(ATR) Prominent athletes want a blanket ban of Russia for both Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018 after the damning July 18 report by Canadian sports law professor Richard McLaren found widespread, state-sponsored doping by the host nation at Sochi 2014.
In a teleconference on Monday, IOC athletes commission member Adam Pengilly of the United Kingdom said the credibility of the Olympic movement and the leadership of president Thomas Bach could be in jeopardy if they do not penalize the Russian NOC in such a way. Pengilly said that more than 20 international federation and continental athletes’ committee chairs support banning Russia from the next summer and winter Games.
"As far as a tipping point, it certainly has that potential," Pengilly said on a media conference call. "It’s a huge, huge issue that’s been uncovered, and it’s the sort of thing that could have a very very big impact on the Olympic movement, and only time will tell. But it may be a significant part of the history of the IOC and Thomas Bach as president of the IOC, his time as the leader."
Russia’s athletics team has been banned but Pengilly said he did not know whether the IOC would have the will to ban all athletes from an NOC from one Games, let alone two.
"I hope that they have a strong will for clean sport and not to play politics," Pengilly said. "But as for the will of the leadership of the IOC, I guess we’ll find out more tomorrow and over the coming days."
Ben Sandford, a member of the WADA athletes’ commission from New Zealand, said that the breadth of the Russian doping scheme and scandal means all athletes, even those who may be innocent, should suffer the same penalty.
"The scale of what was happening requires that all of Russia is banned from the Olympics and the Paralympics," Sandford said. "When you have a state-sponsored system which is running a doping program and then also subverting the results, that’s enormous. I think Russia has to look at themselves and they’re the ones to blame for the situation. They created this program, they should have to live with the consequences."
WADA athletes commission chair Beckie Scott said the committee felt vindicated after calling for an investigation since the first allegations surfaced last November against the Russian track and field program.
"Today’s results, for us, were shocking," Scott said. "We, as a committee, were very upset to read about the unprecedented levels of doping. and the supervision and undermining of Olympic values that had taken place in Russia."
Canadian Scott emphatically denied that she had seen the McLaren report before July 18. She had been mentioned in international media reports over the weekend after a copy of a draft response, based on the potential for McLaren to find against Russia, had been leaked.
"I had received a draft statement which had been prepared by a number of major [national anti-doping organizations] who felt that the athletes of the WADA athletes committee might benefit from seeing their ideas before we meet and prepared our response," she said.
She said she routinely circulated the draft letter to members of her committee, but "this was circulated to nobody else and nothing else was done".
"To imply somehow that I breached process or confidentiality or something else is false and quite outrageous," Scott said.
Written by Bob Mackin
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