State-Sponsored Russian Doping Scandal Rocks Olympics, Track And Field

A shocking report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has found that Russian athletes, especially in Track And Field, have participated in state-sponsored doping. The commission, which has accused these athletes are calling for their immediate ban from the 2016 Summer Olympic Games that will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

A report released by the WADA stated that a secret doping plant run by physicians had been undergoing procedures for the past five years in giving athletes a complete advantage in any competition they were participating in. “It’s worse than we thought,” Dick Pound said at a news conference in Geneva, who served as chairman of a three-person commission that prepared the report. “We found coverups, we found destruction of samples, we found payments of money in order to conceal doping tests.”

Another shocking detail in the report asserted that Russian security got in the way of anti-doping facilities in a way to give athletes of all sports an advantage before the Games would start. Russia won 13 gold medals during the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, a huge increase from the three gold medals they won at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.

Russian officials have defended their country, stating there is no evidence that doping occurred. “If particular allegations are going to be aired, then they should be backed by particular evidence,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian journalists. “So long as they haven’t presented the particular evidence, it’s hard to accept the particular allegations. They remain unfounded.”

WADA has suspended the Russian laboratory that checks the blood and urine of Russian athletes.

PHOTO: SOCHI, RUSSIA – MARCH 16: The Russia and South Korea flags fly as a performer sings during the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games Closing Ceremony at Fisht Olympic Stadium on March 16, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images)

Article by Ryan Kappy