UK Anti-Doping Organization Head Calls for Russian Ban at 2018 Winter Olympics

UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) agency chief David Kenworthy said on Saturday that Russia should be banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korean Pyeongchang.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Kenworthy also said that Russian athletes should have been banned from the 2016 Summer Olympics.

"Yes, I think they [Russian team] should [be banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics]. I think they should have been banned from the Olympics in the summer. The International Paralympic Committee in my view got it right — they banned Russia. I think the IOC [International Olympic Committee] made a complete muck-up of it," Kenworthy was quoted as saying by the BBC news on Saturday.

He added that all that incident "was debasing all of sport."

"We're still getting denials of any wrongdoing and strange statements about whether it was state-sponsored or not — what we now need to do is get Russia back in the fold, and that is taking some considerable time and effort," Kenworthy said.

The doping scandal, simmering since 2014, escalated in July 2016 when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) presented a report accusing Russia of running a state-wide doping program and urging the IOC to consider a blanket ban on the entire Russian Olympic team. The IOC instead let individual sports federations act on the issue.

As a result, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) banned Russian athletes from taking part in international competitions including the 2016 Summer Olympics. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) later banned all Russian Paralympic athletes from the 2016 Summer Paralympics and the 2018 Winter Games.

On December 9, WADA independent commission headed by Richard McLaren issued the second part of the report on alleged Russian doping abuse, revealing manipulations by athletes in 30 sporting disciplines.

 

Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!