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OLYMPICS
Olympic sports

Putin admits Russian anti-doping system has failed

Rachel Axon
USA TODAY Sports

President Vladimir Putin indicated Wednesday that Russia should follow plans to change its anti-doping system while denying the revelations of a state-sponsored doping system, according to a report.

In a file photo from 2014, Russian president Vladimir Putin, center left, prepares to bang a bass drum during the Sochi Olympic Winter Games at Iceberg Skating Palace.

Russian news agency TASS reported Putin’s comments from a meeting in advance of the 2019 World Winter Universiade, and the statements drew praise from the World Anti-Doping Agency.

"The most important thing is that we heed the demands of the independent [McLaren] commission despite its drawbacks, because we need to admit that some cases of doping have really been detected, as doping is completely unacceptable. This means that the current Russian anti-doping system has failed, and this is our fault," Putin said, according to TASS.

Russia has been mired in a doping scandal for more than two years as two WADA-commissioned investigations found widespread doping and the subversion of anti-doping procedures in the country.

Ultimately, a final report from Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren revealed that more than 1,000 athletes were involved in a state-run doping system in Russia.

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WADA declared the Russian Anti-Doping Agency non-compliant with the world anti-doping code in November of 2015. RUSADA is working to come into compliance by November of this year.

“WADA is encouraged by this sign of progress from the highest political levels in Russia today,” WADA president Craig Reedie said in a statement. “Since November 2015, the Agency, UK Anti-Doping and others have been working hard in supporting Russia’s efforts to rebuild a credible anti-doping system. This public admission by Russian President Vladimir Putin that their ‘anti-doping system has failed’ is an important step in the right direction.”

To this point, leaders in Russia have largely refused to acknowledge the breadth of the system. The reports from McLaren and Dick Pound, who is a former WADA president and led the first investigation, have revealed a system that included top sports officials, anti-doping officials and even the Federal Security Service (FSB).

In Putin’s statements reported by TASS, the Russian president said "there has never been any institutional conspiracy to conceal positive doping tests in Russia and there never will be, on the contrary, doping will only be fought against."

He noted an investigation within the country to find those responsible.

Putin also noted a letter from the International Olympic Committee this week, which described the difficulty in bringing cases for anti-doping rule violations against individual athletes.

Because the McLaren investigations was tasked with looking at the system, it did not aim to collect evidence for individual cases. The information it has collected has been shared with the IOC and international federations.

"It seems, either the translation was not quite correct or there is not enough evidence," Putin said, according to TASS.

"We don’t accept allegations about some scratches on sample bottles for evidence, because when they were submitted, no one protested. If they saw any scratches, they should have mentioned it in their protocols, but it was not done. It means, the bottles have been stored somewhere but we are not responsible for the storage.”

The International Paralympic Committee and the International Association of Athletics Federations both suspended Russia before the Rio Games, a sanction that remains in place.

The IAAF has noted that while progress has been made to comply with the anti-doping code, more must be done.

WADA has taken a similar stance.

“Effectively, RUSADA must demonstrate that its processes are truly autonomous, independent from outside interference and properly resourced for the task of protecting clean athletes both in Russia and abroad,” WADA director general Olivier Niggli said. “Only once RUSADA, and its governing structures, has successfully demonstrated that it can achieve such independence, will Russian sport be able to redeem itself in the eyes of clean athletes and other stakeholders worldwide.”

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