adminMOSCOW. — The Kremlin yesterday called for concrete proof to back up allegations of widespread doping in athletics in the country, after the release of a bombshell report from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
“If there are any accusations then they have to be backed up with proof. Until any proof has been put forward it is hard to accept any accusations as they seem rather groundless,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
But the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) yesterday acted quickly in suspending the accreditation for the Moscow laboratory in the first concrete response to the doping and corruption scandal engulfing athletics.
The testing centre’s suspension was one of the key recommendations contained in Monday’s damning report from WADA’s independent commission chaired by Dick Pound.
A WADA statement announced: “The suspension, which takes effect immediately, prohibits the Moscow Anti-Doping Centre from carrying out any WADA-related anti-doping activities including all analyses of urine and blood samples.”
The laboratory has 21 days to appeal the sanction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Meanwhile, the head of UK Athletics yesterday added his support to calls for Russia to be banned from next year’s Olympics following doping revelations by the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA).
A report by WADA’s independent commission published on Monday outlined evidence of “state-sponsored” doping in Russia and called for the country to be banned from the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Asked if he agreed with the report’s stance, UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner told BBC Radio 4: “Yes, absolutely.
“I think before then (the Olympics) there are two competitions in athletics which matter.
“There’s the European Cross-Country Championships, which are next month (in Hyeres, France), and then in March in America there’s the World Indoor Championships.
“Lord (Sebastian) Coe, who’s the president of the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations), says that his council is meeting on Friday or Saturday this week to consider sanctioning Russia and possibly to suspend them. My strong advice would be: you’ve absolutely got to do that.”
Warner added: “If you punish one or two innocent Russian athletes for the greater good of the sport, that’s a moral dilemma I’m prepared to grasp.”
Russia’s sports ministry pledged to cooperate with anti-doping and international athletics authorities, and said it was prepared to take “appropriate steps”.
Russia’s athletics federation (ARAF) could be provisionally suspended when the IAAF meets in Monaco later this month.
And Kenyan athletic officials and media warned yesterday a “generation of athletes” risk exclusion if doping is not stopped, amid fears the east African county faces similar threats as those facing Russia.
A damning report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Monday outlined evidence of systematic cheating with the consent of the government in Moscow, noting that drug tests for athletes were conducted at a Russian lab that totally lacked credibility.
Many in Kenya fear doping is rife among their top class athletes too — runners who have been the source of enormous national pride.
“A generation of athletes in all disciplines could be lost to the ban,” The Star newspaper warned in its editorial yesterday, adding Kenya had “fallen short” in efforts to stem doping.
The Daily Nation newspaper called on athletes, managers and the government to “study the report”, which called for athletics’ governing body IAAF to suspend Russia’s athletics body.
The newspaper said officials must use it as a “learning experience” to put in place action to “detect, deter, and punish doping” in sport.
Kenyan athletics legend Kip Keino recently warned that WADA may consider “recommending Kenya be banned from all competitions for four years, including the 2016 Rio Olympics,” media reports said.
Keino, who also heads the national Olympic committee and met WADA officials on a recent visit to the United States, told reporters in Nairobi WADA feels Kenya had failed to act on allegations of widespread doping in the country.
Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto in September announced plans to criminalise doping, after two of the east African nation’s athletes were banned after positive tests during the Beijing world athletics championships. — AFP.
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