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The final part of
the World Anti-Doping Agency's independent report into doping in
Russia this month provided exhaustive evidence of an elaborate
doping scheme but officials at the time denied it was a
state-backed program.
The report found more than 1,000 Russian competitors in more
than 30 sports were involved in a conspiracy to conceal positive
drug tests over a period of five years.
"It was an institutional conspiracy," Anna Antseliovich, the
acting director general of Russia's anti-doping agency, told the
New York Times, but added that top officials were not involved.
More than 100 Russian athletes were barred from competing at the
Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this year after the International
Olympic Committee set criteria for Russian athletes to meet,
including a clean doping past and sufficient testing at
international events.
"From my point of view, as a former minister of sport, president
of the Olympic committee — we made a lot of mistakes," Vitaly
Smirnov, head of a new commission created to combat doping, was
quoted as saying by the New York Times.
"We have to find those reasons why young sportsmen are taking
doping, why they agree to be doped."
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Jason
Neely)
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