ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — On Saturday, R-Sport agency obtained a copy of the letter sent by Head of the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) Travis Tygart to president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach in which he requested to remove Russian athletes from the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, prior to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report being published on July 18 in Toronto.
"The results can be very dire, the WADA may affect the IOC. No sport, no sponsors, no spectators will benefit from it. There is a war — sport is being used as part of the policy. Hope dies last. I do not know what is in the report, but there may be surprises…. It is evident that the scheme is designed, not all is "dumped" at once and but is [being release] step by step," Lebedeva said.
She added why Paralympic Games are now also raised as an issue.
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is due to take decision on the IAAF ban on Russian athletes' participation in international competitions on July 19.
