 2012, Maslakov told the Guardian that “Russia is not the leader in this area”.
Irina Privalova, who won gold for Russia in the 400m hurdles at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, told Sports.ru in September that doping investigations against Russia were politically motivated and suggested that extra doping checks were placing its athletes in a “stressful condition” that could cause them to “lose equilibrium”.
Other athletes said Russia was cracking down on doping on its own.
“The attitude toward doping is changing and you can’t not see that changes are occurring here in regards to that,” the Olympic gold medallist Tatyana Lebedeva told Sovsport.ru. “I’m hoping for a more prudent decision by the international federation.”
Solutions
GENEVA
-- Russia's status as a sports superpower and its participation in track and field events at next year's Olympics came under threat Monday after a report accused the Russians of widespread, state-supported doping reminiscent of the darkest days of cheating by the former East Germany.
The findings by a commission set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency were far more damaging than expected. It means that two of the world's most popular sports -- soccer and track and field -- are now mired in scandals that could destroy their reputations.
The WADA investigation's findings that Russian government officials must have known about doping and cover-ups, with even its intelligence service, the FSB, allegedly involved, threatened to severely tarnish President Vladimir Putin's use of sports to improve his country's global standing. Russia hosted the last Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014 and will hold the next World Cup in 2018.
EDITOR'S PICKS
The good news: Assets and leverage
Combine a spy thriller script with the justified cynicism around doping, and the result is WADA's independently produced report on corruption in Russian athletics, and track and field overall.
Ed Warner says Russia's place at Rio 2016 Olympics should be jeopardised following WADA report into doping -- but Russian president Vladimir Putin insists accusations are 'groundless'.
"It's worse than we thought," said Dick Pound, an International Olympic Committee veteran who chaired the WADA probe. "It may be a residue of the old Soviet Union system."
Said Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov: "As long as there is no evidence, it is difficult to consider the accusations, which appear rather unfounded."
The 323-page report said that in Russia, "acceptance of cheating at all levels is widespread." Among its findings:
• Moscow testing laboratory director Grigory Rodchenkov ordered the "intentional and malicious destruction" of 1,417 doping control samples to deny evidence for the investigation.
• FSB agents regularly visited the lab, routinely questioned its staff and told some of them not to cooperate with WADA as part of "direct intimidation and interference by the Russian state" with the lab's work. Staff at the lab believed their offices were bugged by the FSB.
• FSB agents even infiltrated Russia's anti-doping work at the Sochi Olympics. One witness told the inquiry that "in Sochi, we had some guys pretending to be engineers in the lab, but actually they were from the Federal Security Service."
• "Widespread inaction" by track and field's governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations, and Russian authorities allowed athletes suspected of doping to continue competing. "The Olympic Games in London were, in a sense, sabotaged by the admission of athletes who should have not been competing," the report said.
The WADA commission, set up after a German TV documentary last year alleged widespread Russian doping and cover-ups, recommended that WADA declare the Russian athletics federation "noncompliant" with the global anti-doping code, and that the IAAF suspend the federation from competition.
WADA's findings
Read the complete 323-page report released Monday from the World Anti-Doping Agency's independent commission.
The IAAF responded by saying it will consider sanctions against Russia, including a possible suspension that would ban Russian track and field athletes from international competition, including the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. IAAF President Sebastian Coe gave the Russian federation until the end of the week to respond.
"If they are suspended -- and it sounds like the IAAF is moving in that direction already -- and they are still suspended, at the time of Rio, there will be no Russian track and field athletes there," Pound said in an interview with The Associated Press after the release of the findings.
The IOC on Monday said in a statement that the report is "deeply shocking" and "very saddening for the world of sport." The statement also said that it trusted Coe and the IAAF to "take all the necessary measures" regarding the suspension of Russian athletes for the Rio Games.
''The IOC will also carefully study the report with regard to the Olympic Games," the IOC said. "If any infringements on the anti-doping rules by athletes and or their entourage should be established, the IOC will react with its usual zero tolerance policy."
Pound said Russia's doping could be called state-sponsored. The commission said its months-long probe found no written evidence of government involvement, but it added: "It would be naive in the extreme to conclude that activities on the scale discovered could have occurred without the explicit or tacit approval of Russian governmental authorities."
"They would certainly have known," Pound said.
To the AP, he added: "We have finally identified one of the major powers as being involved in this. It's not just small countries or little pockets. This is a major sporting country. It's got to be a huge embarrassment."
Vladimir Uiba, head of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency that provides medical services to Russian national team competitors, said the report is part of a "politically motivated" campaign linked to the crisis in Ukraine.
Russian athletes suspected of doping are also likely to keep their medals because canceling any results would require "a huge number of legal proceedings," Uiba told the Interfax news agency.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, whose ministry was accused by the WADA probe of giving orders to tamper with anti-doping tests, insisted Russia's problems are no worse than in other countries. Russia is being persecuted, he said, telling Interfax: "Whatever we do, everything is bad."
He threatened to cut all government funding for anti-doping work, saying "if we have to close this whole system, we would be happy to" because "we will only save money."
Mutko, who is also a FIFA executive committee member and heads the committee organizing soccer's 2018 World Cup in Russia, denied any wrongdoing to the WADA panel, including knowledge of athletes being blackmailed and FSB interference.
Pound said Mutko must have known.
"It was not possible for him to be unaware of it," Pound said. "And if he was aware of it, he was complicit in it."
Pound said there may still be time for Russia to avoid the "nuclear weapon" of a ban from the Olympics if it starts reforming immediately. That work will take at least "several months," and "there are a lot of people who are going to have to walk the plank before this happens," he said.
"I think they can do it. I hope they can," he added.
More potentially damaging revelations are to come, and the crisis in athletics might ultimately trump even the criminal investigations into alleged corruption at FIFA.
The WADA commission is also looking at the role senior officials at the IAAF allegedly played in bribery and extortion involving Russian athletes. French authorities last week detained and later charged former IAAF president Lamine Diack with corruption and money laundering. The WADA panel's findings on that angle could come before the end of the year. For the moment, the commission said evidence of "corruption and bribery practices at the highest levels of international athletics" has been shared with Interpol.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which brought down Lance Armstrong in another case that shattered public faith in sports, was damning in its response to the findings.
"If Russia has created an organized scheme of state-supported doping, then they have no business being allowed to compete on the world stage," USADA CEO Travis Tygart said.
Other countries and sports could also fall under the WADA spotlight for abetting doping. Pound singled out Kenya, saying it seems that the East African powerhouse of long-distance running "has a real problem."
"In its considered view," the WADA panel said, "Russia is not the only country, nor athletics the only sport, facing the problem of orchestrated doping."
November 9, 2015
WADA welcomes Independent Commission’s Report into Widespread Doping in Sport
Agency commits to leading the charge in protecting the clean athlete
Commission recommends that WADA is reinforced with significant new resources to undertake additional responsibilities requiredThe World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has welcomed the thorough Report into widespread doping allegations issued by the WADA Independent Commission.
The Richard Pound-chaired Commission – which held a specially convened Press Conference for the world’s media in Geneva today – found that the allegations of widespread doping were substantiated by their investigation, and that far from being historical, many of the findings are still current in Russian sport today.
“The Independent Commission’s Report contains a series of findings that will shock and appall athletes and sports fans worldwide, and indeed many issues that highlight very current deficiencies with the anti-doping system in Russia,” said WADA President, Sir Craig Reedie.
“While the contents of the Report are deeply disturbing, the investigation is hugely positive for the clean athlete as it contains significant recommendations for how WADA and its partners in the anti-doping community can, and must, take swift corrective action to ensure anti-doping programs of the highest order are in place across the board,” he added. “WADA is fully committed in its role of leading the charge to protect the rights of clean athletes worldwide.”
The Commission made a series of recommendations for WADA, in addition to recommendations for other organizations including: the WADA-accredited Moscow Laboratory; the Russian National Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA); the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF); and the Russian Ministry of Sport.
The Commission highlighted the need for WADA to insist upon compliance by all its signatories, and to prioritize regulating compliance of anti-doping programs. There were specific recommendations for WADA to declare the WADA-accredited Moscow Laboratory and Russian National Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) non-compliant. There was also a recommendation for the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) to be declared non-compliant, which WADA will refer to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) so that appropriate action can be taken against ARAF as one of its member federations.
The Commission encouraged WADA to dedicate additional resources to run international investigations and compliance-related activities, as is now encouraged under the revised World Anti-Doping Code.
The Commission pointed to the clear need for WADA to be provided with increased resources in order to carry out the additional activities highlighted in the Report, which are required for quality anti-doping systems to prosper worldwide.
The Independent Commission’s recommendations for WADA can be read in full in the Report.
The Commission found that there was a systematic level of doping that had been perpetuated in part by unscrupulous athlete support personnel in Russia. The Commission cited a level of state influence in its findings, though it also expressly mentioned that Russia and athletics were not alone in their involvement with orchestrated doping in sport.
ABOUT THE WADA INDEPENDENT COMMISSION (IC)
On 11 December 2014, WADA launched the IC to investigate the validity of allegations of doping practices; corrupt practices around sample collection and results management; and, other ineffective administration of anti-doping processes that implicate Russia, the IAAF, athletes, coaches, trainers, doctors and other members of athletes’ entourages; as well as, the accredited laboratory based in Moscow and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA). As per the terms of its mandate, the IC was scheduled to deliver its report to WADA’s President Sir Craig Reedie by 31 December 2015.
The role of the IC Commission was extended by WADA in August 2015 following the release of the documentary titled ‘Doping – Top Secret: The Shadowy World of Athletics’, which contained new allegations regarding widespread doping in international athletics. The documentary alleged that ARD and The Sunday Times obtained a leaked database, belonging to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which contained more than 12,000 blood tests from around 5,000 athletes in the years 2001 to 2012.
The IC has not yet reported on its findings from the August allegations, nor those portions relating to matters now under police investigation, because its investigation into these particular allegations is still ongoing. The IC expects to report on these findings before the end of the year.
WADA MEDIA CONTACT
International police body Interpol has said it will coordinate a French-led global investigation into doping allegations in athletics.
Its announcement came at the same time as a team of investigators for the World Anti-Doping Agency recommended Russia be banned from athletics.
Last week, French prosecutors accused the sport's governing body's ex-president of being involved.
He is alleged to have taken bribes to cover up doping cases.
Interpol's announcement follows Monday's publication of a report by an independent commission established by Wada investigating a number of individuals, including former officials of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the agency said in a statement.
"The world police body is now working with member countries potentially linked to the inquiry, including Singapore, to seek assistance in co-ordinating a global investigative network and support the criminal investigation on the basis of the intelligence gathered by the [Wada] independent commission."
According to French investigative news agency Mediapart, the people who conducted doping inquiries for Wada believe a company registered in Singapore was used to channel certain funds that were part of the corruption operation.
As part of the inquiry, French police last week raided premises belonging to individuals and companies, Interpol said.
The Wada report was commissioned to "determine the accuracy" of allegations made in a German TV documentary about Russian athletics last December.
"The IC [independent commission] has withheld most of the contents of the chapter on the IAAF in order to not compromise the continuing efforts in respect of information provided to Interpol," the Wada report says.
"The IC is in possession of information which has been passed on to Interpol for the purposes of an integrated investigative activity, Operation Augeas. Therefore, most of the IC's recommendations in respect of the IAAF are being withheld until such time as the full chapter is released."
PHOTO: Athletics could be on the outer at next year's Olympics in Rio if WADA recommends IAAF's suspension over the latest doping scandal. (Getty Images: Buda Mendes)
Only a day after provisionally suspending the Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) from international competition the world governing body of track and field (IAAF) may also find itself on the outer ahead of the Rio Olympic games in 2016.
The WADA Independent Commission (IC), that this week released a damning report on alleged systemic doping in Russia, told ABC NewsRadio suspension of the IAAF is an option for them when they release part two of their report, expected at the end of the year.
"Well that might well be some of the recommendations that come forward when we do the second phase of our report," Commissioner Richard McLaren said.
"We haven't even revealed our findings in relation to the IAAF because of the ongoing sensitivities of the criminal investigation but we will be doing that in the next report and I think I need to leave it at that."
French criminal investigations for suspected corruption and money laundering have implicated former IAAF President, Lamine Diack, and a number of other IAAF officials.
"We had to withhold some info relating to the IAAF because of the possibility that if we disclosed anything it would jeopardise ongoing criminal inquiries," McLaren said.
The commissioner said the IC's investigation was limited to narrow terms of reference and although information had been found that went beyond Russia and the sport of athletics they were not in a position to pursue those lines of inquiry.
When asked whether they would be pursued at some other point, he replied, "That will depend on somebody deciding they want to do it and be prepared to fund it."
"But I want to emphasise that it didn't impact or narrow the work that we did do, it just meant we didn't get into other organisations and other sports," he said.
Also speaking on ABC NewsRadio's 'The Ticket' the founder and editor of Around the Rings, Ed Hula, said while there have been other doping scandals in sport this is the worst ever.
"It's going to require a whole change in attitude, a whole change in culture on the part of the IAAF," he said.
"It's been mentioned by one of the members of this independent commission that this report may be a game changer.
"Well, will it be a game changer if we're talking about the Russians having enough time between now and Rio De Janeiro to clean up their house and make their national federation acceptable to the IAAF?
"I mean, if all it takes is three months or four months or six months to cure the ills of the most widespread doping scandal that's ever been uncovered, I'm not sure there's much change taking place within the culture of the IAAF."
Under new president, Lord Sebastian Coe, the IAAF announced all track and field athletes from Russia are 'provisionally suspended' from international events although the door remains open to them should Russia prove they have been able to 'enact change' on 'measurable outcomes'.
Russia is to be stripped of hosting the upcoming World Race Walking Team Championships in Cheboksary and the 2016 World Junior Championships in Kazan.
In announcing the provisional suspension of ARAF Lord Coe said, "I am entirely focused on the changes that need to be made, we have conceded, and I openly concede, that we need to learn to some very, very tough lessons."
"This is a wake up call for all of us, we need to look at ourselves, within our sport, my organisation as well and we will do that."
Image copyrightGetty Images
Image caption
Former IAAF president Lamine Diack is under investigation on suspicion of corruption and money laundering
French prosecutors are already investigating former IAAF President Lamine Diack, who was put under criminal investigation last week on suspicion of corruption and money laundering.
He is alleged to have received more than €1m (£700,000; $1.1m) in bribes in 2011 to cover up positive doping tests by Russian athletes, Reuters quoted the office of France's financial prosecutor as saying.
The 82-year-old Senegalese stepped down in August after 16 years as IAAF president when Briton Sebastian Coe was elected as his replacement.
he Kremlin has dismissed accusations of widespread state-sponsored doping among its athletes as "groundless".
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was no evidence for the claims.
The acting head of the Russian Athletics Federation, Vadim Zelichenok, said there were few "fresh facts" in the report and past problems with doping had been tackled.
The report depicted a culture of systematic cheating - with even the secret services involved.
It said neither the All-Russia Athletics Federation (Araf), the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada), nor the Russian Athletics Federation were complying with anti-doping procedures.
The report - by an independent commission for the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) - sent shockwaves through the world of sport.
Australia and the UK have backed its call to ban Russia from all competitions including next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The head of world athletics, Lord Coe, has given Araf until the end of the week to respond to the claims.
Wada has suspended the accreditation of a Moscow laboratory where samples were sent for testing, with work there now said to have ceased.
Wada commission recommends Russia ban
What happens if the trust goes out of sport?
'No interference'
Russian reaction has ranged from outrage to a more conciliatory tone.
"If accusations are being voiced, they should be supported by evidence," Kremlin spokesman Mr Peskov told reporters.
"As long as evidence is not provided, it is difficult to accept accusations. They are groundless," he said.
'Black Monday' for Russian athletics, by BBC Monitoring
While reaction in the Russian media has been somewhat muted - just one mainstream daily carried the doping claims on its front page - others have used the story to criticise both Wada and the Russian state.
The Sport Express calls the episode "Black Monday", with Gazeta.ru agreeing, describing it as "a heavy blow for Russian sport".
Sovetsky Sport, blames the government for the situation: "Who spent money on professional light athletes and their brazenly maligned federation? The state."
But the government-owned daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta warns against jumping to conclusions.
"If the suspects haven't been proven guilty, why rush to demand that those who are possibly guilty be punished by the IAAF Council?"
Russian media fear sports isolation
Sports minister Vitaly Mutko has strongly denied that Araf destroyed hundreds of doping samples illicitly at the body's accredited laboratory in Moscow - insisting it had done so only at Wada's request.
Mr Zelichenok admitted that doping had been a problem, but told the BBC: "There is no corruption now. I can lay my hand on the Bible."
Rusada's executive director, Nikita Kamaev, told reporters his organisation had been compliant with Wada standards.
Media captionNikita Kamaev, Russian anti-doping agency: "Some of the conclusions are... possibly politicised"
Image copyrightAP
Image caption
Wada has withdrawn accreditation from the Moscow laboratory where samples were sent for testing - and where, the report says, hundreds of samples were illicitly destroyed
Image copyrightPA
Image caption
But Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko insists samples were destroyed at Wada's request
Meanwhile, a statement from the sports ministry said it was open to co-operating more closely with Wada and insisted the country was "fully committed to the fight against doping in sport".
It said Wada's work would help Russia "to perfect its anti-doping system".
The ministry said it was "not surprised by most of the points in the report" and was "fully aware of the problems in" Araf and had already taken steps to address them, with new management and new chief trainer.
But, it insisted, "we do not interfere in [national anti-doping agency] Rusada and anti-doping laboratory work".
The sports ministry also suggested that other anti-doping organisations, "including international ones", should also be subjected to scrutiny to check for violations.a would be a huge blow.
Russian doping 'worse than thought'
Wada's independent commission examined allegations of doping, cover-ups, and extortion in Russian athletics, which also implicated the IAAF, the sport's world governing body.
It says London 2012 was "sabotaged" by "widespread inaction" against athletes with suspicious doping profiles.
The report recommended that five athletes and five coaches should be given lifetime doping bans.
The international police body Interpol says it will be co-ordinating a global investigation into the suspected corruption and doping.
Athletics doping: Key questions answered following Wada report
Athletics has been shaken by the doping allegations contained in the World Anti-Doping Association's (Wada) independent report - but who is involved and what might it mean for the future of athletics?
What are the key findings?
Russia is alleged to have 'sabotaged' London 2012 through systemic doping: Many of Russia's athletes at London 2012 had suspicious doping profiles, including 800m champion Mariya Savinova.
Some athletes are alleged refused and avoided tests: Athletes refused to take doping tests, gave incorrect phone numbers to anti-doping officials, paid money to cover up positive tests and returned from doping bans early.
Some doctors, coaches and lab staff were in on the alleged cover-up: Doctors and coaches provided banned substances to athletes, coaches and team officials hindered and bullied anti-doping officials, and laboratory personnel destroyed samples and covered up positive tests.
...And so too was the Russian government: The Russian security service FSB allegedly operated a "culture of intimidation" at the anti-doping labs, and it was "inconceivable" that Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko did not know what was going on.
The IAAF was 'inexplicably lax' in tackling the problem:Athletics' global governing body the International Association of Athletics Federations failed to deal with the problem until it was too late, delaying its investigation of individual cases so long that suspect athletes were allowed to compete in London.
Wada needs more money: The World Anti-Doping Agency's budget of $30m (£20m) a year is too small for it to be effective. It needs more investigators and more resources to increase its educational efforts.
Other countries could be cheating too: Report author Dick Pound said the revelations surrounding Russia were "just the tip of the iceberg". He alleged that Kenya "has a real problem with doping and has been very slow to acknowledge it".
Russia could be suspended from the 2016 Olympics: That's the recommendation of the Wada report, if Russia does not "volunteer to take remedial work". IAAF president Lord Coe says the governing body will wait for Russia's response before deciding on a sanction.
https://www.wada-ama.org/en/resources/world-anti-doping-program/independent-commission-report-1
Athletics doping: Russia not the only country involved - Ed Warner
Russia is not the only country with systemic doping problems, says UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner.
A World Anti-Doping Agency commission report has accused Russia of running a "state-sponsored" doping programme.
And Warner said he feels sports other than athletics have reason to be concerned at how Russian sport is run.
"This iceberg spreads in two different directions," he said. "I suspect there are probably four, five or six nations that athletics has a problem with."
Commission chairman Dick Pound said Russia's athletics federation, Araf, should be banned from the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Warner told BBC Radio 5 live: "Every other international sport today should be looking at Russian sport and looking at whether the men and women who compete in their events are clean."
"They do not have robust anti-doping regimes. They are asleep on the job - and they have to be rooted out."
Wada's independent commission, which examined allegations of doping, cover-ups and extortion in Russian athletics, also implicated the International Association of Athletics' Federations.
The IAAF's former president Lamine Diack has been provisionally suspended by the International Olympic Committee, who have also asked the IAAF to start disciplinary action against the athletes named in the report.
Araf has been told to respond to the report by Friday and Russia have defended their position.
Acting head of Russia Athletics Federation, Vadim Zelichenok, said: "There is an element of a political hit job here because quite a few things were described in the report in a biased way."
Russia's sports ministry has said it will work more closely with Wada,
Igor Zagorskiy, deputy director of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, Rusada, told the BBC: "There is always room for improvement.
"We are on that track and we've been on that track together with Wada. We will continue this work on this."
Warner says the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), must be restructured to combat the problem.
He revealed that he had spoken to IAAF president Lord Coe since Monday's publication of Wada's independent commission, which examined allegations of doping, cover-ups and extortion in Russian athletics, and also implicated the IAAF.
The 323-page report said that "acceptance of cheating at all levels is widespread" in Russia and suggested that neither Araf, Rusada, nor the Russian Federation can be considered anti-doping code-compliant.
The report also said the London 2012 Olympics were "sabotaged" by "widespread inaction" against athletes with suspicious doping profiles; accuses Moscow laboratory director Grigory Rodchenko of asking for and accepting bribes and intentionally destroying samples he was told to keep; and recommends that five Russian athletes and five coaches should be given lifetime doping bans.
Pound, who chaired the Wada investigation, said the situation was "worse than we thought", adding that "it may be a residue of the old Soviet Union system".
Warner backed the recommendation to suspend Russia from competition "until they put their house in order", adding: "If you punish one or two innocent Russian athletes for the greater good of the sport, that is a moral dilemma I am willing to grasp."
He also suggested that Russia is unlikely to be the only country guilty of doping, saying that "athletics has probably got some other nations to root out".
He added that while "there are undoubtedly drugs cheats in many corners of athletics", he believed systemic doping did not occur in nations in the Western world.
Russian doping 'worse than thought'
'Change has to happen now'
During a special BBC Radio 5 live programme examining the independent report, Britain's marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe said: "I don't think anyone is under the impression it's only Russia."
On the same programme, former British sprinter Darren Campbell warned of "darker days to come".
He said: "This report was about Russia, and they need to be punished if this holds up, but we'll lose sight on the bigger issues if we focus on Russia. It's about cleaning everything out.
"There's people talking about testing out in Kenya and Jamaica. We can't have rumours anymore.
"We need to understand how the Russians got away with it. How did this happen yet nobody knew?
"No matter how dark and depressing it gets, change has to happen now."
'This cannot be a one-man crusade'
Coe, elected IAAF president in August, described the Wada report as "alarming" and has said he will seek urgent approval from members to consider sanctions against the Russian federation.
The report found evidence of multiple rules breaches by IAAF officials and found the governing body to be "inexplicably lax in following up suspicious blood (and other) profiles".It has also been criticised for its handling of the allegations, with Coe himself describing claims about suspicious blood profiles involving some athletes as "a declaration of war on my sport" in August.
On Monday, Coe said that "if there are failings in our governance or our anti-doping programme I will fix them".
But Warner says Coe needs to restructure the IAAF in order for it to effectively tackle the problem.
"This cannot be a one-man crusade," Warner told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "He needs to ensure there is a bench around him at the IAAF who dramatically improve the operation.
"We all know, and he has already said, he needs to go out and hire a good chief executive.
"It needs more than that. He also possibly needs a chairman under him so he can take the lead of the elected council and be the ambassador for the sport and have full-time professional staff, possibly from outside sport, from elsewhere in business, who can get a grip on the organisation."
Lamine Diack has been provisionally suspended as an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee.
Diack has also resigned as president of the International Athletics Foundation.
The IAF is the charitable arm of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which Diack, 82, was president of for 16 years before he was replaced by Lord Coe in August.
Diack is being investigated by French police over allegations he took bribes to cover up positive drugs tests.
On Monday, a World Anti-Doping Agency report accused Russia of widespread doping.
The IAAF were implicated in the report.
Diack's son Papa Massata, advisor Habib Cisse and the former IAAF anti-doping chief Gabriel Dolle are also being investigated by French police.
The French financial prosecutor said in a statement last week: "Diack is suspected of receiving money in exchange for deferring sanctions for several Russian athletes who were found guilty of doping in 2011, ahead of the Olympic Games.
"Diack and Cisse were arrested on Sunday and released on Tuesday, after being interrogated by police officers and judges.
"They were presented to a judge on Tuesday who informed them that they had been put under a formal investigation. The investigation also continues into whether other persons were involved in suspected corruption."
The IOC said on Tuesday: "The executive board decided this afternoon to confirm the proposal of the IOC ethics commission to provisionally suspend Mr. Lamine Diack, the former president of IAAF, from his honorary membership of the IOC."
The statement went on to urge the IAAF to take action against Olympic athletes accused of doping in Wada's report.
Diack ended his 16-year reign as IAAF president in August, when Briton Coe, a double Olympic 1500m winner, was elected as his replacement.
Athletics doping: Key questions answered following Wada report
Athletics has been shaken by the doping allegations contained in the World Anti-Doping Association's (Wada) independent report - but who is involved and what might it mean for the future of athletics?
What are the key findings?
Russia is alleged to have 'sabotaged' London 2012 through systemic doping: Many of Russia's athletes at London 2012 had suspicious doping profiles, including 800m champion Mariya Savinova.
Some athletes are alleged refused and avoided tests: Athletes refused to take doping tests, gave incorrect phone numbers to anti-doping officials, paid money to cover up positive tests and returned from doping bans early.
Some doctors, coaches and lab staff were in on the alleged cover-up: Doctors and coaches provided banned substances to athletes, coaches and team officials hindered and bullied anti-doping officials, and laboratory personnel destroyed samples and covered up positive tests.
...And so too was the Russian government: The Russian security service FSB allegedly operated a "culture of intimidation" at the anti-doping labs, and it was "inconceivable" that Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko did not know what was going on.
The IAAF was 'inexplicably lax' in tackling the problem:Athletics' global governing body the International Association of Athletics Federations failed to deal with the problem until it was too late, delaying its investigation of individual cases so long that suspect athletes were allowed to compete in London.
Wada needs more money: The World Anti-Doping Agency's budget of $30m (£20m) a year is too small for it to be effective. It needs more investigators and more resources to increase its educational efforts.
Other countries could be cheating too: Report author Dick Pound said the revelations surrounding Russia were "just the tip of the iceberg". He alleged that Kenya "has a real problem with doping and has been very slow to acknowledge it".
Russia could be suspended from the 2016 Olympics: That's the recommendation of the Wada report, if Russia does not "volunteer to take remedial work". IAAF president Lord Coe says the governing body will wait for Russia's response before deciding on a sanction.
The Wada report was commissioned to investigate revelations in a documentary by German broadcaster ARD that alleged widespread doping in Russian athletics.
It looked at claims made in that programme by whistleblowers from inside the Russian system, including former Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) official Vitaly Stepanov and his wife Yulia (nee Rusanova), formerly an 800m runner who was banned for doping.
There was also testimony from Russian athletes, including former London Marathon winner Liliya Shobukhova, who admitted to taking drugs and observing corruption.
It also found evidence of destruction of samples, interference with doping controls, and payment of bribes to conceal positive tests.
Medicine and syringes were found in athletes' rooms at a training camp. The report noted that such was the atmosphere of intimidation, many of its interviewees were afraid to testify for fear of reprisals.
What is Russia's response?
It has been mixed. The Kremlin has described the accusations as "groundless". The Russian Athletics Federation said past problems with doping had been tackled and accused Wada of avoiding established protocols for dealing with doping.
Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has said that thousands of samples were destroyed, but says Russia only did so at Wada's request. Domestically, Russian officials have been painting the report as a "politically motivated hit-job".
However, a statement from the sports ministry said Russia was "fully committed to the fight against doping in sport" and would be prepared to co-operate more closely in order "to perfect its anti-doping system".
Have athletes been named?
Wada's report recommended that five athletes and five coaches should be given lifetime bans for alleged doping violations.
These allegations are unproven and the athletes (named below) are yet to respond to the report's findings.
The athletes listed below were mentioned in the ARD documentary in December 2014 but the commission says a number of others should also be investigated.
Mariya Savinova - 800m champion at London 2012 and gold medal winner in 800m at the World Championships 2011
Ekaterina Poistogova - 800m bronze medallist at London 2012
Anastasiya Bazdyreva - 400m and 800m runner. Recent winner at Russian Championships
Kristina Ugarova - Currently ranked 110 in the world in the 1500m
Tatjana Myazina - 800m runner
Mariya Savinova and Olga Poistogova are both named in Wada's report on doping
Is Russia alone in systematic doping?
Pound's views that these revelations were just the tip of the iceberg wereechoed by UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner, who suggested there are "four, five or six nations that athletics really has a problem with."
Yet the implications of the report may also not be limited to athletics alone, with Pound adding it is "not the only sport with a doping problem."
Baseball and cycling have also been beset by doping scandals in recent times, while a corruption crisis still engulfs world football governing body Fifa.
What happens next?
IAAF president Lord Coe has asked Russia for a response to the report by Friday, when a council will convene to decide the next step.
A potential sanction could be the suspension of Russia if such a proposal receives a majority vote, and it could see Russian athletics banned from next year's Olympic Games in Rio.
Russia is a global sporting power, having hosted the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and is due to host the 2018 Fifa World Cup.
The report could also have implications for Russia's right to host such events, with UK Athletics chief Warner calling for the country to be stripped of next year's IAAF World Junior Championships in Kazan.
What do the athletes say?
Britain's Goldie Sayers finished fourth in the javelin at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
She told BBC Sport the situation has left her "frustrated".
"I'm incredibly saddened and devastated for the sport," Sayers said. "When (athletes) train very hard, to think you've been denied those medals is devastating. Not only professionally but emotionally and financially.
"For most athletes it is the thought that you've lost those moments you'll never get back. That is the hardest pill to swallow."
Athletics doping: IOC wants IAAF to take action against athletes
Russian athletes accused of doping should have disciplinary proceedings brought against them, according to the International Olympic Committee.
The IOC has requested the IAAF take action after a damning report into widespread doping was released.
The World Anti-Doping Agency independent commission report said Russia should be banned from athletics competition for running a "state-supported" doping programme.
It added that five Russian athletes and five coaches should be given life bans.
Anastasiya Bazdyreva, Tatjana Myazina and Kristina Ugarova were also among the athletes named, although these allegations are unproven and the five individuals are yet to respond to the report's findings.Named in the report was Mariya Savinova, who won gold in the 800m at London 2012, along with Ekaterina Poistogova, who won bronze in the same race.
Wada says London 2012 was "sabotaged" by "widespread inaction" against athletes with suspicious doping profiles, while the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) was also implicated.
The Kremlin has dismissed the accusations, describing them as "groundless".
IAAF president Lord Coe told the BBC that the Russian athletics federation, Araf, had been asked to respond to the allegations by the end of the week.
The 59-year-old said that after reviewing the feedback the IAAF "would look at a range of options, including sanctions", which could result in suspension from the sport.
In a statement, the IOC said: "With its zero-tolerance policy against doping, following the conclusion of this procedure, the IOC will take all the necessary measures and sanctions with regard to the withdrawal and reallocation of medals. And as the case may be exclusion of coaches and officials from future Olympic Games."
New Russian Sports Ministry Talks
GENEVA (AP) — The Latest from the IAAF investigation (all times local):
11:30 p.m.
The Russian sports ministry says it is "not surprised by most of the points" in the scathing report on doping in the country and that it is working to correct the problem.
The ministry issued a statement in English late Monday in response to the WADA commission report, which highlighted systematic doping within Russian athletics.
The ministry says "we are fully aware of the problems in the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) and we have undertaken measures to remedy the situation: there is a new president in ARAF, a new head coach, and they are currently rejuvenating the coaching staff."
It says "Russia has been and will continue to be fully committed to the fight against doping in sport."
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6:20 p.m.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has threatened to cut all government funding for anti-doping work after a WADA commission report slammed the country's record.
The WADA report says the Russian anti-doping agency was under improper influence from Mutko's ministry, that it had given athletes advance notice of tests and that its employees "routinely" took bribes from athletes to cover up doping.
The head of the national anti-doping laboratory is accused of overseeing the destruction of 1,417 samples shortly before a WADA team visited.
Mutko told the Interfax news agency that "if we have to close this whole system, we would be happy to close it" because "we will only save money." That would mean no funding for the Russian anti-doping agency or laboratory, he added.
Mutko also said Russia was being persecuted over doping, saying "whatever we do, everything is bad."
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6:05 p.m.
The IAAF is giving the Russian athletics federation until the end of the week to respond to the damning allegations of state-supported doping before facing possible suspension.
IAAF President Sebastian Coe says he asked the Russians "to report back to us by the end of the week."
He says "I want an explanation for the allegations that have been made today," referring to the WADA commission report into Russian doping.
The IAAF council will then decide whether to take sanctions against Russia. Coe says "it could lead to a provisional suspension" that would bar Russian athletes from international competition, including the Olympics.
Coe says "we will act very quickly."
The IOC, meanwhile, says it trusts that Coe "will draw all the necessary conclusions and will take all the necessary measures."
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5:45 p.m.
The Russian government is playing down the impact of the critical report into rampant doping in track and field.
Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, whose ministry stands accused of giving orders to cover up doping violations, says Russia's doping problem is no worse than in other countries.
Mutko tells Russia's Interfax agency that "we have the same percentage as other countries" and says Russia has been unfairly singled out.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, declined to comment, instead referring reporters to Mutko's comments and saying "I have nothing to add to the refutations already made."
Asked about the report's allegation that Russia's FSB security service compromised anti-doping work at last year's Sochi Olympics by carrying out surveillance of the laboratory, Peskov said that issue was "not part of the Kremlin agenda" and again referred reporters to the sports ministry, which has yet to comment on that issue.
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5:10 p.m.
The World Anti-Doping Agency says the report by Dick Pound's commission into Russian doping "will shock and appall athletes and sports fan worldwide."
WADA says it "welcomed" the report by an independent panel that detailed widespread doping in Russian athletics.
WADA President Craig Reedie says the report exposes "many issues that highlight very current deficiencies with the anti-doping system in Russia."
Reedie says the findings are "deeply disturbing" but calls the investigation "hugely positive for the clean athlete as it contains significant recommendations" for WADA and the other anti-doping bodies to "take swift corrective action to ensure anti-doping programs of the highest order are in place across the board."
He says WADA "is fully committed in its role of leading the charge to protect the rights of clean athletes worldwide."
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4:50 p.m.
The head of Russia's medical agency says the World Anti-Doping Agency's report into Russian doping is part of a "politically motivated" campaign.
Vladimir Uiba, the head of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency which provides medical services to Russian national team competitors, said the strongly critical report was linked to international sanctions against Russia over the annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine.
Uiba tells the Interfax agency that the report is an "absolutely politically motivated statement from the category of sanctions against Russia. It has no basis because the doping tests which are done are collected from the athletes by WADA commissioners themselves."
He also says Russian athletes suspected of doping are also likely to keep their medals, adding that canceling any results would require "a huge number of legal proceedings."
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4:35 p.m.
Russia's motivation to clean up its anti-doping program: The Olympics are nine months away.
Dick Pound, who wrote the report about unfettered doping on the Russian track team, called a potential ban from the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro the "nuclear weapon" that could be used against the Russian sports federation.
The 350-page report released Monday called for the suspension of Russia's federation. There's no timeframe for the suspension but Pound says it's clear the message is, either Russia gets it done or they're not going to be in Rio de Janeiro for the games.
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4:30 p.m.
The leader of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency applauded today's report about doping in Russian track, saying it sent an encouraging message that cheaters can't escape justice.
Travis Tygart says "if Russia has created an organized scheme of state-supported doping, then they have no business being allowed to compete on the world stage."
Among the recommendations in the 350-page report is for the suspension of the Russian athletics federation.
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4:28 p.m.
The integrity of results at the 2014 Sochi Olympics could be put in doubt by the WADA inquiry.
WADA panel chairman Dick Pound says "I don't think we can be confident here was no manipulation" of doping tests at the Winter Games.
Pound's report aired concerns from staff at the Moscow laboratory that they were infiltrated while working in Sochi by Russian secret service agents.
The Moscow lab was revealed to be part of a conspiracy to conceal widespread doping and to report to the FSB intelligence agency.
Despite Pound's concerns about dirty athletes succeeding at Sochi, he says "we don't have any hard evidence that there was."
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4:25 p.m.
The man who investigated doping in Russian track says it's about time the World Anti-Doping Agency forms a compliance committee instead of leaving those decisions to others.
Among the recommendations in the 350-page report about doping in Russian track is that WADA take a more active role in ensuring compliance of its code.
Dick Pound, who spearheaded the 350-page report about doping in Russian track, says countries have had more than 10 years to become compliant with the code and if they haven't done it by now, they must not be trying very hard.
Instead of urging countries to become compliant, Pound says it's time for WADA to become more punitive when they do not.
He called the report a pretty damning indictment of what has not been done, and says it's time for higher-ups at WADA to decide, "Are we going to do this properly, or should we all go home?"
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4:20 p.m.
The Russian athletics federation tells The Associated Press that it will defend itself against the World Anti-Doping Agency commission's allegation that it oversaw systematic doping by athletes.
The federation's acting president, Vadim Zelichenok, says calls for Russia to be banned from athletics are not "objective" because the organization's management changed in the spring, after the cases in the report.
He says that while he "can't decide on behalf of the international federation," he hopes the IAAF will not suspend Russia.
Zelichenok says while there have been doping cases in Russia "I don't believe it is of a systematic nature," adding that Russia has "totally blocked" access to doping products following a string of scandals.
Zelichenok also says he does not believe the Russian government or security services helped to cover up doping cases, and dismissed claims that a little-known Moscow laboratory was used to circumvent doping test procedures, saying that facility does not work with elite athletes.
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4:10 p.m.
The IAAF says it will consider sanctions against Russia, including possible suspension of the national athletics federation.
Such a move would result in the ban of Russian track and field athletes from international competition, including the Olympics.
IAAF President Sebastian Coe announced the decision after the release of a report by a World Anti-Doping Agency panel that accused Russia of state-sponsored doping in athletics.
Coe says he "has taken the urgent step" of seeking approval from the IAAF council to consider sanctions against the Russian Athletics Federation.
He says "these sanctions could include provisional and full suspension and the removal of future IAAF events."
Coe calls the WADA report "alarming."
He says "we will do whatever it takes to protect the clean athletes and rebuild trust in our sport."
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4 p.m.
The next step in the Russian doping scandal comes next week when the World Anti-Doping Agency's executive committee and foundation board meet in Colorado Springs.
Dick Pound, who led the investigation into widespread doping in track, said it was important to get the report out this week so the WADA boards can act on it next week.
Among the recommendations: Lifetime suspensions for five Russian athletes, the stripping of accreditation of the Russian anti-doping lab and suspension of the Russian athletics federation.
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3:50 p.m.
Interpol will coordinate an investigation into widespread doping in track and field.
The international police agency, based in Lyon, France, said the investigation involving sports officials and athletes suspected of doping cover-ups is led by France.
French prosecutors are already investigating former IAAF President Lamine Diack, who was put under criminal investigation last week on suspicion of corruption and money laundering amid allegations linking his sons to extorting money from athletes who tested positive for doping.
Interpol, whose assistance has been requested by the World Anti-Doping Agency panel investigating the doping allegations, said in a statement that French police also "raided premises belonging to individuals and companies" last week.
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3:45 p.m.
WADA commission leader Dick Pound says Russia seems to have been running a "state-supported" doping program.
Pound says "I don't think there's any other possible conclusion."
On Russia's sports minister Vitaly Mutko, Pound says he believes it was "not possible for him to be unaware of it."
Pound says if Mutko, who is also a FIFA executive committee member, was "aware of it he was complicit in it."
Pound suggests "it may be a residue of the old Soviet Union system."
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3:37 p.m.
The man who spearheaded an investigation into doping in Russian track said the widespread rule-breaking is "worse than we thought."
While discussing the 300-plus-page report released Monday, Dick Pound said that, unlike corruption in other sports, the Russian doping scandal has actually affected results on the field of play.
He was drawing a parallel to the FIFA scandal, in which top soccer executives have been accused of widespread corruption.
The track scandal is different because, according to the report, track athletes have been allowed to compete even though authorities in their country knew they were cheating.
The report said the London Olympics were more or less sabotaged because of this.
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3:30 p.m.
The leader of the commission investigating widespread doping in the Russian track system says he wants to see better ways for whistleblowers to come forward without feeling the risk of retribution.
Dick Pound, who spearheaded the report, said the World Anti-Doping Agency should find ways to make it easier for truth-tellers to speak out.
The Canadian says that often, whistleblowers are reluctant to come forward but says the report released Monday is proof that there can be results from speaking out. And, he says, the 350-page report is just the tip of the iceberg.
Among the recommendations was the lifetime bans of five athletes, four coaches and another administrator in the Russian program.
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3:15 p.m.
The gold and bronze-medal winners at 800 meters at the London Olympics are among the five Russian runners targeted for lifetime bans by an independent commission tasked with investigating widespread doping in that country.
The commission recommended lifetime bans for Olympic champion Mariya Savinova-Farnosova and bronze medalist Ekaterina Poistogova.
The commission's report said the London Games were sabotaged because track's governing body and Russia's anti-doping authority didn't take doping seriously enough and allowed runners to compete who should not have.
The recommended lifetime bans were part of the commission's 350-page report that came out Monday.
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3:10 p.m.
The WADA commission suspects Russia has been using an obscure laboratory on the outskirts of Moscow to help cover up widespread doping, possibly by pre-screening athletes' doping samples and ditching those that test positive.
It says whistleblowers and confidential witnesses "corroborated that this second laboratory is involved in the destruction and the cover-up of what would otherwise be positive doping tests."
It says the "Laboratory of the Moscow Committee of Sport for Identification for Prohibited Substances in Athlete Samples" is controlled by the Moscow city government and operates in an industrial zone about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the city center.
It says this laboratory "could be used as a first step to identify test samples of Russian athletes who have suspicious or positive urine samples" and that "pre-screened samples that were not positive could then be sent to the accredited laboratory," also in Moscow.
It says the Russian anti-doping agency and Russian athletics federation must know about the lab, stating "it is not credible to believe" that they didn't.
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3:10 p.m.
The WADA commission wants the agency to strip accreditation from the Moscow laboratory and fire lab director Grigory Rodchenkov.
The report says the "Moscow laboratory is unable to act independently," citing interference from government agencies, including the FSB secret service.
The report says Rodchenkov is "an aider and abettor of the doping activities" and "at the heart of the positive drug test cover-up."
Rodchenkov was key to "the conspiracy to extort money from athletes in order to cover up positive doping test results."
In one case, he was paid indirectly by an athlete, who turned whistleblower, to hide a failed doping test. The cash courier was "a known performance-enhancing substances trafficker."
Under Rodchenkov's leadership, "many tests that the laboratory has conducted should be considered highly suspect."
The Moscow lab oversaw testing for the 2014 Sochi Olympics and is due to work on FIFA's anti-doping program for the 2018 World Cup.
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3:07 p.m.
The WADA report says Moscow testing laboratory director Grigory Rodchenkov ordered 1,417 doping control samples destroyed to deny evidence for the inquiry.
The inquiry report says Rodchenkov "personally instructed and authorized" the destruction of evidence three days before a WADA audit team arrived in Moscow last December.
The WADA panel says it wanted to send the Russian athletes' samples to labs in other countries to detect banned drugs and doping methods.
The report says Rodchenkov's action "obliterated forever the attempt to determine if there was any evidence of athletes having clean and dirty 'A' samples at the Moscow laboratory."
When the auditors arrived in Moscow, Rodchenkov told them he decided to "do some clean up to prepare for WADA's visit."
Rodchenkov, the report notes, "remained obstructive" throughout the investigation and refused to be recorded.
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3:07 p.m.
The WADA reports says agents from Russia's intelligence service, the FSB, infiltrated anti-doping work at the Sochi Olympics.
The report says "impartiality, judgment and integrity were compromised by the surveillance of the FSB within the laboratory."
One witness told the inquiry that "in Sochi, we had some guys pretending to be engineers in the lab but actually they were from the federal security service."
The inquiry says this was part of a wider pattern of "direct intimidation and interference by the Russian state with the Moscow laboratory operations."
Staff at the Moscow lab believed their offices were bugged by the FSB.
An FSB agent, thought to be Evgeniy Blotkin or Blokhin, regularly visited.
The report says lab director Grigory Rodchenkov was required to meet with Blotkin/Blokhin weekly to update him on the "mood of WADA."
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3:05 p.m.
The commission looking into widespread doping in Russian athletics has recommended lifetime bans for five Russian middle-distance runners and five Russian coaches and administrators.
The commission said that the London Olympics were more or less sabotaged by allowing Russian athletes to compete when they should have been suspended for doping violations.
They blamed what they called an inexplicable laissez-faire attitude toward anti-doping by the IAAF and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency.
The World Anti-Doping Agency sent the recommendations for the lifetime suspensions to the IAAF in August and made them public today with release of a 350-page report detailing the allegations.
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3:05 p.m.
The WADA commission says the Russian sports ministry issued direct orders to "manipulate particular samples."
Sports minister Vitaly Mutko denied knowledge of allegations to the WADA inquiry panel, including knowledge of athletes being blackmailed and FSB intelligence agents interfering in lab work.
Mutko, who is also a FIFA executive committee member and leads the 2018 World Cup organizing committee, was interviewed by the WADA panel at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich on Sept. 22.
His ministry is cited in the report for asserting undue influence over the Moscow lab.
Mutko did tell the WADA inquiry he was "disgusted with the whistleblowers" who made claims of corruption.
The report says Mutko "does not believe their allegations and says they had no right to make the recordings and that such tapings are matters for the public prosecutors."
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3 p.m.
WADA's independent commission says Russia's athletics federation should be suspended and its track and field athletes banned from competition until the country cleans up its act on doping.
The commission recommends that the World Anti-Doping Agency immediately declare the Russian federation "non-compliant" with the global anti-doping code, and that the IAAF suspend the federation from competition.
The report recommends that the International Olympic Committee not accept any entries from the Russian federation until the body has been declared complaint with the code and the suspension has been lifted.
Such a decision could keep Russian athletes out of next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
But the WADA report says "timely action" by Russian authorities "should mean that no significant competitions will be missed."
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3 p.m.
The WADA commission has directly accused the Russian government of complicity in the widespread doping and cover-ups exposed in a damning 323-page report.
It says its 11-month probe hasn't found written evidence of government involvement.
But it says "it would be naive in the extreme to conclude that activities on the scale discovered could have occurred without the explicit or tacit approval of Russian governmental authorities."
While its report largely focuses on doping in Russian athletics, it adds "there is no reason to believe that athletics is the only sport in Russia to have been affected."
Russia could be suspended - Coe