OK, we are going to leave the live blog there for now. Here are some of the main findings today:
- Russia should be banned from athletics competition
- Pound described what has happened as “state-supported doping”
- Vitaly Mutko, the Russian sports minister, issued direct orders to “manipulate particular samples,” according to the commission.
- Wada says London 2012 were “sabotaged” by the “widespread inaction” against Russian athletes with suspicious doping profiles
- Sebastian Coe has taken the urgent step of seeking approval to consider sanctions against the ARAF
- Wada recommend that Moscow’s anti-doping lab should lose its accreditation. It accused the lab of the “intentional destruction” of 1417 samples
Here is the news story in full:
Updated
More from Pound.
The IOC is not going to sell out the athletes that need protecting.
Russia responds
The acting head of RusAthletics, Vadim Zelechenok, has told R-Sport channel the following:
Any suspension should be discussed at the meeting of the IAAF [International Association of Athletics Federations] in November .It should be proven that any violations were the fault of the federation and not individual sportspeople. We should be given a chance to clear our names.
The IAAF have released a statement in response to today’s news in which they say they will “consider sanctions against the Russian Athletics Federation”. Here is the statement in full:
In response to WADA’s Independent Commission report issued today, the IAAF President, Sebastian Coe, has taken the urgent step of seeking approval from his fellow IAAF Council Members to consider sanctions against the Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF). These sanctions could include provisional and full suspension and the removal of future IAAF events.
Commenting on the report, the IAAF President said: “The information in WADA’s Independent Commissions Report is alarming. We need time to properly digest and understand the detailed findings included in the report. However, I have urged the Council to start the process of considering sanctions against ARAF. This step has not been taken lightly. Our athletes, partners and fans have my total assurance that where there are failures in our governance or our anti-doping programmes we will fix them. We will do whatever it takes to protect the clean athletes and rebuild trust in our sport. The IAAF will continue to offer the police authorities our full co-operation into their ongoing investigation.
Seb Coe says he has urged the IAAF council "to start the process of considering sanctions" against Russian athletics federation.
— Owen Gibson (@owen_g) November 9, 2015
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Do Russia deserve to go ahead with the 2018 World Cup? “It’s not for us to extrapolate on other sports” says Pound. “Fifa has got to sort out its own difficulties.”
Some strong words from Pound:
The credibility of sport has taken some serious bodyblows over the last few months. The difficult for all of us is that it doesn’t stop there. The public view will move towards believing all sport is corrupt. If you can’t believe results then there is a serious credibility problem. I hope all sports will look at their governance and their anti-doping systems because their existence may be at risk.
Speaking of the Russian sports minister, it is worth remembering this:
Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko, criticised in Wada report into athletics doping, is a Fifa exec co member & World Cup 2018 organiser.
— David Conn (@david_conn) November 9, 2015
And here’s Alec Luhn on Vitaly Mutko, from earlier this year.
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The samples were destroyed in December 2014. All 1417 of them. Pound adds that they met the Russian minister of sport in Switzerland, “on neutral territory”.
Pound says this is the “tip of the iceberg”.
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More from Pound:
We don’t think Russia is the only country with a doping problem and athletics is not the only sport with a doping problem.
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More comprehensive updates from AP.
The man who spearheaded an investigation into doping in Russian track said the widespread rule-breaking is “worse than we thought.” While discussing the 300-plus-page report released Monday, Dick Pound said that, unlike corruption in other sports, the Russian doping scandal has actually affected results on the field of play. He was drawing a parallel to the Fifa scandal, in which top football executives have been accused of widespread corruption. The track scandal is different because, according to the report, track athletes have been allowed to compete even though authorities in their country knew they were cheating. The report said the London Olympics were more or less sabotaged because of this.
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Interpol has announced it is is to coordinate a global investigation led by France into an alleged international corruption scam involving sports officials as well as athletes suspected of a doping cover-up. Here is their full statement:
The announcement follows today’s publication of a report by an Independent Commission established by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigating a number of individuals, including former officials of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
The Independent Commission’s findings follow its investigation into doping allegations aired on German television in December 2014.
During its investigation the Independent Commission requested assistance from INTERPOL’s anti-doping unit to contact national law enforcement agencies in countries where potential infractions had been identified in order to share intelligence.
In this respect, INTERPOL facilitated the Independent Commission’s contact with French authorities who agreed to undertake an international inquiry into allegations including active and passive corruption, money laundering and criminal conspiracy.
They appointed the country’s national anti-corruption department of the central directorate of judicial police (Office central de lutte contre la corruption et les infractions financières et fiscales, OCLCIFF, Direction centrale de la police judiciaire, DCPJ) to launch the inquiry, headed by French investigative magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke.
As part of the inquiry, French police last week raided premises belonging to individuals and companies.
In the framework of Operation Augeas launched by INTERPOL, the world police body is now working with member countries potentially linked to the inquiry, including Singapore, to seek assistance in coordinating a global investigative network and support the criminal investigation on the basis of the intelligence gathered by the Independent Commission.
Depending on the progression and outcome of the investigation, and in collaboration with the relevant authorities, the Independent Commission expects to publish the full and final version of its report by the end of 2015.
In 2009 INTERPOL and WADA signed a cooperation agreement to provide a clear framework for cooperation between the two international bodies in tackling doping.
The call for INTERPOL’s involvement by the Independent Commission is part of joint efforts by both agencies to develop best practice and inter-agency cooperation at all levels, particularly in the areas of evidence gathering, information sharing and trafficking in doping.
Pound is pressed on whether or not this is “state-supported doping”. He agrees it is:
Yes I don’t see how you could call it anything else ... Our conclusion was this couldn’t happen without the knowledge or consent of state authorities. Even though they were not running sport, they could not not have known.
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Here is what the sports minister has to say about all this:
It is an extraordinarily dark day for athletics
— Tracey Crouch (@tracey_crouch) November 9, 2015
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Pound is asked if Sebastian Coe is the right man to lead the IAAF out of this crisis? “I think he is,” he replies. “I hope so,” he later adds, “his sport is at risk if he doesn’t.”
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Pound’s recommendation is that the Russian federation be suspended for Rio 2016.
One of our hopes is they will volunteer [to do that] so they can undertake the remedial work to allow Russian athletes to compete under a new framework.
If they don’t, and this plays out, the outcome maybe that there are no Russian track and field athletes in Rio. I hope they recognise it’s time to change and make those changes.
...
We’d like to see the IAAF suspend the Russian Federation ...
If they all do their job , no entries would be accepted in the Olympics from that nation, supported by the International Olympic Committee.
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Here is a comprehensive update of the press conference from Associated Press:
The Wada report says Moscow testing laboratory director Grigory Rodchenko ordered 1,417 doping control samples destroyed to deny evidence for the inquiry. The inquiry report says Rodchenko “personally instructed and authorized” the destruction of evidence three days before a Wada audit team arrived in Moscow last December. The Wada panel says it wanted to send the Russian athletes’ samples to labs in other countries to detect banned drugs and doping methods.
The report says Rodchenko’s action “obliterated forever the attempt to determine if there was any evidence of athletes having clean and dirty ‘A’ samples at the Moscow laboratory.” When the auditors arrived in Moscow, Rodchenko told them he decided to “do some clean up to prepare for Wada’s visit.” Rodchenkov, the report notes, “remained obstructive” throughout the investigation and refused to be recorded.
The Wada reports says agents from Russia’s intelligence service, the FSB, infiltrated anti-doping work at the Sochi Olympics. The report says “impartiality, judgment and integrity were compromised by the surveillance of the FSB within the laboratory.” One witness told the inquiry that “in Sochi, we had some guys pretending to be engineers in the lab but actually they were from the federal security service.” The inquiry says this was part of a wider pattern of “direct intimidation and interference by the Russian state with the Moscow laboratory operations.” Staff at the Moscow lab believed their offices were bugged by the FSB. An FSB agent, thought to be Evgeniy Blotkin or Blokhin, regularly visited. The report says lab director Grigory Rodchenkov was required to meet with Blotkin/Blokhin weekly to update him on the “mood of Wada”.
The commission looking into widespread doping in Russian athletics has recommended lifetime bans for five Russian middle-distance runners and five Russian coaches and administrators. The commission said that the London Olympics were more or less sabotaged by allowing Russian athletes to compete when they should have been suspended for doping violations. They blamed what they called an inexplicable laissez-faire attitude toward anti-doping by the IAAF and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency. The World Anti-Doping Agency sent the recommendations for the lifetime suspensions to the IAAF in August and made them public today with release of a 350-page report detailing the allegations.
The Wada commission says Russian Sports Ministry Vitaly Mutko issued direct orders to “manipulate particular samples.” Mutko denied wrongdoing to the Wada inquiry panel, including knowledge of athletes being blackmailed and FSB intelligence agents interfering in lab work. Mutko, who is also a Fifa executive committee member and leads the 2018 World Cup organizing committee, was interviewed by the Wada panel at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich on 22 September.
His ministry is cited in the report for asserting undue influence over the Moscow lab. Mutko did tell the Wada inquiry he was “disgusted with the whistleblowers” who made claims of corruption. The report says Mutko “does not believe their allegations and says they had no right to make the recordings and that such tapings are matters for the public prosecutors.”
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Pound described the findings as “disturbing” and says he disappointed by the nature and extent of all of this. “It’s worse than we thought,” he adds. He also calls for a “new start” for Russia.
Dick Pound: "It's pretty disturbing. It's worse than we thought. Unlike other forms of corruption it affected results on the field of play"
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) November 9, 2015
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Ian Prior has been reading through the report. Here is one aspect he has come across:
Wow. Russian govt was running a shadow lab to official Wada-recognised one, report says pic.twitter.com/TmkjGkX0At
— Ian Prior (@ianprior) November 9, 2015
It is worth noting the role of the Russian state within all of this:
"THERE WAS DIRECT INTIMIDATION & INTERFERENCE by the Russian state with the Moscow laboratory operations"
— Dan Roan (@danroan) November 9, 2015
Pound says they found “cover-ups, destruction of samples, payment of money to conceal doping tests.”
The independent commission has said that Wada should inform the IOC not to accept any entries from the Russian athletics federation until they comply with the Wada code.
Pound has some kind words for Hajo Seppelt and ARD:
Pound congratulates Hajo Seppelt/ARD on a "fine piece of investigative journalism" and the whistleblowers who stood up to be counted.
— Owen Gibson (@owen_g) November 9, 2015
The Independent Commission has identified “corruption and bribery practices at the highest levels of international athletics”.
Here is the link to the full report from Wada.
More from Pound:
As the investigation went on we discovered information that not only related to sport corruption in the general sense of it, but also to possible criminal actions as well. That has been turned over to Interpol for investigation and review ... There will be a decision by criminal authorities on whether they will be prosecutions and then we will be in a position to release the full report.
We’re back. Kind of. Here is what Pound has been saying in the mean time:
Investigations were conducted on limited timetable, in the interest of everyone.
The report was limited to athletics and Russia, says Pound ... and then the feed cuts out. Sorry. We’ll try get this up and running ASAP.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has recommended that the IAAF suspend Russia from competition and here is our take on that.
He gives a brief introduction and thanks to the investigation staff and the media.
Report identifies "CORRUPTION & BRIBERY WITHIN IAAF..at the highest levels of international athletics...evidence handed to Interpol"
— Dan Roan (@danroan) November 9, 2015
Pound is in place and the press conference is about to start. Let’s see what he has to say.
More breaking news:
Moscow lab chief Grigory Rodchenko admits to intentionally destroying 1,417 samples.
— Matt Majendie (@mattmajendie) November 9, 2015
The report is meant to be 325 pages long but certain portions of it will not be published today due to he ongoing criminal investigation.
Pound's committee has withheld most of the chapter on the IAAF in order not to compromise the ongoing criminal investigation.
— Owen Gibson (@owen_g) November 9, 2015
Here is the overall outcome of Pound’s report:
WADA report into doping - overall outcomes pic.twitter.com/a0FZcw1XlU
— Dan Roan (@danroan) November 9, 2015
More from the report:
Pound report into Russian doping finds "a deeply rooted culture of cheating...at all levels is widespread and of long standing".
— Owen Gibson (@owen_g) November 9, 2015
World Anti-Doping Agency commission says Moscow anti-doping lab should lose its accreditation, director be removed. @AP_Sports latest
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) November 9, 2015
Breaking news
The first piece of news emerging from the press conference is that the Wada commission is recommending that five athletes and five coaches be handed lifetime bans.
BREAKING: WADA doping commission says IAAF should suspend Russia from competition.
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) November 9, 2015
Updated
Wada have spoken. The report has been handed out to the reporters in the room and is now available on their website and the press conference will start in 10 minutes.
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The reporters are in place. The cameras are in place. It’s almost time.
Here is what the wires say about the breaking news regarding Lamine Diack:
Former IAAF president Lamine Diack is facing provisional suspension as an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee after French police revealed he is under investigation for allegedly receiving more than €1m to cover up doping.
The IOC ethics commission has announced it has recommended that Diack, who stepped down as IAAF president in August, be provisionally suspended.
The 82-year-old from Senegal is accused of being complicit in a cover-up of doping by Russian athletes. His son Papa Massata Diack, advisor Habib Cisse and the former IAAF anti-doping chief Gabriel Dolle are also being investigated by French police.
The announcement comes with athletics bracing itself for another dark day with the World Anti-Doping Agency due on Monday afternoon to publish its report into allegations of widespread doping among Russian athletes.
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Owen Gibson is in place at the press conference. Here is what he wrote beforehand about why the IAAF are braced for a hammer blow from Dick Pound’s report.
It was an appropriately shambolic end to an inglorious reign. When Lamine Diack bade farewell to 16 years as president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, he departed with a bitter, incoherent rant against the media in general and The Guardian in particular, and an insistence that athletics did not have a doping problem. His replacement, Sebastian Coe, meanwhile, sat alongside him and spoke of his “deep affection” and “great admiration” for Diack. He praised his predecessor’s “shrewd stewardship” and thanked him for his “unflinching support and wise counsel”, paying tribute to the man who would always be the “spiritual president”.
If Lord Coe’s fulsome tributes were explainable before his election by the need to stay ahead in a close race against his rival Sergey Bubka, after winning they could not help but now they appear ill-judged. It was hard not to bring those words to mind on Friday when the French prosecutor Elaine Houlette confirmed Diack’s son Papa Massata would have joined his father plus the IAAF’s former most senior doping official, Gabriel Dollé, and the IAAF legal adviser Habib Cissé in being arrested if he had set foot in France. With a nod to the still unfolding Fifa crisis, she concluded that sports federations “have become totally gangrenous with all this money”.
The defence of those within the sport battling against an unprecedented crisis has been that athletics has at least taken the doping threat seriously; that, faced with the horrors of the institutionalised doping of the eastern bloc in the 1970s and 1980s and the Ben Johnson and Balco scandals of the 1980s and 1990s, it had introduced blood passports and redoubled its efforts.
Sean Ingle reckons Pound’s investigation of doping among Russian athletes should be the catalyst for Coe to take tough action against drug cheats. Here is what he has to say:
Bribery. Corruption. Extortion. We will not know every cough and spit of Dick Pound’s independent report into systemic doping by Russian athletes until 3pm Swiss time on Monday but the grand themes and key players – including senior IAAF figures and a motley crew of Russian track and field athletes – are long established. So is the staggering fact that the report details “a whole different scale of corruption than the Fifa scandal or the IOC scandal in respect to Salt Lake City”, according to Richard McLaren, one of its co-authors.
What we do not yet know is how Sebastian Coe, the IAAF’s new president, will respond to Pound’s forensic dissection of his federation’s failings. But we can guess: solemn words; promises of change; perhaps a cosmetic gesture or two on a similar scale to cancelling the IAAF’s awards gala last week. It is the equivalent of a ship’s captain who faces a perfect storm yet hopes that by putting on a waterproof jacket everything will be all right.
But that will not be enough, not this time. Instead Coe urgently needs to perform a vigorous 180-degree turn. Where he has been defensive he needs to be open. Where he has made mistakes he needs to hold his hands up.
Times have changed and Coe needs to as well.
He could start with some mea culpas, including admitting he was wrong to lavish praise on Lamine Diack and say that journalists were “declaring war on his sport” when they published claims of suspicious blood values. They were trying their damnedest to expose cheats – something that we now suspect was not always the case with some IAAF figures.
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Some breaking news:
IOC Ethics Commission recommends provisional suspension of Mr Lamine Diack as Honorary Member of the IOC
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) November 9, 2015
Roger Black has been talking to Sky News about all this. Here is what he has to say:
Roger Black: Governing bodies there to defend innocent athletes - if this is true the very highest powers have been helping guilty athletes
— Paul Kelso (@pkelso) November 9, 2015
Black: Sebastian Coe says he never saw this coming, and if he's surprised everyone's surprised
— Paul Kelso (@pkelso) November 9, 2015
Black: This gives Coe an opportunity to bring in independent people and get a hold of the sport
— Paul Kelso (@pkelso) November 9, 2015
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Good afternoon
Welcome to our live blog of the publication of the 325-page review by Dick Pound into claims of systemic cheating and cover-ups within Russian athletics and the sport’s governing body, the IAAF. Pound has spent the last 11 months looking into these claims and the current head of the IAAF, Sebastian Coe, has said he is “bloody angry” over the resulting damage to athletics. To get us started, here is a quick timeline of the events leading up to this point:
3 December 2014: German documentary by ARD accuses Russia of funding a comprehensive “East German-style” doping programme for athletes that has been covered up at national and international levels.
10 December 2014: Guardian exclusive, questions for son of Lamine Diack, the president of the world governing body of athletics, who appeared to request a payment of $5m in the course of Doha’s failed bid to win the right to host the 2017 world championships, according to leaked emails.
11 December 2014: Papa Massata Diack, son of Lamine Diack, steps down from IAAF. He joins Valentin Balakhnichev, president of the Russian athletics federation and the IAAF’s treasurer.
11 December 2014: Dr Gabriel Dollé, IAAF’s director of medical and anti-doping department, leaves his post after being interviewed by the world governing body’s ethics commission.
16 December 2014: Announced that former Wada president Dick Pound would investigate Russia claims with three-man independent panel.
23 January: Russian athletics head coach offers to resign after doping revelations.
16 February: Diack says he is “shocked” and “disturbed” by athletics doping “crisis”.
21 April: Diack says Russia will not be banned from future Games following allegations of systematic doping.
2 August: Sunday Times and ARD reveal series of doping allegations after blood data leak from IAAF. Say a third of medals, including 55 golds, in endurance events at Olympics and world championships between 2001 and 2012 were won by athletes who recorded suspicious tests.
7 August: Liliya Shobukhova stripped of London marathon title over doping.
7 August: Wada announces that it will investigate ST and ARD doping claims.
9 August: Sunday Times alleges that seven London Marathon winners in 12 years are under doping suspicion.
4 August: Coe says allegations of doping and cover-ups were a “declaration of war”.
19 August 2015: Coe elected as IAAF president.
20 August: Diack insists 99% of athletes are clean.
4 November: Diack under investigation by French police for allegedly taking bribes to cover up doping.
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