Russia is one of six countries to be deemed “non-compliant” by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in the wake of a report that accused its athletics federation of running a state-sponsored doping program.
Along with Argentina, Ukraine and Bolivia it has been found guilty of using non-accredited laboratories to process its urine and blood sample analysis, WADA said in a statement on its website.
Andorra and Israel were found not to have adequate anti-doping rules in place while Brazil — host of the 2016 Olympics — is among six more countries to be put on WADA’s watch list.
Should it, Belgium, France, Greece, Mexico and Spain not meet WADA’s conditions by March next year, they could all be deemed “non-compliant.”
Kenya, the subject of a doping investigation by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), has been told to detail its doping controls or face sanctions.
Russia was accused of fostering a “deeply rooted culture of cheating at all levels” in an independent report carried out by the organization’s former president, Dick Pound.
It claimed more than 1,400 samples were “intentionally and maliciously” destroyed by a Moscow laboratory even after a WADA plea to preserve them.
Athletes were often given notice of out-of-competition tests, used false identities and frequently bribed doping control officers to get around other tests.
Pound’s report also stated the London 2012 Olympics — in which Russia won 24 gold medals — were “in a sense, sabotaged by the admission of athletes who should have not been competing.”
It led to Russia’s provisional suspension from competition by the IAAF which could see its track and field athletes banned from the 2016 Olympics.
Russia’s sports minister Vitaly Mutko said the country would work with the IAAF and WADA to prove it was clean.
WADA president Craig Reedie said after the meeting of the organization’s foundation board in Colorado Springs that work had begun on Russia’s “road to recovery.”
“The world is watching and we have acted,” he said. “We will conduct the necessary meetings with the Russian authorities in respect of the non-compliance status of (Russian anti-doping agency) RUSADA that tests athletes in all sports within Russia.
“A WADA expert team will then meet with the task of ensuring the continuation of testing in Russia. Any information brought forward to me as a result will allow me to make a considered decision on whether or not to extend the Independent Commission’s mandate.”
WADA also resolved to improve its whistle-blowing protocols to “encourage, and offer greater protection to, anonymous sources that may be willing to come forward with valuable information.”