MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, an investigation commissioned by WADA said in a report that Russia had been running a state-sponsored doping scheme for years. In addition, the report concluded that the caps of bottles containing urine samples of the Russian athletes participating in the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014 were then removed and reused.
"The institutionalised and systematic doping in Russian athletics is the reason the IAAF suspended, and then upheld the suspension of, RusAF’s membership and consequently the exclusion of their athletes from international competition," IAAF President Sebastian Coe said, as quoted by the press service.
In May, US media reported, citing former director of the Russia-based anti-doping laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov, that dozens of Russian athletes at the Sochi Olympics, including at least 15 medal winners, were using doping throughout the Games as part of a "state-run program." World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has launched a probe into the claims under the lead of Canadian law professor Richard McLaren who has already investigated reports of Russian athletes using doping.
In November 2015, the WADA Independent Commission presented a report accusing Russia of numerous breaches of global anti-doping regulations and recommended the country be banned from international athletics competitions. Subsequently, the IAAF temporary suspended the ARAF's membership of the association. The Russian authorities have promised to carry out a clean-up program to fulfill the WADA demands in order for the country's athletes to be allowed to participate in the 2016 Olympics.
