World Anti-Doping Agency recommends banning Russia from Rio Olympics | CSN Mid-Atlantic World Anti-Doping Agency recommends banning Russia from Rio Olympics World Anti-Doping Agency recommends banning Russia from Rio Olympics By Associated Press July 18, 2016 3:03 PM Russian government officials engineered the drug-fueled corruption of 28 Olympic sports, an investigator found, prompting the World Anti-Doping Agency to call for a ban of the country's entire team from the Rio de Janeiro Games. The scheme lasted at least four years, covered summer and winter sports and involved at least 312 positive tests that went unreported at the behest of higher-ups in the country's sports ministry, according to a 97-page report issued Monday. "A mind-blowing level of corruption within both Russian sport and government,'" said Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. WADA, which hired arbitrator Richard McLaren to lead the investigation, called on the IOC to decline entries of all Russian athletes to this summer's Olympics.

"In the face of such evidence of state-sponsored subversion of anti-doping processes, WADA insists upon imposition of the most serious consequences to protect clean athletes from the scourge of doping in sport," said WADA President Craig Reedie, who is also an IOC member. IOC President Thomas Bach called the revelations a "shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sports and on the Olympic Games" and said the IOC wouldn't hesitate to apply the toughest sanctions available. The IOC executive board will meet Tuesday to begin sorting through options. But it will be a tough call, full of political ramifications that involve a key Olympic country, Russia, which hosted the most expensive Winter Olympics, in Sochi, a little more than two years ago. Bach has frequently spoken of the fine line between "collective responsibility and individual justice." And for every anti-doping agency and athletes' group calling for a full ban, there's a sports organization or leader urging restraint. "The right to participate at the games cannot be stolen from an athlete, who has duly qualified and has not been found guilty of doping," said Bruno Grandi, president of gymnastics' international federation. Gymnastics was one of the sports not listed in the report.

"Blanket bans have never been and will never be just," Grandi said. McLaren's report said allegations made by Moscow's former anti-doping lab director about sample switching at the Sochi Olympics went much as described in a New York Times story in May. That program involved dark-of-night bottle tampering in order to switch dirty samples with clean ones; it prevented Russian athletes, including more than a dozen medal winners, from testing positive. But McLaren said the bottle tampering in Sochi was a one-shot deal. Meanwhile, he described tactics he labeled "disappearing positive methodology" that began in 2011, shortly after Russia's disappointing performance at the Vancouver Olympics. It included the 2013 track world championships in Moscow and was in place as recently as the 2015 swimming world championships in Kazan -- when everyone in Russian sports knew they were under the doping microscope. In short, Russia's deputy minister of sports, Yuri Nagornykh, who was also part of Russia's Olympic Committee, would direct workers at Moscow's anti-doping laboratory of which positive samples to send through and which to hold back.

Assisting the plan was Russia's national security service -- the FSB, the current version of the Soviet Union's KGB. Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Nagornykh to his post in 2010. On Monday, Putin said officials named as directly responsible in the doping scheme would be suspended. McLaren said out of 577 positive sample screenings, 312 positive results were held back -- or labeled "Save" by the lab workers -- but that was only a "small slice" of the data that could have been examined. More than 240 of the 312 "Saves" came from track and field and wrestling, but other sports involved included swimming, rowing, snowboarding -- even table tennis. McLaren suggested the numbers could have been higher, but he had only 57 days for his investigation. "In an ideal world, we would've done a great deal more work with the data,'" he said. Time is crucial because the Olympics begin Aug. 5, and decisions about Russia's participation in Rio must be made.

On Thursday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport will determine the fate of 68 track and field athletes who have petitioned to compete in Rio despite a previously delivered ban of the Russian track team by that sport's federation, the IAAF. Reedie said WADA is working to establish non-binding guidelines that will help the IOC and international sports federations identify exceptions to the Russian ban -- notably, Russian athletes who trained in other countries that had robust, clean anti-doping systems. Those athletes, WADA said, should be allowed to compete in Rio under a neutral flag. McLaren said he was "unwaveringly confident" in his report, and insisted there was no leak, as several sports organizations suggested over the weekend, when draft letters calling for Russia's ban were leaked to the media. Those letters were written in anticipation of the sort of results McLaren delivered Monday -- results that were previewed in a mostly overlooked section of the IAAF report, released in June, that called for the Russian track team's ouster. Fishing report: Good weather later in the week Fishing report: Good weather later in the week Pohanka Chevrolet Hold on for warmer weather and fish very slowly on steep drops out of the current.

Water temperatures will be in the mid 30s. NBC Ch. 4 meteorologist "Weather Kim" Martucci says, “Strange winter weather. Low 30s on Monday. 40s on Tuesday. 50s on Wednesday and 60 for Thursday into the weekend. Chance of rain mid week. Overnight temperatures this week from 20 to 45.” Silver Buddy lures work well on 10-pound test GAMMA Edge or with Torque braid main line. Cast to the shallow end of drops and allow the bait to reach the bottom. A short sharp pop and slowly allow the bait to drop back to the bottom. This is where bites occur. Use a medium action rod with a fast reel and set the hook. Focus on the steep drops. Try Punisher Hair jigs with a small plastic chunk and Punisher rattle. A spray of Jack's Juice will soak into hair. Use 8 pound test GAMMA Edge or as a leader with 15-pound test Torque braid. Fish the same drops and barely lift and allow the jig to glide and sit. Mix in small shakes and slow drags. A medium heavy spinning rod works best.

The Quantum Smoke spinning reels are fast and can take up line for better hook sets. During the warmest part of the day, cast Lucky Craft Bevy Shad suspending crankbaits and work over warmed areas on flats on the drops. Either drag or drag and lift, working pauses into this presentation. Lighter 6 pound test Copoly will allow the bait to run deeper and enable bites to be felt with much more effective hooksets. Capt. Steve Chaconas is a guide on the Potomac River info@nationalbass.com Fishing Report: Resolve to fish more Steve Chaconas Pohanka Chevrolet There is good winter fishing in key areas on the Potomac River. Use lighter line and downsized lures. Water is between 38-45, depending where you’re fishing. Outgoing tides are often warmer. NBC-4 meteorologist "Weather Kim" Martucci says, "The new year will start a bit wet with temperatures around 50. Clearing by Wednesday before dropping into the upper 30s for the weekend.” Fishing during the warmest part of the day! Dress in layers, wear a PFD, and fish with a buddy.

The best spots are out of the current areas with steep drops like Occoquon, Spoils Cove, National Harbor, and Belle Haven. Work lures down or parallel to drops. Silver Buddy lures work well on 10-pound test GAMMA Edge fluorocarbon line. Use a medium heavy cranking rod with a fast reel. Gently burp and allow to drop. Bites occur on drops, so watch line and pay attention for fish when you lift again. Keep hooks sharp! Follow up with Punisher hair jigs. Using 15 pound test Torque braid with a 10-pound Edge fluorocarbon leader will make it easier to detect light bites and to set the hook on long casts. A slow lift and drop or a slow drag and stop will work best. Work split shot and drop shot rigs slowly with 4-inch leaders on the drop shot, 10 inch on the split shot. Soak plastics in garlic flavor Jack's Juice. Use the same braid combo used with the hair jigs. On warmed flats, go with Lucky Craft Bevy Shad, aurora gold, crankbaits. These suspend and can be easily worked to 8 feet deep. Drag and stop.

Lift and drop. Tie to 8-pound test GAMMA Copoly. Cast on spinning gear with a medium action rod. Capt. Steve Chaconas is a guide on the Potomac River. info@nationalbass.com Russian doping: 'An unprecedented attack on the integrity of sport & on the Olympic Games' - CNN.com 13 of 14 Photos: Battling drug cheats Coe, a former Olympic gold medalist, has come under fire for his praise for predecessor Diack, whom he called the sport's "spiritual leader" when he took over the role in August 2015. He told CNN he would "do anything to fix our sport." Hide Caption 14 of 14 "The investigation has established the findings set out in the report beyond a reasonable doubt," McLaren told a press conference in Toronto, Canada Monday. "The evidence we have uncovered is all verifiable and can be cross-corroborated by multiple sources. I am unwaveringly confident in our report," he added. The Kremlin and Russian Sports Ministry are yet to respond to CNN's request for comment.

The investigation came off the back of claims made by former Russian anti-doping laboratory director Grigory Rodchenkov last year to the New York Times that he was ordered to cover up the drug use of at least 15 Sochi 2014 medal winners. The Russian track and field team has already been barred from competing in the 2016 Games by the IAAF, although more than 80 athletes have filed petitions to participate under the Olympic flag. Read: New WADA report gives fresh allegations of Russian doping Will Russia be banned from Rio? Reaction to the McLaren report from the international community has been swift, with U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart saying the study "has concluded, beyond a reasonable doubt, a mind-blowing level of corruption within both Russian sport and government that goes right to the field of play." Tygart, who was instrumental in exposing American cyclist Lance Armstrong as a drug cheat, called on the international community to rally together "to ensure this unprecedented level of criminality never again threatens the sports we cherish." Tygart also pushed for Russia to be banned entirely from next month's Olympics. "Anything less than that sends the wrong messages," he told CNN.

Anti-doping authorities from more than 10 countries -- including the U.S., Canada, Germany, Spain, Japan and Switzerland -- are also expected to file a request to have the entire Russian Olympic team banned from Rio, according to the New York Times, which says it has received emails confirming the matter. "The fact that the commission didn't give any recommendations to ban Russian team from the Olympics in Rio is a positive fact," the head of the Russian Olympic committee Alexander Zhukov told the state run news organization TASS, adding that the report needed to be studied in greater detail before he could comment further. Meanwhile, Russian MP Irina Rodnina -- a three-time Olympic gold medalist in figure skating -- accused the report of a broader plan to deface Russia ahead of the Games. "It's a general tendency, the McLaren report is similar with other restrictions against Russia, in trade, policy and against certain individuals. There's a powerful external pressure on Russia," she told TASS. "The McLaren report has been presented just few days ahead of the Rio Olympics, and it's been done this way deliberately.

Now it all depends on the IOC decision." "Culture change" necessary Shortly after the McLaren's comments, WADA chief spokesman Ben Nichols tweeted that his organization would recommend that Russians be banned from all international competition, including Rio, until "culture change" is achieved. In a series of tweets, Nichols condemned what he called the "most deliberate and disturbing abuse of power ever seen in sport" while saying that the scale of the accusations across 30 sports means "there can no longer be a presumption of innocence" where Russian athletes are concerned. "This is extraordinary, we have never ever heard of anything this bad," said CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan. "This goes into the heart of, 'Can you believe that any Russian athlete is clean going into Rio?'" In his statement, whistle-blower Rodchenkov alleged that he assisted in doctoring urine samples provided by Russian athletes during overnight shifts at the Sochi Games. He also accused the Russian secret service of providing active assistance with the cover-up, which he says took place before, during and after the Sochi Olympics.

Rodchenkov's statement followed allegations from another former employee of the Russia Anti-Doping agency, Vitaliy Stepanov, who claimed in a 2014 German documentary that the Russian Olympic federation supplied banned substances to athletes in exchange for 5% of their earnings. Stepanov is married to former Russian middle-distance runner Yuliya Stepanova, who backed up the claims. "In a training camp in Portugal, our athletes simply lived under false names," said Stepanova, who relocated to Canada and has successfully appealed to run under the Olympic flag in Rio . "They have taken banned substances, they undertook a course of doping, and to ensure that foreign control officers did not come and test them, they provided false names." Read: Doping in sport -- counting the human cost Doping allegations have repeatedly been discredited by Russian authorities, including a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin who referred to Stepanova as "Judas," according to an IAAF report. A documentary alleging that Russia has fallen victim to an international smear campaign is scheduled to air Monday on Russian television. The 25-minute film titled "The Doping Trap" was distributed to journalists in advance of its premier on the state-owned sport channel Match TV.

It profiles four Russian athletes along with drug testing supervisors who counter the claims of Stepanova and Rodchenkov, while alleging they have been victims of an elaborate set-up. WADA report says Russia covered up doping, recommends bans - NY Daily News World Anti-Doping Agency report says Russia covered up doping, recommends banning track-and-field athletes from Rio Olympics WADA report says Russia covered up doping, recommends bans Updated: Monday, November 9, 2015, 9:59 PM No Russian runners in Rio de Janeiro? A report by the World Anti-Doping Agency on Monday accused Russia’s elite track-and-field athletes, coaches and administrators of participating in a state-sponsored doping program for years and said Russian law enforcement and security officials were complicit in the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs and coverups. The 335-page report, compiled following a nearly yearlong investigation by a commission led by former anti-doping agency President Dick Pound, urged the International Association of Athletics Federations to suspend Russia from competition, including the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. The IAAF gave Russia’s track and field federation until the end of the week to respond to the allegations before facing possible sanctions.

FOLLOW THE DAILY NEWS SPORTS ON FACEBOOK. "LIKE" US HERE “It’s worse than we thought,” Pound said at a press conference in Switzerland Monday, just nine months before the Summer Games are set to begin. “The outcome may be there are no Russian track and field athletes in Rio.” The report said Russia “sabotaged” the 2012 Olympics by allowing athletes who should have been banned for doping violations to compete in the London Games. It recommended the anti-doping agency impose lifetime suspensions for 10 Russian coaches and athletes, including women’s 800-meters gold medalist Mariya Savinova. Russia’s Mariya Savinova wins the women's 800 meter final at the 2012 London Olympics. (JOHN G. MABANGLO/EPA) “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,” the report claimed. “The Olympic Games in London were, in a sense, sabotaged by the admission of athletes who should have not been competing.

“There is no reason to believe that athletics is the only sport in Russia to have been affected.” The agency report accuses the Russian government of “direct intimidation and interference” and says agents of Vladimir Putin’s security service infiltrated a Moscow anti-doping lab at the 2014 Sochi Games, creating an “atmosphere of intimidation.” Russian security officials intimidated or bribed lab officials to cover up positive tests and help Russian athletes win Olympic medals. The report also says the Russian anti-doping lab’s director, Grigory Rodchenko, ordered the destruction of 1,417 doping control samples just three days before an audit team from the international drug watchdog arrived for an inspection. The investigators blamed the IAAF’s “inexplicable laissez-faire” approach toward doping. Lamine Diack, the former chief of that federation, is under formal investigation in France on suspicion of corruption and money laundering. Russia created an ‘atmosphere of intimidation’ around the 2014 Sochi Games and the government ran ‘direct intimidation and interference,’ Dick Pound’s report for WADA alleges.

(DENIS BALIBOUSE/REUTERS) Investigators allege he took more than $1.1 million to suppress positive drug tests by top Russian athletes. Among those implicated in the case are three-time Chicago Marathon winner Liliya Shobukhova and Savinova. Pound said the anti-doping agency has turned over mountains of documents and other evidence to Interpol, which has joined the French investigation. The report says the commission “provided certain results of its investigations to Interpol,” and is holding those sections back from publication until authorities “have decided upon the possible prosecution of criminal charges.” The report also says commissioners met with Russia’s minister of sport in Zurich on Sept. 21, and invited the minister “to provide any comments or information that he considered relevant and was advised in general terms of the state of the (Independent Commission’s) investigation and likely directions.” Diack was arrested last week in France and questioned about allegations that he accepted bribes for deferring sanctions against Russian athletes who tested positive for banned substances. Russian President Vladimir Putin.

(KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images) The anti-doping agency’s action follows a devastating series of reports from German broadcaster ARD in which investigative journalist Hajo Seppelt alleged that Russian track and field authorities extorted $450,000 from Chicago Marathon champ Shobukhova to suppress information from an anti-doping lab so that she could compete in the 2012 London Games. When Shobukhova was later barred from competition in 2014, she sought reimbursement, a move that apparently brought the scheme to light, and led the agency to reduce her competition ban — a blessing apparently based on her providing “substantial assistance” to anti-doping investigators. The allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia come less than two years after the nation played host to the 2014 Winter Games and less than three years before Russia holds soccer’s 2018 World Cup. On Monday morning, just before the agency released its findings, the International Olympic Committee’s ethics committee recommended the provisional suspension of Diack, who was an IOC member from 1999 to 2014 and remains an honorary member.

Russia's Ekaterina Poistogova is among the five Russian runners targeted for lifetime bans. (JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT/EPA) Diack was recently succeeded atop the IAAF by Britain’s Sebastian Coe, who says he will seek sanctions against the Russian Athletics Federation, which oversees track and field in Russia and is responsible for forming an Olympic team. “We need time to properly digest and understand the detailed findings included in the report,” said Coe in a press release. “However, I have urged the Council to start the process of considering sanctions against (the Russian Athletics Federation). This step has not been taken lightly. Our athletes, partners and fans have my total assurance that where there are failures in our governance or our anti-doping programs 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 cooperation into their ongoing investigation.” The United States Anti-Doping Agency applauded the international agency’s investigation in a statement released Monday.

“The evidence released today demonstrates a shocking level of corruption, and sends a clear message to Russia that they will not be allowed to cheat the world’s athletes and escape justice behind a wall of deception and lie,” the U.S. agency said. “If Russia has created an organized scheme of state-supported doping, then they have no business being allowed to compete on the world stage.” Tags: Russia's participation in Rio uncertain after doping report - Chicago Tribune Russia's participation in Rio uncertain after doping report APphoto_Russia Doping WADA David J. Phillip / AP A Russian skating fan holds the country's national flag over the Olympic rings before the start of the men's 10,000-meter speedskating race at Adler Arena Skating Center during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. A Russian skating fan holds the country's national flag over the Olympic rings before the start of the men's 10,000-meter speedskating race at Adler Arena Skating Center during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. (David J.

Phillip / AP) Tribune news services Contact Reporter A scathing report outlining a state-sanctioned doping system in Russia prompted immediate calls for the nation's entire team to be sidelined from the Summer Games, raising the possibility that the Olympics could go on without a sports superpower for the first time since the 1980s. The investigation released Monday confirmed a scheme run out of the anti-doping lab in Moscow that ensnared 28 summer and winter sports, from track to snowboarding to table tennis. It lasted at least four years and involved at least 312 positive tests that went unreported at the behest of higher-ups in the country's sports ministry. "A mind-blowing level of corruption within both Russian sport and government," said Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. The World Anti-Doping Agency swiftly called for the International Olympic Committee to consider a full ban of the Russian team from the Summer Olympics, which start Aug. 5 in Rio de Janiero. IOC president Thomas Bach said the committee wouldn't hesitate to apply the toughest sanctions available. The IOC executive board will meet Tuesday to begin sorting through options. It's no sure thing the Russians will receive a blanket ban.

It's a decision filled with political ramifications that involve a key Olympic country. It puts the IOC in the position of ruling against against one of its biggest supporters, a nation that spent more than $50 billion hosting the Winter Games in Sochi just two years ago. Not since the back-to-back boycotts by the United States in 1980, then the Soviet Union in 1984, have the Olympics been contested without one of its biggest players. Bach has frequently spoken about the fine line between "collective responsibility and individual justice." And for every anti-doping agency and athlete group calling for a full ban, there's seemingly another sports organization or leader urging restraint. (Tribune news services) "The right to participate at the games cannot be stolen from an athlete, who has duly qualified and has not been found guilty of doping," said Bruno Grandi, president of gymnastics' international federation. "Blanket bans have never been and will never be just." Gymnastics was not among the sports listed in the report. Wrestling, meanwhile, accounted for 28 of the 312 unreported positives.

The head of that international federation, Nenad Lalovic of Serbia, told The Associated Press "we will absolutely follow the decisions of the IOC." But in making decisions about Russia's team as a whole, the IOC could put onus on the international sports federations to determine the penalties. In the ongoing case involving Russia's track team, it was that sport's federation, the IAAF, that ultimately banned the team from the Olympics. But 68 Russian track-and-field athletes are appealinc1g to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to compete in Rio; their hearing is Thursday. In a move that accentuates how complicated the matter can become, the IOC has said there is no contingency for a large group of Russians competing under a neutral flag — that Russians should compete for the Russian team if they're allowed in. Monday's report, commissioned by WADA and written by arbitrator Richard McLaren, said allegations made by Moscow's former anti-doping lab director about sample switching at the Sochi Olympics went much as described in a New York Times story in May. That program involved dark-of-night bottle tampering in order to switch dirty samples with clean ones; it prevented Russian athletes, including more than a dozen medal winners, from testing positive.

But McLaren said the bottle tampering in Sochi was a one-shot deal. Meanwhile, he described tactics he labeled "disappearing positive methodology" that began in 2011, shortly after Russia's disappointing performance at the Vancouver Olympics. It included the 2013 track world championships in Moscow and was in place as recently as the 2015 swimming world championships in Kazan — when everyone in Russian sports knew they were under the doping microscope. Russia's deputy minister of sports, Yuri Nagornykh, who was also part of Russia's Olympic Committee, would direct workers at the Moscow lab of which positive samples to send through to be reported to WADA and which to hold back. Assisting the plan was Russia's national security service — the FSB, the current version of the Soviet Union's KGB. "The Moscow laboratory was effectively caught up in the jaws of a vice," the report said. "It was a key player in the successful operation of a state imposed and rigorously controlled program, which was overall managed and dictated by the (Ministry of Sport)." Yes, McLaren wrote, it could be made to seem as though workers at the laboratory were acting alone. But his investigation undercut that theory.

Richard McLaren Frank Gunn / AP Canadian law professor Richard McLaren arranges papers after speaking at a news conference to present his findings into allegations of a state-backed doping conspiracy involving the 2014 Olympics on July 18, 2016. Canadian law professor Richard McLaren arranges papers after speaking at a news conference to present his findings into allegations of a state-backed doping conspiracy involving the 2014 Olympics on July 18, 2016. (Frank Gunn / AP) "The Moscow Laboratory personnel acted as they did because, as (one) witness expressed, if they did not, they would no longer be employed there," he concluded. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said officials named as directly responsible in the doping scheme would be suspended. He asked for more information from WADA so Russia could conduct its own investigation. McLaren said out of 577 positive sample screenings he had access to, 312 positive results were held back — or labeled "Save" by the lab workers. More than 250 of the 312 "Saves" came from track and field and weightlifting, but other sports involved included swimming, rowing, snowboarding — even table tennis.

McLaren suggested the numbers could have been higher, but he had only 57 days for his investigation. Time is crucial because the Olympics begin Aug. 5, and decisions about Russia's participation in Rio must be made. WADA president Craig Reedie, who is also an IOC member, said WADA is working to establish guidelines that will help the IOC and international sports federations identify exceptions to a potential Russian ban — notably, athletes who trained in other countries that had robust, clean anti-doping systems. Those athletes, WADA said, should be allowed to compete in Rio under a neutral flag. McLaren said he was "unwaveringly confident" in his report, and insisted there was no leak, as several sports leaders suggested over the weekend, when draft letters calling for Russia's ban were leaked to the media. One of the letters' co-signers was Paul Melia, who heads Canada's anti-doping organization and was in Toronto for McLaren's presentation. "I'm shocked and devastated by what's been going on," Melia said.

"And I can only imagine how betrayed the clean athletes of the world are feeling today in the face of this evidence." Associated Press World Anti-Doping Agency says Olympic committee should consider banning all Russian athletes in Rio World Anti-Doping Agency says Olympic committee should consider banning all Russian athletes in Rio Monday, 18 Jul 2016 | 1:04 PM ET The Associated Press SHARES Mark Blinch | Reuters Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva fails to clear the bar in the women's pole vault final during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium August 6, 2012. The World Anti-Doping Agency's executive board wants the IOC to ban all Russian teams from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. WADA issued a seven-point list of requests after it published a report which confirmed claims of state-backed Russian cheating at the Sochi Olympics and beyond. WADA also wants Russian government officials to be denied access to international competitions, including the upcoming Olympics. The anti-doping watchdog also calls on world governing bodies of sports implicated in the inquiry report to consider action against Russian national bodies. Reuters reported that officials named in the report will be temporarily suspended, but President Vladimir Putin has asked WADA for more information.

The WADA response is a further signal Russia could be facing Olympic expulsion when the 15-member IOC executive board discusses the crisis on Tuesday. ADA's president, Craig Reedie, is also an IOC vice president who will take part in the scheduled conference call requested by IOC President Thomas Bach. Earlier, an investigator looking into Russian doping found the country's state-directed cheating program resulted in at least 312 falsified results and lasted from 2011 through at least last year's world swimming championships. The investigator, Richard McLaren, dubbed Russia's program the "disappearing positive methodology." McLaren said allegations made by Moscow's former anti-doping lab director about sample switching at the Sochi Olympics went much as described in a New York Times story in May. That program involved dark-of-night switching of dirty samples with clean ones; it prevented Russian athletes from testing positive. But McLaren, whose report went public Monday, said Russia's cheating also included the 2013 track world championships in Moscow and the 2015 swimming world championships in Kazan. Russia's deputy minister of sports would direct lab workers which positive samples to send through and which to hold back.

Anti-doping agency: All Russian athletes should be banned from Rio Olympics | Fox News Anti-doping agency: All Russian athletes should be banned from Rio Olympics Published July 18, 2016 Facebook 0 Twitter 0 livefyre Email Print A scathing report outlining a state-sanctioned doping system in Russia prompted immediate calls for the nation's entire team to be sidelined from the Summer Games, raising the possibility that the Olympics could go on without a sports superpower for the first time since the 1980s. The investigation released Monday confirmed a scheme run out of the anti-doping lab in Moscow that ensnared 28 summer and winter sports, from track to snowboarding to table tennis. It lasted at least four years and involved at least 312 positive tests that went unreported at the behest of higher-ups in the country's sports ministry. "A mind-blowing level of corruption within both Russian sport and government," said Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. The World Anti-Doping Agency swiftly called for the International Olympic Committee to consider a full ban of the Russian team from the Summer Olympics, which start Aug. 5 in Rio de Janiero.

IOC president Thomas Bach said the committee wouldn't hesitate to apply the toughest sanctions available. The IOC executive board will meet Tuesday to begin sorting through options. It's no sure thing the Russians will receive a blanket ban. It's a decision filled with political ramifications that involve a key Olympic country. It puts the IOC in the position of ruling against against one of its biggest supporters, a nation that spent more than $50 billion hosting the Winter Games in Sochi just two years ago. Not since the back-to-back boycotts by the United States in 1980, then the Soviet Union in 1984, have the Olympics been contested without one of its biggest players. Bach has frequently spoken about the fine line between "collective responsibility and individual justice." And for every anti-doping agency and athlete group calling for a full ban, there's seemingly another sports organization or leader urging restraint. "The right to participate at the games cannot be stolen from an athlete, who has duly qualified and has not been found guilty of doping," said Bruno Grandi, president of gymnastics' international federation. "Blanket bans have never been and will never be just." Gymnastics was not among the sports listed in the report.

Wrestling, meanwhile, accounted for 28 of the 312 unreported positives. The head of that international federation, Nenad Lalovic of Serbia, told The Associated Press "we will absolutely follow the decisions of the IOC." But in making decisions about Russia's team as a whole, the IOC could put onus on the international sports federations to determine the penalties. In the ongoing case involving Russia's track team, it was that sport's federation, the IAAF, that ultimately banned the team from the Olympics. But 68 Russian track-and-field athletes are appealing this week to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to compete in Rio, with a decision due Thursday. In a move that accentuates how complicated the matter can become, the IOC has said there is no contingency for a large group of Russians competing under a neutral flag — that Russians should compete for the Russian team if they're allowed in. Monday's report, commissioned by WADA and written by arbitrator Richard McLaren, said allegations made by Moscow's former anti-doping lab director about sample switching at the Sochi Olympics went much as described in a New York Times story in May.

That program involved dark-of-night bottle tampering in order to switch dirty samples with clean ones; it prevented Russian athletes, including more than a dozen medal winners, from testing positive. But McLaren said the bottle tampering in Sochi was a one-shot deal. Meanwhile, he described tactics he labeled "disappearing positive methodology" that began in 2011, shortly after Russia's disappointing performance at the Vancouver Olympics. It included the 2013 track world championships in Moscow and was in place as recently as the 2015 swimming world championships in Kazan — when everyone in Russian sports knew they were under the doping microscope. Russia's deputy minister of sports, Yuri Nagornykh, who was also part of Russia's Olympic Committee, would direct workers at the Moscow lab of which positive samples to send through to be reported to WADA and which to hold back. Assisting the plan was Russia's national security service — the FSB, the current version of the Soviet Union's KGB. "The Moscow laboratory was effectively caught up in the jaws of a vice," the report said.

"It was a key player in the successful operation of a state imposed and rigorously controlled program, which was overall managed and dictated by the (Ministry of Sport)." Yes, McLaren wrote, it could be made to seem as though workers at the laboratory were acting alone. But his investigation undercut that theory. "The Moscow Laboratory personnel acted as they did because, as (one) witness expressed, if they did not, they would no longer be employed there," he concluded. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said officials named as directly responsible in the doping scheme would be suspended. He asked for more information from WADA so Russia could conduct its own investigation. McLaren said out of 577 positive sample screenings he had access to, 312 positive results were held back — or labeled "Save" by the lab workers. More than 250 of the 312 "Saves" came from track and field and weightlifting, but other sports involved included swimming, rowing, snowboarding — even table tennis. McLaren suggested the numbers could have been higher, but he had only 57 days for his investigation. Time is crucial because the Olympics begin Aug.

5, and decisions about Russia's participation in Rio must be made. WADA president Craig Reedie, who is also an IOC member, said WADA is working to establish guidelines that will help the IOC and international sports federations identify exceptions to a potential Russian ban — notably, athletes who trained in other countries that had robust, clean anti-doping systems. Those athletes, WADA said, should be allowed to compete in Rio under a neutral flag. McLaren said he was "unwaveringly confident" in his report, and insisted there was no leak, as several sports leaders suggested over the weekend, when draft letters calling for Russia's ban were leaked to the media. One of the letters' co-signers was Paul Melia, who heads Canada's anti-doping organization and was in Toronto for McLaren's presentation. "I'm shocked and devastated by what's been going on," Melia said.

"And I can only imagine how betrayed the clean athletes of the world are feeling today in the face of this evidence." Advertisement BBC Sport - World Anti-Doping Agency president against nation bans print World Anti-Doping Agency president against nation bans Banning nations for persistent doping would damage athletics and is not an option, says World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) president Sir Craig Reedie. There have been calls for the worst-offending countries to be expelled from competition if they cannot control doping among their athletes. It follows recent allegations of widespread cheating in the sport. But Reedie said such bans would be "blunt-edged" and "damage the innocent as well as the assumed-to-be guilty".

He told BBC World Service: "We're not entitled to do it, we don't have these powers." "I would hope increased efforts, whether it's research or education, in testing athletes at the right time will help us catch cheats, and that people will begin to realise that cheating in sport doesn't make any sense." More on alleged doping in athletics Russia must investigate doping - GB coach Wada will begin an independent investigation after the Sunday Times published data from 12,000 blood tests involving 5,000 athletes, which it says reveals an "extraordinary extent of cheating". The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) responded by describing claims of widespread doping in athletics as "sensationalist and confusing". Meanwhile, the IAAF confirmed on Tuesday that 28 athletes who competed at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships had been provisionally suspended after returning "adverse findings" from retested samples. Reedie, a former president of the British Olympic Association, said the re-testing was "very significant" and would allow samples to be re-examined "in the light of better testing techniques".

"If they are able to detect somebody who cheated all those years ago, the IAAF says it will reallocate medals," he added. "That's good news for clean athletes and we are in the business of protecting clean athletes." However, one of the blood scientists who analysed the leaked test data for the Sunday Times investigation has questioned whether the IAAF has done all it can to catch drug cheats in recent years. In an open letter to IAAF presidential candidate Lord Coe - who said the story was a "declaration of war" on his sport - Michael Ashenden also defended his role in the revelations. "Had I walked away from an opportunity to agitate for change then I would have betrayed every voiceless athlete who has been cheated out of podium glory," he wrote. "I would not have been doing my utmost to prevent doping in sport." Also related to this story Rio Olympics 2016: Wada criticises IOC for failing to ban Russian team - BBC Sport BBC Sport Rio Olympics 2016: Wada criticises IOC for failing to ban Russian team 25 Jul Canadian law professor Richard McLaren said Russia operated a state-sponsored doping programme from 2011 to 2015.

Olympic Games on the BBC Venue: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Dates: 5-21 August Time in Rio: BST -4 Coverage: Watch on BBC One, BBC Four, Red Button and up to 24 HD video streams on mobile, desktop and connected TVs, plus follow on Radio 5 live and via live text commentary. The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) is "disappointed" its recommendation to ban Russia from next month's Olympic Games in Rio has been rejected. Following the country's doping scandal, the International Olympic Committee has left it up to individual sports' federations to ban Russian competitors. Wada "stands by" its recommendation last month of a full Russia team ban. And Wada chief Olivier Niggli said the IOC's decision will "inevitably" mean "lesser protection for clean athletes". Wada president Sir Craig Reedie said investigators had "exposed, beyond a reasonable doubt, a state-run doping program in Russia that seriously undermines the principles of clean sport embodied within the World Anti-Doping Code".

There was also concern expressed for Yuliya Stepanova, the Russian runner whose evidence helped expose her nation's doping scandal, but will now not be allowed to compete in Rio under a neutral flag. "Wada has been very vocal in supporting Yuliya's desire to compete as an independent athlete," added Niggli. "Ms Stepanova was instrumental in courageously exposing the single biggest doping scandal of all time. Wada is very concerned by the message that this sends whistleblowers for the future." Media playback is not supported on this device IOC member Adam Pengilly 'embarrassed' by organisation's decision not to ban Russia Russia decision 'a confusing mess' Olympic organisers have been accused of a lack of leadership and creating a "confusing mess" over the Russia decision. The United States Anti-Doping Association (Usada) said the IOC had delivered a "significant blow to the rights of clean athletes". "Many, including clean athletes and whistleblowers, have demonstrated courage and strength in confronting a culture of state-supported doping and corruption within Russia," said Usada chief Travis Tygart.

"Disappointingly, however, in response to the most important moment for clean athletes and the integrity of the Olympic Games, the IOC has refused to take decisive leadership." Four-time Olympic gold medal-winning rower Matthew Pinsent was among those to criticise the IOC's stance The IOC also ruled that any Russian athlete who has served a doping ban will not be eligible for the Games. That means it will not allow whistleblower Stepanova to compete as a neutral athlete in Rio.

Tygart added: "The decision to refuse her entry into the Games is incomprehensible and will undoubtedly deter whistleblowers in the future from coming forward." Reaction to IOC Russia decision Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko: "We are very grateful to the International Olympic Committee for the fact that in choosing between collective responsibility and the rights of individual athletes, it took the decision that every athlete whose reputation today is untarnished, who is clean, without doping, has the right to compete in the Olympics." UK Sports Minister Tracey Crouch: "While this is solely a decision for the International Olympic Committee, the scale of the evidence in the McLaren report arguably pointed to the need for stronger sanctions rather than leaving it to the international federations at this late stage." British IOC member Adam Pengilly: "I believe that the Russian federation has mocked the Olympic movement and I worry about the future of clean sport, I worry about the future for clean athletes, the Olympic movement and the Olympic Games. "Some have suggested the IOC has passed the buck and I'd have to agree.

There's been an abdication of responsibility here." World marathon record holder and four-time Olympian Paula Radcliffe: "While I applaud no athlete going to the Games who has previously served a doping suspension, this cannot fairly be only Russian athletes. "A truly strong message for clean sport would have been to ban all those who have been caught cheating." How the athletes see it Six-time Olympic track cycling champion Chris Hoy tweeted: "What sort of message does this send out? Surely IOC's job is to make crucial decisions rather than passing the buck." Heptathlete and Olympic bronze medallist Kelly Sotherton is not impressed Five-time Olympic distance runner Jo Pavey tweeted: "Such a disappointing decision by the IOC. Does not send out a strong message that doping will not be tolerated." Double Olympic rowing gold medallist James Cracknell tweeted : "Bottled it - IOC passing the buck to individual federations (sports) on whether to allow Russian athletes to compete in Rio 2016. Bad day. Russian track & field appeal fails so their ban remains." Olympic 400m bronze medallist Katharine Merry tweeted : ‏"IOC are useless... like I said last week..

what EXACTLY would a country have to do to get a blanket ban? #cantshakemyheadhardenough." Double Olympic gold medallist rower Andrew Hodge tweeted : "Decision based on promises from Russia, & leaving to the IFs is a poor move from a position on strength. Sad day." American long-distance runner Kara Goucher ‏ tweeted : "So if you're Russian and served a drug ban you aren't allowed, but the US can send previously banned athletes. What?" Media playback is not supported on this device Top British athletes on need for a clean Olympics Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. Share this page

Question: In 2015 the World Anti-Doping Agency suggested banning which nation from the 2016 Olympics?
Answer: Russia