A report in November by a World Anti-Doping Agency commission alleged systematic, state-sponsored drug use in Russian track and field and a widespread cover-up of doping. The former head of the Russian track federation was also accused of a role in extorting €450,000 (£365,000) from a marathon runner and was later banned for life.
“The general prosecutor’s office carefully examined the report in question and did not find a single legally supported fact to open any kind of case,” the Russian sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, told the sports portal Sportfakt.
The Wada report led to Russia being suspended from international track and field, which will include this summer’s Olympics unless sufficient corrective measures are introduced.
Mutko also admitted that Russia had been forced to withdraw players from its national teams at major competitions because of the risk they could test positive for meldonium, a drug for patients with heart disease that was widely used as a supplement in Russian sports but was banned from the start of this year. The ban prompted a spate of positive tests among top Russian athletes, including Maria Sharapova.
Mutko’s comments came a day after almost the entire Russia Under-18s ice hockey team were cut from next week’s world championships and replaced with an apparently weaker under-17s squad. The change was announced the day before the under-18s had been expected to fly to the United States. Mutko said some players had taken meldonium while it was still legal but that Russian officials feared it could have remained in their bodies.
“If an athlete or a group of athletes took it in October or November, we don’t know if it’ll be found or not [in testing],” Mutko said in comments reported by the state news agency Tass. “We’re minimising risks.”
He did not explicitly link his comments to the hockey situation. The Russian Hockey Federation president, Vladislav Tretiak, previously said the roster change was “tactical”.
It was the latest in a string of surprise team changes in Russian sports in recent weeks. The entire national men’s curling team was changed a day before its world championships, with the Russian Curling Federation denying a link to meldonium. The replacement team went on to lose nine of 11 games.
In volleyball, the Russian club Gazprom Yugra dropped its top players before the final of the European CEV Cup, which it lost. No explanation was given.
guardian
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