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 Ljungqvist was speaking in the wake of a recent German TV
documentary alleging systematic doping and cover-ups among Russian
track and field athletes, and said that such reports had not
surprised him in the slightest.
"I'm not surprised by anything any more," Ljungqvist told Reuters in
a telephone interview from his office at the Swedish Sports
Confederation. "But I evaluate what I hear, and this is something I
recognize from before."
"We have seen this before, and I know the people who made the
documentary well. They usually have a good foundation before they go
out with these kinds of things."
Ljungqvist said that he had not seen the documentary, entitled
"Secret Doping Dossier: How Russia Produces Its Winners" and
broadcast by ZDF/ARD at the beginning of December, but that the
allegations within it followed a familiar pattern.
"I remember when I was medical officer for the IOC (International
Olympic Committee) and the anti-doping efforts before the Beijing
Olympics.
 "I had identified a number of Russian women who had in some way
'dribbled' with doping questions and tests. They were suspended and
never got to Beijing," he said.
"I held a press conference on the subject where I stated that it
smelled of organized doping, so it's nothing new," he recalled of
the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games.
"The following year there was a similar story with Russian
biathletes suspended before a world championship in Pyeongchang in
South Korea."
Since competing in the high jump for Sweden at the 1952 Olympics the
83-year-old has spent almost half his life battling doping, holding
positions in WADA, the International Assosciation of Athletics
Federations (IAAF) and the IOC.
The IAAF, WADA and Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA have all said
they will investigate the claims contained in the documentary, but
the film was described as lies by Russia's athletics federation
president Valentin Balakhnichev.
Ljungqvist believes that the problems outlined in the film stem from
a historic habit of doping that existed before the fall of the Iron
Curtain in the late 1980s.
"My feeling is that cultures remain in the old so-called Eastern
Bloc, and we have seen that at the big international exercises," he
said.
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"There are a number of cases that have arisen, Belarus among others,
that have had doped athletes, so there is an amount that needs to be
corrected.
"But we shouldn't forget that the Russians themselves have
disqualified countless athletes in recent years for doping."
Asked what could be done to cure the scourge of drug cheats,
Ljungqvist said that sport was almost unique in the way that it
brought together governing bodies and governments to combat doping,
and that this co-operation must continue, not least in Russia.
"There is strong action needed, both from the international
organizations and the Russians, to deal with a culture that still
exists in part from a previous time."
If not, Ljungqvist believes, doping could spell the end for the
global reputation of elite sport.
"If we do not effectively fight against doping, then the situation
for the credibility of sport is bad," he said.
"The biggest danger is that recruitment to elite sport will be
damaged. That one must be a drug abuser and put ones health in
danger to compete is not possible to accept.
"The risk is that elite sport itself will die."
(Editing by Martyn Herman)
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