Russia Faces Olympics Ban After Report Finds ‘State-Dictated’ Doping During Sochi Games

Should Russia be allowed to compete at the coming Olympic Games in Rio?

That’s the question facing the International Olympic Committee, which is hearing increasing calls to ban the nation after a damning report by the World Anti-Doping Agency found a “state-dictated failsafe system” of doping among athletes.

According to ABC News, the report found evidence of a urine sample-switching program partly orchestrated by Russia’s secret service. (They smuggled out samples from testing laboratories that would have indicated doping among athletes; you have to wonder if ‘urine handling’ is really what they joined the secret service for.)

They were reportedly working under orders of the country’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko.

This program was utilised as recently as 2014, for the Sochi Winter Olympics. Russia won that games with 13 gold medals and 33 overall.

The Kremlin, obviously, has refuted the report, claiming the findings came solely from a single former official “with a scandalous reputation”.

Whistle-blower Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory, fled to the United States and is now under criminal investigation in Russia.

Attempting to head off controversy, Russian President Vladimir Putin has temporarily suspended the officials named in the WADA report, but is seeking more “objective” information before taking further action.

IOC President Thomas Bach said his organisation would not hesitate to take sanctions against anyone implicated in cheating, but it’s not yet known if they’ll take the WADA’s recommendation to ban all Russian athletes from participating in Rio 2016.

The United States, Canada and Germany has also joined the chorus to exclude Russia from the games.

Putin has responded by warning of a "dangerous relapse into the interference of politics in sport," suggesting, "the Olympic movement, which plays a colossal unifying role for humanity, could again wind up on the edge of schism.”

Whether or not Russia is included, there is no denying that a cloud hangs over the coming Olympics; an event that is supposedly intended to promote global unity and sportsmanship.

Photo: iStock.