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 The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has set up an independent
commission to investigate claims of systematic doping among Russian
athletes and USADA chief Travis Tygart said the findings could prove
to be a turning point for all sports.
"This investigation that WADA has undertaken into Russia is so
critically important right now," Tygart told a high-level doping
conference in Singapore on Wednesday.
"There are allegations out there that have been portrayed in the
media (and) there are facts that back some of those allegations.
"We can argue about the credibility of those facts at this point but
there are facts out there which is what initiated WADA's
investigation.
"And that's why it's a defining moment, if not the defining moment,
where a country that's alleged, along with its anti-doping
organizations, its lab, other sport federations, of doping its
athletes in order to win on the world stage."
 Russian sports officials have denied allegations, which were aired
in a German TV documentary but have not been verified by Reuters, of
widespread doping and corruption in Russia, despite a recent spate
of positive tests.
Last month, Russia's anti-doping agency announced that three Olympic
walking champions, Olga Kaniskina, Valery Borchin, Sergei
Kirdyapkin, as well as the 2011 world champion Sergei Bakulin and
the 2011 World silver medalist Vladimir Kanaykin had all been
suspended for doping infringements.
A week later, Valentin Maslakov announced he was resigning as head
coach while Russia's Athletics Federation (VFLA) president Valentin
Balakhnichev intends to step down from his job next week.
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Tygart, the former lawyer turned anti-drugs crusader who helped
unmask American cyclist Lance Armstrong's long drug use, told
Reuters that the outcomes of the Russian investigation would have
wider implications for athletes all over the world.
"When there's evidence of these types of allegations, it's incumbent
upon the overseers of the whole anti-doping program, WADA, and its
role under the code, to fully vet and investigate the allegations
that have been made and hold any people that have violated the rules
accountable," he said.
"That ultimately is what gives confidence to clean athletes around
the world who are otherwise being held to the highest standards.
"If one country is not held to that standard and they go to the
(Olympic) Games and they win... if that was not done the right way,
and the allegations prove to be true and athletes who won in those
events shouldn't have won because they violated the rules, then
they've got to be held accountable."
(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly/Mitch Phillips)
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