Alberto Salazar was once a successful coach with the Nike Oregon Project (NOP), home to four-time British Olympic champion Sir Mo Farah from 2011 to 2017. This week, 61-year-old Salazar was banned from athletics for four years due to multiple anti-doping violations.

Salazar was sanctioned by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) along with endocrinologist Jeffrey Brown on the grounds of attempted tampering with athletes’ doping control processes and attempted trafficking of testosterone.

“The athletes in these cases found the courage to speak out and ultimately exposed the truth. While acting in connection with the Nike Oregon Project, Mr. Salazar and Dr. Brown demonstrated that winning was more important than the health and well-being of the athletes they were sworn to protect,” said USADA chief executive, Travis Tygart.

When asked about his former coach, Farah stated:

“I’m relieved that USADA has, after four years, completed their investigation into Alberto Salazar. I left the Nike Oregon Project in 2017 but as I’ve always said, I have no tolerance for anyone who breaks the rules or crosses a line. A ruling has been made and I’m glad there has finally been a conclusion.”

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Due to this USADA’s ruling, the USA Track and Field Federation has since stripped Salazar of his accreditation for the World Athletics Championships, which are currently underway in Qatar.

Even after the ruling, Salazar insists he is innocent, citing strict adherence to WADA code.

“The Oregon Project has never and will never permit doping,” Salazar’s said in a recent statement. “I will appeal and look forward to this unfair and protracted process reaching the conclusion I know to be true.”

Although Salazar’s appeal is still pending, Farah has still drawn a line between himself and his former coach. The Olympic champion said he is convinced that Salazar crossed a line.

Salazar will await the Performance and Oversight Committee of the USADA’s review of his appeal. For the time being, he will not be allowed in any official team hotel, training zone or any area of Khalifa Stadium that requires accreditation.

U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte is no stranger to controversy and not-so-smart decision making, especially following the scandal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, in which he lied about being robbed when in actuality he had drunkenly vandalized a local gas station. The act caused him to lose sponsorships and resulted in a 10 month ban, and it looks like things are only getting worse following an ill-advised social media post.

Lochte posted a picture of himself receiving a substance from an IV on May 24. After an investigation by the US Anti-Doping Agency, it was deemed that the substance itself, a specific sort of Vitamin-B complex, was legal, but that Lochte had exceeded the legal limit of 100 milliliters. As is the case, the USADA has banned Lochte from competitive swimming for 14 months, stemming from this past May and continuing on to July of 2019.

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Lochte issued a statement in which he said, “It’s devastating to my family about this because I definitely made myself a better person after Rio, and I was back in training. I was feeling good. I was swimming fast. My son being born. Everything was happening. Everything was perfect, and then this happened. And it’s devastating. As soon as you get to a certain point or level, in any kind of sport career, you’re always going to have an eye on you. I think I’ve learned it the hard way. Definitely. Especially since Rio. And now this.”

The 12-time Olympic medalist claims to have not been aware of the rule, stating that it was a “newer” one. He’s not entirely wrong, as it was instituted back in 2012, but the ironic part is that the current rule actually upped the allowed amount of the substance from 50 milliliters to 100 milliliters. So even if he weren’t aware of the new rule, the old one would have seen him incur an even more drastic violation.

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Lochte said, “It’s a hard sanction because I didn’t take anything illegal, but a rule is a rule. I wasn’t too clear on the rules, but now I am. And I know there’s other athletes that don’t know this rule. I want to help them and make sure that other athletes don’t make the same mistake I did.”

He also promised to change his social media habits, saying “I’m just going to post on my son and my wife, leave everything else out.”

Due to the suspension, Lochte will miss this August’s Pan Pacific Championships, as well as the 2019 World Aquatics Championship. However, he does plan on swimming in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, at which point he will be 36-years-old.

On Monday, the International Cycling Union (UCI) cleared British cyclist Chris Froome of doping just days before this year’s Tour de France.

Cyclist Chris Froome Absolved In Doping Case

Froome, 33, is the defending Tour de France champion, and has won the 2,069-mile race four times. Should he win his fifth title this year, he would tie a record shared by Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Jacques Anquetil, and Miguel Induráin. The 2018 Tour de France starts on Saturday.

The Brit had been threatened with a possible ban after he tested positive for the asthma drug salbutamol in September at the Vuelta a España. A urine sample revealed Froome had two times the legal amount, and the cyclist has denied any wrongdoing.

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In a surprising development, Team Sky — with whom Froome competes — said they would not be providing additional details on the doping case surrounding the cyclist.

“The Team won’t be putting out more information as it’s obviously a UCI/WADA process and it’s for them to decide what to put out and when. We don’t have access to their data and scientific studies,” a spokesperson for Team Sky told cyclingnews.com. “Chris had been out on his bike training all morning yesterday and wrongly assumed WADA would be putting out more detail when he said that to Sky News. We would of course be happy with them doing so but is ultimately for them to decide what they choose to do.”

A statement from the UCI stated the World Anti-Doping Agency had ruled that Froome’s sample did not include any violations, and thus it had decided to end its investigation into the cyclist.

According to the New York Times and several European publications, Tour de France organizers told Team Sky that Froome was prohibited from participating in the race until his doping case was decided.

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Two cyclists have previously received suspensions for using salbutamol: Diego Ulissi in 2014 and Alessandro Petacchi in 2007.

In May, Froome won his first Giro d’Italia.

On Tuesday, U.S. lawmakers proposed a bill that would criminalize doping in global sports competitions, an issue that has plagued many such events in recent years.

U.S. Congress Push To Criminalize Global Sports Doping

According to The New York Times, the law inspired by the Russian doping scandal, which first surfaced shortly before the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil and has since proved to be a major controversy. The bill would reportedly harken back to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, which states it is illegal to bribe foreign dignitaries in order to receive any type of financial benefit.

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The Times reported that this proposed law would not apply to leagues of exclusively American teams, like Major League Baseball. However, the legislation could affect players who compete in global events for that sport like the World Baseball Classic.

The bill has been named the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, and is named after Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the chemist who managed Russia’s anti-doping laboratory for reportedly 10 years before he revealed the country’s government-sponsored cheating practices he had been involved in. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi was one of the competitions were the highest number of Russian athletes were discovered to have doped by taking performance-enhancing drugs or through other means. A thorough investigation revealed that urine samples of more than 100 of these athletes had been tampered with, although some Russian government officials denied reports of doping. Many of the country’s stars were banned from participating in the Rio 2016 Olympics, while others were forced to compete under a neutral flag — “The Olympic Athletes from Russia” — at this year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The International Olympic Committee overturned a doping ban for 28 Russian athletes just days before the 2018 Winter Olympics started in February.

The U.S. currently donates $2.3 million to the World Anti-Doping Agency. It is the largest donor out of all countries to the global regulator of drug use in sports.

On Thursday, the FIFA World Cup started in Russia. The 64-game soccer tournament is one of the biggest global sporting events and is the first major event in the country since the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

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The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act was co-sponsored by three members of congress: Democratic Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, and Republican Rep. Michael Burgess of Texas.

Dr. Rodchenkov has reportedly lived in the U.S. since late 2015, and was charged in Russia after he admitted to running the doping program after being ordered to by a government official.

Two Russian Olympic curlers will lose the medals they won in Pyeongchang last week after one of them failed a doping test.

Russian Curlers doping scandal news

The Russian Curling Federation announced Wednesday that Alexander Krushelnitsky and his wife Anastasia Bryzgalova will return their bronze medals — which they won in the team event on Feb. 14 — after Krushelnitsky tested positive for the banned heart medication meldonium.

“Aleksandr Krushelnitckii (OAR, mixed doubles curling, ranked 3rd), positive test with meldonium; the athlete has admitted the anti-doping rule violation; he is disqualified from the mixed doubles curling event at the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018 and the results obtained by the team OAR at the same event are disqualified with all resulting consequences,” read a statement from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled the Russian curler is disqualified.

Krushelnitsky appealed his doping ban, but then dropped it shortly after a meeting between an aide to Russian president Vladimir Putin and the head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach.

The IOC’s executive board is deciding whether to lift its suspension on the Russian Olympic Committee before the closing ceremonies on Sunday. The ban lifting would allow Russian athletes to parade in their own colors, a privilege they were denied when the Games began. Russia was discovered to have been running a state-sponsored doping program that dates back to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

“It would be stupid to deny it after two tests proved positive,” Bach said of Krushelnitsky before the CAS’s ruling. “The samples tested had been collected during the Olympic Games, and I am ready to face the verdict that is usually announced in such cases.”

Krushelnitsky has denied knowingly taking meldonium, a heart medicine that increases blood flow.

One Russian sports agent, Andrei Mitkov, highlighted the importance of the aforementioned meeting in a recent Facebook post in which he described previous cases of athletes from his country failing doping tests. Mitkov has represented many athletes, including Russian Olympic swimmer Yulia Efimova, who was caught doping but was still controversially allowed to participate in the Rio 2016 Games. Efimova served a 16-month ban that ended in early 2015.

Here is the full statement from the CAS:

“Aleksandr Krushelnitckii (OAR, mixed doubles curling, ranked 3rd), positive test with meldonium; the athlete has admitted the anti-doping rule violation; he is disqualified from the mixed doubles curling event at the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018 and the results obtained by the team OAR at the same event are disqualified with all resulting consequences; the athlete is excluded from the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018; his accreditation shall be withdrawn; the proceedings shall continue between the WCF and the athlete; the IOC is no longer a party to this procedure. The athlete has accepted a provisional suspension beyond the period of the Games and reserved his rights to seek the elimination or reduction of any period of ineligibility based on “no fault or negligence” following the conclusion of the Games. The amendment of the official ranking of the mixed doubles curling event and the reallocation of the bronze medal is of the responsibility of the WCF and the IOC.”

SOCHI, RUSSIA – FEBRUARY 23: Gold medalist Alexander Legkov of Russia celebrates in the medal ceremony for the Men’s 50 km Mass Start Free during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony at Fisht Olympic Stadium on February 23, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Chris Froome, Britain’s most famous cyclist, has failed a drug test.

Chris Froome Doping Scandal News

The 32-year-old Kenyan-born sensation — who won his third consecutive Tour de France in July — was discovered to have exceeded the allowed levels of asthma drug salbutamol on a test taken Sept. 7.

Froome’s scandal comes after his victory in the Vuelta in Spain in September. Under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, riders are permitted a level of 1,000 nanograms per millilitre. Froome, who rides with Team Sky, was found to have twice that in a urine sample.

If the test result is upheld, Froome could forfeit his Vuelta title and may also be banned from upcoming major competitions like next year’s Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, the latter of which he has won four times in total (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017).

In 2007 the Italian cyclist Alessandro Petacchi was given a 12-month ban for excessive salbutamol and stripped of his five stage victories in the Giro d’Italia.

“It is well known that I have asthma and I know exactly what the rules are,” said Froome. “I use an inhaler to manage my symptoms (always within the permissible limits) and I know for sure that I will be tested every day I wear the race leader’s jersey. My asthma got worse at the Vuelta so I followed the team doctor’s advice to increase my salbutamol dosage. As always, I took the greatest care to ensure that I did not use more than the permissible dose.

“I take my leadership position in my sport very seriously. The UCI is absolutely right to examine test results and, together with the team, I will provide whatever information it requires.”

Froome also tweeted the following on Wednesday:

After several sources had told European press about Froome’s adverse analytical finding, David Lappartient, the president of cycling’s world governing body, the UCI, confirmed his organization was aware of the failed test.

In a statement, team Sky said Froome received the notification of the UCI’s finding on Sept. 20, prior to the individual time trial event at the world championships.

The UCI said in a statement that Froome is not facing a mandatory provisional suspension.

“Pursuant to article 7.9.1. of the UCI anti-doping rules, the presence of a specified substance such as salbutamol in a sample does not result in the imposition of such mandatory provisional suspension against the rider,” the statement read.

One drug expert, however, has claimed Froome could not have gained an unfair advantage by taking higher levels of salbutamol.

Dr Brian Lipworth, of the Scottish Centre for Respiratory Research, said taking higher doses of the asthma drug can actually impair an athlete’s performance because it can cause muscle weakness, increase their heart rate and reduce potassium in their blood.

“Salbutamol of that level means his asthma is being poorly controlled, Lipworth told Sky News. “The fact that he won with those levels is utterly remarkable.”

Lipworth added the substance is merely used to treat asthma.

MONTPELLIER, FRANCE – JULY 14: Christopher Froome of Great Britain riding for Team Sky in the yellow leader’s jersey crosses the finish line after stage twelve, a 178km stage from Monpellier to Chalet-Reynard near the Mont Ventoux on July 14, 2016 in Montpellier, France. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Restrictions

American sprinter Justin Gatlin says he is perplexed by the London crowd’s reaction to his unexpected victory over fan-favorite Usain Bolt in the men’s 100-meter final at the IAAF World Championships on Saturday.

Justin Gatlin 100m IAAF World Championships news

Gatlin — who previously won gold in the 100m at the Helsinki World Championships in 2005 — finished the race in a season-best 9.92 seconds to beat Bolt by 0.03 seconds and was heavily booed by the crowd at London’s Olympic Stadium.

Before Saturday, Bolt — who won three gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics — had been the world record holder for both the 100m and 200m competitions, and was set to retire following this year’s IAAF World Championships. However, the eight-time gold medallist from Jamaica — who will be 31 later this month, finished bronze on Saturday in his final individual race.

Gatlin, 35, is one of the most notorious cheaters in the sport of sprinting. The Brooklyn native — who won gold in the 100m at the 2004 Athens Olympics — has been suspended twice for doping violations. On Saturday, Gatlin was jeered every time he was introduced before the 100m heats, semifinals and final. The loudest boos and taunts, however, came after he defeated Bolt, though they subsided somewhat when Gatlin stepped up to the podium to receive his medal.

The American was banned for two years in 2001 while he was at college, and also served 12 months of his sentence for consuming a prohibited amphetamine after successfully arguing he had taken the drug as medication for attention deficit disorder.

Gatlin was also banned in 2006 for eight years, a suspension which was later shortened to four following an appeal, for testing positive for the prohibited steroid testosterone.

When asked about his opinion on the crowd’s reaction to his victory, Gatlin told CNN: “It leaves me scratching my head,” he said. “I’ve been back in the sport since 2010. I wasn’t booed in 2012, ’11, ’12 — which was still in London — ’13 or ’14 or ’15 and not that much in ’16.”

The third-place winner of the 100m race at the London 2012 Olympics also criticized the media for inflating his rivalry with Bolt, whom he said he admires and has a great relationship with.

Bolt will still attempt to win gold at the men’s 4x100m relay in London this year.

Nine of the 30 fastest 100m times, including the top four, have been set by Bolt. The other 21 times on that list belong to athletes who have, at one point, violated doping regulations.

In 2015, Gatlin also faced off against Bolt at the World Championships in Beijing for his first race after returning from his eight-year ban. The American had boasted a 28-race undefeated streak up until then and seemed likely to beat Bolt as the world-record-holder. Bolt ultimately won by 0.01 seconds.

Russian runner Mariya Savinova, a London 2012 gold medallist, has been stripped of her 800m title and banned until 2019.

Russian Olympian Mariya Savinova Banned, Stripped Of Title for Doping

Savinova, 31, has had all her results from July 2010 to August 2013 annulled after being found guilty of doping.

The Russian defeated South African Caster Semenya into second at the London Olympics and the 2011 Worlds in Daegu, South Korea.

Savinova also defeated Britain’s Jenny Meadows into bronze at the 2010 Europeans. Both Semenya and Meadows could now have their medals upgraded.

Among the other medals Savinova will lose are her her 800m gold from the 2011 World Championships and the European Championships in 2010.

She will also forfeit her 2013 World Championship silver.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s statement on Friday read:

“On the basis of clear evidence, including the evidence derived from her biological passport (ABP), Mariya Savinova is found to have been engaged in using doping from 26 July 2010 (the eve of the European Championship in Barcelona) through to 19 August 2013 (the day after the World Championship in Moscow).

“As a consequence, a four-year period of ineligibility, beginning on 24 August 2015, has been imposed and all results achieved between 26 July 2010 and 19 August 2013, are disqualified and any prizes, medals, prize and appearance money forfeited.”

Savinova was one of five Russian athletes named in a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report about doping.

She has not competed since 2013 after being suspended during an investigation that began following the release of undercover footage filmed by whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova.

Should Semenya indeed receive a gold medal for the London 2012 final as a result, it would be her second one after she claimed the 800m title in Rio last summer.

Savinova joins one other Russian finalist who has been retrospectively banned: Yelena Arzhakova. A third, bronze medallist Ekaterina Poistogova, is also being investigated for doping.

Most of the Russian track and field team were banned from competing at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 11: Mariya Savinova of Russia celebrates afte winning gold in the Women’s 800m Final on Day 15 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on August 11, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Fans have been let down time and time again. Athletes so highly revered that are caught taking performance enhancing drugs in turn, have medals taken away and lose respect of many, all in one blow.

What’s the point?

The dream of being the best, untouchable. Olympic cyclist Lance Armstrong admitted to using banned substances and intimidation on teammates that didn’t want to dope because he wanted to win by any means necessary. That’s the point, to win.

Cheating to win can’t feel good, but athletes do it to stay competitive because they know their competition is doing it. If everyone is taking them, everyone should stop taking them and they will still be competitive. Fortunately or unfortunately, it’s human nature to want to be better, faster and stronger.

It takes the fun out of watching a race when swimmers or sprinters line up on the board or blocks respectively and I wonder which (or if all) of these athletes is doping. It’s sad to think that world record holder of the women’s 100 meter dash, U.S. sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner probably cheated, but now we’ll never know. Instead of being excited about the Olympics, I’m skeptical. All excitement, anticipation and hope that any of this is reality is ruined. Athletes competing honestly without performance enhancers get painted with the same brush.

Performance enhancing drugs have been used in modern Olympic Games since 1904, this isn’t anything new we are grappling with. Drug testing at the Olympics began in 1968, but it’s not as easy to detect drug use nowadays with advancements in technology, or conspiring, that can make it nearly impossible.

Now that Russia has a potential blanket ban from Olympic competition in Rio, it begs the question how many other countries should be banned. A report confirmed athletes representing Russia for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi were required by President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government to take performance enhancing drugs. This information was leaked by a Russian whistle-blower.

According to The New York Times Russia’s former antidoping lab director Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov said he covered up the use of drugs as per orders of the Russian government. Urine samples were tested on all of the athletes during the Games, but the incriminating evidence was covered up with the help of the Russian intelligence service.

Canadian lawyer hired by the World Anti-Doping Agency Richard McLaren, wrote nearly 100 pages of a report as proof of Rodchenkov’s claims. IOC President Thomas Bach was shocked.

Since the report was confirmed only a small sample of Russian athletes have had their specimens reexamined. To figure out how many athletes benefited from doping will take even more time and money, if there is any available for it. Even if they can get that far, the IOC would have to determine which runners-up would receive new medals.

In a doping scandal in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson had his gold medal stripped for taking stanozolol, an anabolic steroid, and gold was then awarded to the runner-up U.S. sprinter Carl Lewis who had also tested positive for banned substances before the Olympics but was allowed to compete through a caveat in the rules. The winner and the runner-up, both doping! 

The World Anti-Doping Agency will continue to find new ways to test for banned substances and athletes and doctors will work to find ways around it.

Half of all Olympic athletes in London in 2012 were tested for banned substances, some got caught and I’m sure some didn’t. Rio’s drug tests will be arduous I’m sure, and I’m willing to bet that some athletes that top the podium in Rio don’t really deserve to be champions at all.

Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has said he welcomes the International Olympic Committee’s decision to open investigations into allegations of Russian doping.

Russia’s Sports Minister Welcomes IOC Probes After Doping Evidence

Following the release Monday of a World Anti-Doping Agency report that accused the country — and its sports ministry — of covering up hundreds of doping incidents, the IOC opened investigations into top Russian officials and demanded that major upcoming winter sports events be moved out of Russia.

A figure skating Grand Prix in Moscow on Nov. 4-6 and a ski jumping World Cup on Dec. 9-11 in Nizhny Tagil are the first events set to be moved from Russia.

The IOC also stated it will “explore the legal options with regard to a collective ban of all Russian athletes” from next month’s Rio Olympics.

Mutko told Russia’s state Tass news agency that “we absolutely share and support today’s decisions,” and added the primary issue was not Russian doping but rather “an unprecedented attack on the whole Olympic movement,” without providing any further details.

Early Tuesday, Mutko denied all wrongdoing and said he expected his subordinates to be cleared as well.

Two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva made her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Tuesday morning that Russian track and field athletes not banned for doping be allowed to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Games.

Leaving a CAS appeal hearing held amid unusual secrecy in Geneva, Isinbayeva told state-owned news channel Russia 24 that she addressed the judging panel and was “optimistic” about the outcome.

The CAS hopes to reach a verdict on Thursday in the appeal filed by Russia’s national Olympic body on behalf of 68 athletes.

The ruling will guide the IOC executive board as it determines whether to ban all Russian teams from the Rio Games.

The Russian appeal challenges an IAAF ruling to suspend the All-Russian Athletic Federation and its athletes from international competition due to a nationwide, state-sponsored conspiracy of doping and cover-ups.

The IAAF imposed the ban last November and upheld it last month.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA – AUGUST 13: Elena Isinbaeva of Russia competes in the Women’s pole vault final during Day Four of the 14th IAAF World Athletics Championships Moscow 2013 at Luzhniki Stadium on August 13, 2013 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)

The world’s top anti-doping officials called on Monday for Russia to be banned from this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio after an independent investigation led by a Canadian law professor has confirmed evidence of widespread, state-sponsored doping in Russian sports.

New Report Confirms State-Sponsored Doping By Russia At Olympics

Richard McLaren of Western University in London, Ontario released his findings Monday at a news conference in Toronto, stating labs in Moscow and Sochi protected Russian athletes. The findings confirm a Russian whistle-blower’s claims of government-ordered cheating at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

In short, Russia’s deputy minister of sports, who was also a member of Russia’s Olympic Committee, directed employees at Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory of which positive samples to send through and which to retain.

Russia’s national security service, the FSB– the modern-day version of the Soviet Union’s KGB– was also involved.

McLaren stated Russia’s cheating program, which he dubbed the “disappearing positive methodology,” lasted from 2011– shortly after the country’s disappointing performance at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics– to at least last year’s world swimming championships in Kazan, Russia. His timeframe includes the 2013 track and field world championships in Moscow.

McLaren added that out of 577 positive sample screenings, 312 positive results were retained– or labeled “Save” by the lab workers– but that only represented only a small portion of the data that could have been evaluated. More than 240 of the 312 “Saves” came from track and field and wrestling, although other sports involved included swimming, rowing, snowboarding, and table tennis.

According to McLaren’s 97-page report, which was commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, the lab at the Sochi Olympics “operated a unique sample swapping methodology” that allowed Russian athletes to compete at the 2014 Winter Games, where the host country topped the award table with 13 gold medals and 33 medals overall.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that his country’s officials named in the report will be temporarily suspended, but demanded more detailed and “objective” information, claiming the report was based on the testimony of only one man (whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov).

In a statement released by the Kremlin, Putin said there was no place for doping in sport, as it represented a threat to the lives and health of the athletes and discredited fair play.

“Today we see a dangerous relapse of politics intruding into sports,” Mr. Putin said in a statement.

The International Olympic Committee, which has the sole authority to ban an entire delegation, called the actions outlined in the report a “shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sport,” and pledged to pursue “the toughest possible sanctions available against any individual or organization implicated.”

Top Olympic executives were next due to meet in Rio, two days before the Games begin on Aug. 5, but the I.O.C. said Monday it had scheduled a meeting for Tuesday to discuss “provisional measures and sanctions.”

Hours after McLaren presented his report, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recommended that the IOC and the International Paralympic Committee ban all Russian athletes from the Rio Games.

WADA also said Russian government officials should be denied access to international competitions, including Rio 2016, and the organization also called on world governing bodies of sports implicated in the report to consider action against Russian national bodies.

Other organizations, including the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and the United States Anti-Doping agency, had already said they would call for a blanket ban on Russia for the Rio Games if McLaren’s report displayed evidence of a widespread, state-sponsored doping conspiracy. McLaren’s report said it did, and the investigator stated he was “unwaveringly confident in my report.”

Russia’s track and field athletes are already banned from representing their country at the Rio Olympics as part of the fallout from a doping scandal that began late last year when a WADA-commissioned investigation led by Canadian Dick Pound, and including McLaren, uncovered a widespread, state-sponsored doping program in Russia.

Among those not in favor of a full Russian ban was the head of gymnastics — a sport that was not among the 28 with non-reported positives.

“The right to participate at the games cannot be stolen from an athlete, who has duly qualified and has not be found guilty of doping,” said Bruno Grandi, president of gymnastics’ international federation. “Blanket bans have never been and will never be just.”

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 06: Yuliya Zaripova of Russia celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase final on Day 10 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on August 6, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Russian athletes who pass an individual test by the International Association of Athletics Federations to show they are clean will be allowed to compete for their country at the Rio Games in August, Olympics chief Thomas Bach said early Tuesday.

IOC President Allows Vetted Russian Athletes To Compete At Rio Games

“If there are athletes qualified then they will compete as members of the team of the Russian Olympic Committee,” Bach, who is the president of the International Olympic Committee, told reporters.

Bach also dismissed suggestions that Russian track and field stars could compete under a neutral or Olympic flag, as had been speculated after the IAAF extended its ban on these athletes on Friday. The ban extension came after Russian government officials and coaches were found to have been involved in assisting in the doping of said track and field athletes.

In explaining his equivocating, Bach, who is a lawyer and former fencer, said only national organizing committees can enter athletes in the Games. Except that isn’t exactly the case.

Athletes from the former Yugoslavia competed under the Olympic flag in Barcelona because their country’s breakup left them with no nation to represent. Similarly, a marathoner from South Sudan competed under the Olympic flag in London because his newly formed country did not yet have an Olympic committee.

Earlier this month, the IOC approved a 10-person refugee team that will compete under the Olympic flag.

“There is no contradiction,” Bach insisted. “The Russian Olympic Committee is not suspended, and if you read again the report of the IAAF task force, there you see that the Russian Olympic Committee was very helpful in clearing up the difficult situation in Russia.”

The report from the World Anti-Doping Agency released last week reveals positive tests, athletes not reporting their whereabouts and interference with doping control officers, among other issues.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 06: Yuliya Zaripova of Russia celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase final on Day 10 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on August 6, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Russia’s track and field athletes have been banned from competing in the Rio Olympics in August, according to several news reports citing the International Association of Athletics Federation decision on Friday.

Russian Track And Field Team Banned From Rio Olympics For Doping

In a historic decision, the IAAF voted to extend a ban of the All-Russian Athletics Federation that has kept its athletes out of international competition since a World Anti-Doping Agency independent commission report released in November concluded the country was running a state-sponsored doping program in athletics.

Russian news agency TASS reported that Russian athletics officials confirmed the ban had been extended.

The IAAF’s decision will likely be challenged. Last month, Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, stated she would file a discrimination case in the court for human rights.

It remains unknown whether the International Olympic Committee could amend the Federation’s decision. The IOC will hold a summit on Tuesday to ” address the difficult decision between collective responsibility and individual justice.” President Thomas Bach said the IOC will have a zero-tolerance policy on doping, but he has declined to elaborate about what that means concerning a potentially broader ban of Russia entirely.

In recent weeks, cries for Russia to be banned have intensified.

The WADA is conducting another investigation into doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, after Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of the Moscow lab, claimed in the New York Times last month that he had not only doped Russian athletes at the Games, but that he swapped out the urine in those doping samples with the help of someone he believed to be from Russia’s security service.

WADA expects that report to be completed by July 15.

If the IOC ultimately rules to ban Russia–a decision that probably won’t come until the investigation concludes–it would be unprecedented in the history of the Olympics. No country has ever been banned for a sport violation.

In the past 18 months, evidence of doping has mounted against Russia.

Whistleblowers Vitaly and Yuliya Stepanov first shared evidence of widespread doping in a documentary aired by German broadcaster ARD in December 2014. By then, Vitaly Stepanov, a Russian Anti-Doping Agency employee, had been corresponding with WADA since 2010.

Yuliya Stepanova, an 800-meter runner, joined her husband’s efforts, providing secretly recorded audio and video conversations, emails and text messages that formed the basis of the independent commission report.

This report also revealed corruption at the highest levels of the IAAF, with then-president Lamine Diack being among several officials implicated for accepting bribes from Russia to cover up positive drug tests.

In its decision to extend the athletics ban, the IAAF acknowledged that Russia’s track federation had fallen short of criteria established by its inspection team.

WADA brought in UK Anti-Doping to help with testing, but the agency has only been able to conduct 455 tests since mid-February. In total, 736 tests were declined or canceled as doping control officers have spotted athletes avoiding them or pulling out of competition. Doping officers have also been prohibited from testing athletes training in military cities.

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart, among several others, has called for meaningful sanctions for Russia in light of the pervasiveness of doping revealed in the independent commission report.

The independent commission report read: “The IC expects that at least part of the response to this Report will be a predictable concern that some ‘innocent’ athletes may be excluded from participation in competitions if the recommendations in the Report are adopted by the appropriate organizations. ‘Innocent’ athletes, around the world and in Russia, are already suffering as a result of the conduct identified in this Report: they need protection. The root cause of any non-participation is not the Report, but rather the unacceptable conduct of those responsible for the situation giving rise to the IC investigation and Report. It is they who must assume the responsibility for their actions.”

PHOTO: LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 06: Yuliya Zaripova of Russia celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase final on Day 10 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on August 6, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

After months of accusations of doping, Spanish tennis superstar Rafael Nadal has written a letter to David Haggerty, the President of the International Tennis Federation, demanding that all of his drug-test results and blood profile records be released to the public.

Rafael Nadal Wants All His Drug Tests Made Public

”It can’t be free anymore in our tennis world to speak and to accuse without evidence,” the 14-time Grand Slam champion stated in a letter obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Nadal, 29, sent the letter to Haggerty on Monday, the same day he filed a defamation lawsuit against a former French government minister who accused him of doping.

”I know how many times I am tested, on and off competition,” Nadal wrote in the letter. ”Please make all my information public. Please make public my biological passport, my complete history of anti-doping controls and tests.

”From now on I ask you to communicate when I am tested and the results as soon as they are ready from your labs. I also encourage you to start filing lawsuits if there is any misinformation spread by anyone.”

The ITF then issued its own statement regarding Nadal’s request to have his test results released under the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP).

”The ITF can confirm that Mr. Nadal has never failed a test under the TADP and has not been suspended at any time for an anti-doping rule violation or for any other reason related to the TADP.”

The ITF also added that Nadal, like many other players, has access to his anti-doping records through the World Anti-Doping Agency’s database ”and is free to make them available.” The federation also said that the released results would of course be verified for accuracy.

Nadal said he was prompted to write the letter following the recent remarks made by Roselyne Bachelot, France’s former minister for health and sport. Just last month, Bachelot stated on a French television show that she believed Nadal’s seven-month injury layoff in 2012 was ”probably due to a positive doping test.”

Nadal won his 49th clay-court tournament, the Barcelona Open BancSabadell (Men’s Singles) in Barcelona on Sunday, and will pursue his 10th French Open title next month.

”It is unacceptable and mostly unfair that someone that should have knowledge of sports to a certain point and degree can publicly say something like this with no proof or evidence,” Nadal said in the letter to Haggerty.

Nadal also added that many fans, sponsors, and even the media distrust tennis’ anti-doping program.

Nadal stated he has never shied away from sharing his thoughts on the issue of anti-doping.

”I believe we have to continue with the fight against doping and make the fight stronger and better if possible,” he wrote. ”As a player, first an amateur and then a professional, I have been sure that our sport is clean. It is necessary that our sport becomes a flagship in a world where transparency and honesty are two pillars of our conduct and way of living.”

Nadal’s case comes alongside many other similar scandals in tennis, including Russian superstar Maria Sharapova’s high-profile doping case. Sharapova has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for the newly banned substance meldonium at the Australian Open in January. She is awaiting an ITF disciplinary hearing.

After being asked about his reaction to Maria Sharapova failing a drug test, 14-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal took the opportunity to address rumors that he has used performance-enhancing drugs.

Rafael Nadal Denies Substance Abuse, Says ‘I’m A Completely Clean Guy’

“I am a completely clean guy,” said the 29-year-old Spaniard, who also stated he was “a little tired” of the rumors.

“I have never had the temptation of doing something wrong,” Nadal said, adding, “It is an example for the kids and if I am doing something that goes against that, I will be lying to myself, not lying to my opponents.”

Nadal has never actually failed a drug test, but has nevertheless been the subject of speculation that he dopes.

Nadal said he has taken advantage of some new treatments for his knee problems, like stem-cell therapy and Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy, often known as blood spinning. He also admitted that the first time he did PRP, “it worked fantastic,” but then the second time, it was not nearly as effective, and in fact he was forced to stop playing tennis for seven months.

Nadal also stated that he trusts a doctor to monitor what type of medication he takes.

“He has been the doctor for all the Spanish players for a number of years,” he said. “I would never take nothing that he doesn’t know about.”

Sharapova, former world number one, announced on Monday that she failed a drug test at the Australian Open in January. She tested positive for meldonium, which was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned drugs this year.

Nadal said Sharapova deserved to be punished as an example to others.

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)