WADA commission recommends to ban five Russian athletes for life — media

GENEVA, November 9. /TASS/. The final text of the report of the Independent Commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) into allegations of doping abuse among the Russian athletes will be published by the end of the year, Richard Pound, the head of the commission, told a news conference on Monday.

WADA’s ex-chief Pound told journalists that the report issued by the WADA Independent Commission confirmed the majority of earlier allegations on doping abuse in the All-Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF).

WADA’s commission recommended the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to suspend Russian athletes from all competitions.

According to earlier reports from the Associated Press, the commission also recommended to ban for life five Russian, athletes and coaches and strip the Moscow anti-doping laboratory of its license.

Interpol to coordinate probe into alleged doping corruption scam

 Interpol will coordinate a global investigation into an alleged international corruption scam involving sports officials as well as athletes suspected of a doping cover-up, the world police body said in a statement on Monday.

IAAF to consider full or provisional suspension of Russian Athletic Federation

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) may consider full or provisional suspension of All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF), IAAF said in a statement on Monday.

"In response to WADA's Independent Commission report issued today, the IAAF President, Sebastian Coe, has taken the urgent step of seeking approval from his fellow IAAF Council Members to consider sanctions against the Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF)," the statement says. "These sanctions could include provisional and full suspension and the removal of future IAAF events."

"The information in WADA's Independent Commissions Report is alarming. We need time to properly digest and understand the detailed findings included in the report. However, I have urged the Council to start the process of considering sanctions against ARAF. This step has not been taken lightly," the statement quoted Coe as saying.

"Our athletes, partners and fans have my total assurance that where there are failures in our governance or our anti-doping programmes we will fix them. We will do whatever it takes to protect the clean athletes and rebuild trust in our sport. The IAAF will continue to offer the police authorities our full co-operation into their ongoing investigation," Coe said.

Sebastian Coe announced earlier in the day that an independent anti-doping tribunal, which will be tasked with investigations of doping abuse violations among the field and track athletes, will be set up in December.

RUSADA chief says only IOC can decide on banning Russian athletes from IAAF competitions

The Russian Anti-Doping agency (RUSADA) chief said on Monday that Russian athletes can be banned from the competitions held by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) only by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"Such decisions can be taken only by the IOC," Nikita Kamaev told the Match TV channel. "Similar cases already took place but they are very rare."

In December 2014 German TV Channel ARD aired a series of documentaries on alleged doping abuse in Russian sports. The ARD’s two-part documentary, entitled Geheimsache Doping (Secret Doping Case), claimed that Russian athletes systematically took banned substances on instructions from their coaches.

WADA’s Commission never contacted Russian athletics federation in doping probe

The All-Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF) acting President Vadim Zelichenok told TASS on Monday that the Independent Commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) never contacted the new administration of the ARAF. 

"WADA Commission never worked with the new administration of the ARAF and the federation never received any document proving systematic distribution of doping substances in the national athletics," Zelichenok said in an interview with TASS.

"The only contact I had with them [WADA] was in March this year at the European Championship in Prague, where I protested against the questioning of our athletes Anastasia Bazdyreva and Yekaterina Poistogova during the competitions," Zelichenko said.

"Before we [ARAF] will be taking steps, we need to thoroughly study all the documents at the issue," he added.

In the wake of high-profile doping scandals early this year, former ARAF president Valentin Balakhnichev, who had been heading the federation for over 20 years and was reelected for another four-year term in 2012, announced his resignation on February 17. He handed over his powers to run the ARAF to First Vice President Vadim Zelichenok.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in June his deep disappointment with the rise of positive doping cases registered among Russian athletes and urged to enhance the fight against the abuse of performance enhancing drugs.

On August 1 this year ARD released another documentary "Doping - Top Secret: The Shadowy World of Athletics." The film claimed that ARD and British newspaper The Sunday Times had 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.

ARD further alleged that a third of medals (146, including 55 golds) in endurance events at the Olympics and World Championships between 2001 and 2012 were won by athletes who have recorded suspicious tests but none of these athletes have been stripped of their medals.

The Sunday Times also alleged that Russian athletes suspected of doping abuse had won 80% of medals for their country at Olympic Games and World Championships between 2001 and 2012.