WADA claim Russia obstructing testers as report looms

The World Anti-Doping Agency appeared to hammer another nail into the coffin of Russian track and field athletes' hopes of competing in the Olympics on Wednesday by detailing numerous violations of its rules when it tried to take samples in the country - including its testers being obstructed and intimidated by Russian security services and officials.

In a report published two days before the IAAF decides on whether to readmit Russia’s track and field team to international competition in time for the Rio Olympics Wada also revealed that packages containing samples had been tampered with by Russian customs services and that a number of athletes had provided false information on their whereabouts and avoided drugs testers at competitions.

The report, entitled Play True - Update on the Status of Russia Testing, revealed that 736 tests required from Russian athletes were declined or cancelled from November 2015 to earlier this month. There were also 52 positive tests and 111 whereabouts failures over the same period.

In one particularly damning example the report explains how a Russian track and field athlete tried to tamper with sample collection procedures - first by using a container of clean urine inserted inside her body and, when that spilled, by attempting to bribe the doping control officer (DCO) collecting the sample.

As the report notes: “When she tried to use the container it leaked on to the floor and not into the collection vessel. The athlete threw the container into the trash which was retrieved by the DCO. The athlete also tried to bribe the DCO. Eventually the athlete provided a sample which subsequently returned an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF).”

Another track and field athlete was “observed running away from notification area/mixed zone after competing and prior to chaperone attempting notification”, while on other occasions when DCOs were present, athletes decided not to complete their events or withdrew from start lists.

The report also says that Wada’s officers were intimidated and that armed FSB security agents threatened their testers with expulsion from the country. It also found that in a number of cases “sample transportation packages had been opened by Russian customs”.

Wada also said it received reports that a “laboratory with centrifuge and other analytical equipment” was used by athletes during a Russian national wrestling championship.

The information in the reports, which was collated in partnership with United Kingdom Anti-Doping had been shared with the IAAF's Anti-Doping Task Force which will report to the IAAF president, Sebastian Coe, and the IAAF council on Friday in Vienna before a vote is taken on Russia's participation in the track and field programme.

Guardian services