Second part of McLaren's list. "A unique scheme of deception": the main thing from the McLaren report. Russia's official reaction to the McLaren report

Canadian expert Richard McLaren denied reports that he dropped his charges of creating a state doping system in Russia. This was announced on Tuesday, September 5, by the SID agency, citing a statement released by the office of the Canadian, who headed the WADA independent commission for the Russian Federation.

"Professor McLaren is unambiguously adhering to the results of his research. He is surprised by recent reports that suggest otherwise," the document says. Richard McLaren's statement was made public in response to the words of the head of the Independent Public Anti-Doping Commission (PLA), Vitaly Smirnov, who said a day earlier: "I met with McLaren. As a result, McLaren said that he had dropped his charges of state interference."

Smirnov tried to persuade McLaren

The Canadian specialist explained that at their last meeting in October 2016, Smirnov urged him to abandon the wording about "state participation" in the creation of a doping system in the Russian Federation. Vitaly Smirnov, McLaren notes, argued that in Russia the word "state" always refers to the highest political level, and the evidence in the report of the WADA independent commission concerns only the level of the sports ministry. As a result, Richard McLaren corrected the wording and in the second part of his report accuses Russia of "institutionalized systematic evasion from the doping control system."

Context

"Professor McLaren explained this change when publishing his second report in December 2016 and stressed that the facts and conclusions in the report remained unchanged," the Canadian specialist's office said in a press release.

At the moment, a special commission at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is examining the evidence cited in the reports of Richard McLaren. According to the head of the IOC Thomas Bach (Thomas Bach), by October it is planned for the use of doping at the Sochi Olympics.

See also:

• "Dirty" victory in Sochi?

  15 Russian athletes who won medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi were doped during the competition. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, spoke about this in an interview with The New York Times. According to him, a state doping program was developed in the Russian Federation, approved at the highest level, to win the overall medal standings of the Games.



Winter doping: was the victory in Sochi "dirty"?

Deception mechanism

In total, dozens of Russian athletes were included in the "doping program". According to Rodchenkov, they were taking a "cocktail" of three anabolic steroids mixed with alcohol. Men - with Chivas whiskey, women - with Martini Vermouth. So the doping was absorbed into the blood faster, and the detection window was reduced. "Dirty" doping tests were secretly substituted for "clean" ones with the participation of officers of the Russian special services.



Winter doping: was the victory in Sochi "dirty"?

The names of the "heroes": skier, ...

So far, The New York Times has named the names of only three "heroes" of the new doping scandal according to Rodchenkov. Among them, for example, skier Alexander Legkov, who won gold in the 50 km race in Sochi.



Winter doping: was the victory in Sochi "dirty"?

… Skeletonist,….

Another winner of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, skeleton athlete Alexander Tretyakov, was also, according to Rodchenkov, among those who took doping during the competition.



Winter doping: was the victory in Sochi "dirty"?

... and two veteran bobsledders

The NYT article refers to "two veteran bobsledders to win two golds." The name of one of them, Alexander Zubkov, is mentioned directly. It is not difficult to establish the name of the second. Probably, this is Alexey Voevoda, Zubkov's partner in bobsleigh "two" and "four". Together they won the Games in Sochi in both disciplines (two more teammates helped them in the “fours” competition).



Winter doping: was the victory in Sochi "dirty"?

Hockey players - no medals, but doping?

Not all athletes from the "doping program" were able to bring Russia medals at the Games in Sochi. For example, the Russian women's ice hockey team, which allegedly also hosted Rodchenkov's "cocktail", took only sixth place.



Winter doping: was the victory in Sochi "dirty"?

Skiers again

Games triumphant Alexander Legkov was not the only Russian skier to be doped during the 2014 competition in Sochi. Rodchenkov claims that 14 members of the Russian ski team resorted to using illegal drugs. However, so far the names of the rest of the "dirty" skiers have not been made public.

The report of the independent expert of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Richard McLaren on doping in Russia does not contain concrete evidence of accusations against our country and therefore requires a much more detailed study. This is stated in an open letter from the Director General of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Christophe de Kepper.

What McLaren is infamous for is hardly worth reminding. It is from his hard hands that our athletes suffer from unfounded accusations of violating anti-doping laws, many of them cannot get to competitions because of this, and large international tournaments are being taken away from Russia. The Canadian law professor shamelessly announced the existence of a doping system in our country, without bothering to present any evidence. His report was published in two parts and for a long time remained a guide to action for those who wanted to annoy as many Russian athletes as possible. However, it seems that WADA has now realized that blindly following the course set by McLaren would discredit them.

“At a recent meeting in Lausanne organized for international sports federations to clarify how to analyze and interpret the McLaren report, WADA acknowledged that in many cases there is not enough evidence to start a case,” de Kepper said in a letter. “WADA also clarified that translations of the report materials were inaccurate and requested detailed transcripts of some of the texts. "

The IOC, in turn, organized two commissions to study the materials in the report. The first, chaired by IOC member Denis Oswald, will check for evidence against specific Russian athletes suspected of anti-doping rule violations. The second commission, examining the situation with doping manipulations, was formed even before the McLaren report, and is chaired by former Swiss President Samuel Schmid. After the accusations against Russia appear, this commission will have to find out what McLaren meant by the "state doping system" and understand whether any Russian organizations were in fact involved in illegal manipulation, or if this is nothing more than the Canadian's fantasies.

In light of McLaren's special attention to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, doping tests of all Russians who played at home games will be rechecked. De Kepper noted that samples of 28 athletes who have come under suspicion of doping are already being studied. Although, as practice has shown, any of our athletes can appear on the McLaren lists. More than once or twice, as if from the ceiling, the names of the athletes were called, which were allegedly mentioned in the report, but in reality no one has seen these lists and is unlikely to see them. So, because of the mythical lists last year, Russian athletes were left without the Paralympics.

Richard McLaren

Richard McLaren Was born in 1945 in Canada. Canadian lawyer, head of the WADA Commission to Investigate Allegations of Doping Fraud at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. The author of the scandalous so-called. the McLaren report, in which the blame for the use of doping was attributed to the state authorities of Russia.

Richard McLaren was born in 1945 in Canada.

In 1971, he received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Ontario, in 1972 he became a Master of Laws from the University of London.

In 1974 he began his career as a lawyer. He was a lawyer at a law firm in London, Ontario, professor of law and acting dean of the University of Western Ontario, in 1979-1982 - deputy dean.

For many years he has been a member of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne (Switzerland). He was a member of the CAS Special Unit at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano (Japan), at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin (Italy), at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, at the Summer Olympics in 2004 in Athens (Greece) and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing (China) and the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in England in 2002.

He is the founder of ADRsportRed, which later became the Sports Dispute Resolution Center in Canada (SDRCC). He drafted the Code of Arbitration for Sport and served as chief arbiter from 2003-2006.

Was an arbiter in a wage dispute between the National Hockey League and the NHL Players' Association. He was appointed chairman of the International Independent Doping Investigation Commission to investigate allegations against certain American athletes (The report was published in July 2001) and served for six years (until 2006) as chairman of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Anti-Doping Tribunal.

In 2006, he served with Senator George John Mitchell on the Major League Baseball Doping Commission. A report released by his panel in December 2007 found that at least 89 players had used steroids and other doping drugs.

In 2006 he took part in the disqualification of American athlete Justin Gatlin.

He is a member of the International Cricket Council's Anti-Doping Panel of Experts based in Dubai and is President of the Doping Tribunal for the Professional Golfers Association's European Tour.

In 2011, he was appointed President of the Basketball Arbitration Tribunal in Geneva (Switzerland) by the International Basketball Federation.

In December 2014, he was appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to head a commission to investigate allegations of widespread, systematic use and cover-up of doping in Russia.

McLaren Report

Background:

In December 2014, a film about doping was released on the German TV channel ARD, in which a Russian athlete (at that time - Rusanova) spoke about the swapping of doping samples in Russian athletics, and Lilia Shobukhova - about how she bribed ARAF functionaries to participate in Olympic Games despite violations in the anti-doping blood passport.

In November 2015, WADA accused Rodchenkov of destroying over 1,400 doping samples three days before the test, despite receiving a letter requesting WADA to keep all samples. At the same time, the standard storage period for the samples had expired and, according to the Russian side, the WADA requirement was not binding.

In January 2016, Rodchenkov left for the United States. Soon after Rodchenkov's departure, two people who had previously been members of the RUSADA leadership suddenly died: Vyacheslav Sinev (February 3, 2016) and Nikita Kamaev (February 15, 2016). Their deaths have been called "mysterious" and "strange" by a number of media outlets. Subsequently, Rodchenkov said that on the eve of his departure he had received a warning about the threat to his life.

On May 12, 2016, the American newspaper The New York Times published an article entitled “Russian Insider Says State-Run Doping Fueled Olympic Gold”, based on an interview with the former director of the anti-doping laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov to reporters Rebecca Ruis and Michael Skvorts. According to this article, Rodchenkov announced the existence of a state doping program in Russia. According to Rodchenkov, as part of this program, he participated in swapping about 100 B urine samples from Russian athletes during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. In his interview, Rodchenkov also said that he had developed a cocktail of three anabolic steroids, which, on his recommendation, was taken by many athletes, including those who participated in the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

On May 19, 2016, WADA announced that Professor Richard McLaren, a Canadian sports lawyer, had been invited as an independent person to lead a team to investigate the charges against Grigory Rodchenkov.

To verify Rodchenkov's testimony, WADA randomly selected 11 containers of urine from Russian athletes out of 95 listed for sample swapping and deposited in Lausanne (Russia refused to provide access to the samples stored in the Moscow laboratory). All 11 samples were found to have scratches on the inside of the lid, indicating "a possible change of urine." The examination was carried out by a forensic microdamage expert. To correctly establish the autopsy, he examined "ordinary" unopened test tubes taken as a sample, and did not find scratches, and was also able to open such a test tube with a similar pattern of scratches. According to the conclusion, the scratches on the Russian samples were “invisible to the untrained eye, but clearly visible under a microscope” (this is stated in the first part of the report).

In addition, similar results (scratches on the inside of the cap) were obtained for the 26 tubes mentioned in the swap list and deposited in London. At the same time, the samples of three Russian athletes contained other people's tests (they contained DNA of other people), which coincided with Rodchenkov's testimony about the substitution of urine of some athletes for "alien" samples, according to the first part of the report.

The second part contains more extensive results of examinations (over 100 containers with scratches), as well as an analysis of "foreign" DNA and "physiologically impossible" salt concentrations (which confirmed Rodchenkov's words about the addition of salts). "Impossible salt concentrations" were recorded, in particular, among the holders of 4 gold medals at the Games in Sochi.

McLaren Report

The main purpose of the investigation was to test the assumptions about the support of the "doping system" at the state level, and not the facts of the use of doping by specific athletes. On the basis of Rodchenkov's correspondence and interviews with witnesses, it was concluded that the decisions about which athletes to "save" and which not were made at the Russian Ministry of Sports. At the same time, the participants understood that it would be difficult to hide it, and called for a reduction in the scale of falsifications.

Among the witnesses named were Grigory Rodchenkov, a former employee of RUSADA Vitaly Stepanov, a former athlete Yulia Stepanova. Other witnesses were not named for security reasons, although they "provided very strong cross-sectional evidence."

Grigory Rodchenkov's information was confirmed in many large and small details, including on the basis of documents, expert examination data and testimonies of other witnesses. For example, according to Rodchenkov, FSB officers learned to open bottles in 2013, and before that fake reports were entered into databases, but the urine in the bottles remained "dirty". This made it possible to recheck the "B" samples of the participants in the London 2012 Olympic Games and to deprive a number of Russians of medals after they were found in doping samples. McLaren concluded that Rodchenkov was a reliable source of information.

At the same time, the main evidence of large-scale falsifications is not the testimony of witnesses, but reproducible examinations, the second part of the report emphasizes. “Substitution of urine samples of Russian athletes in Sochi received additional confirmation; in addition, it is established that it did not end with the Winter Olympics. The swap technique, honed in Sochi, has become a regular, monthly practice in the Moscow laboratory for summer sports as well. This is confirmed by further analysis of DNA and salt composition of the samples, ”says the second part of the report.

Conclusions of the McLaren report:

1. A large-scale system of manipulation of doping samples has been created in Russia. Over a thousand Russian athletes were directly involved in or benefited from fraud. Among them - 12 medalists of the Olympic Games in Sochi.

2. The Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory used a sure-fire way to avoid doping disqualification, despite the fact that the samples were collected by international doping officers. More than 500 fake sample reports were submitted by the Moscow laboratory to the WADA electronic system.

3. The Sochi Anti-Doping Laboratory also used a special urine sample swapping methodology that allowed doping Russian athletes to participate in the Games. In the Sochi laboratory, the change was carried out at night through a special hole in the wall to hide it from the foreign observers present in the laboratory. The sample swapping process was supervised by an FSB officer working under the guise of a maintenance engineer at the Bilfinger service company.

4. The Ministry of Sports directed the manipulation of the test results with the active participation and assistance of the FSB, the Center for Sports Training of Russian National Teams and laboratories in Moscow and Sochi.

5. The names of the athletes are not disclosed in the report, they are mentioned by numbers. Their lists have been submitted to international sports federations for detailed verification. But the correspondence between the numbers and some athletes can be determined by logical calculation.

According to McLaren, “the system included the Ministry of Sports, the laboratory, the Sports Training Center, RUSADA and the FSB. There are too many organizations and cogs in the mechanism to say that all abuse is the work of one person or even several people. The system was organized at the level of departments, including the FSB, and not at the level of specific characters. "

In the second part of the report, it is argued that for several months since the release of the first part, its conclusions have not been reasonably challenged by anyone, including in the claims filed by Russia.

Consequences of the McLaren report:

In 2016, several national anti-doping agencies called for a ban on Russian athletes from participating in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The demand to remove Russians from the upcoming Olympics was signed by the national anti-doping organizations of the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, as well as the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations (INADO). A corresponding letter was sent to IOC President Thomas Bach.

The IOC Executive Board, by its decision of July 19, 2016, revoked the accreditation at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro of the Minister of Sports of Russia V.L. Mutko and some other employees of the Ministry of Sports, and also disqualified the athletes of the Russian national team.

On August 7, 2016, the Executive Committee of the International Paralympic Committee decided to suspend the membership of the Russian Paralympic Committee in the organization. The consequence of this decision was the impossibility of participation of the Russian Paralympic team in the XV Paralympic Summer Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. The RPC filed appeals with the International Sports Arbitration, the Swiss Court and the German State Court, but all applications were rejected.

On December 9, WADA released 1166 documents used in the McLaren investigation to the public on the Internet.

On December 13, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation decided to postpone the 2017 World Bobsleigh Championship from Russian Sochi, and on December 22, under pressure from foreign athletes and officials, the Russian Biathlon Union decided to abandon the 8th stage of the Biathlon World Cup in Tyumen and the World Championship among youth and juniors in Ostrava.

By the end of 2016, 27 Russian athletes had been punished, and disciplinary cases had been initiated against 28 more. In accordance with the procedure, by mid-February 2017, several medals were returned to the IOC.

After the transfer of all documents to anti-doping organizations was submitted in May 2017, WADA received decisions of international sports federations on 96 athletes. In 95 cases, anti-doping investigations were terminated for lack of evidence, and WADA supported these decisions. The names of the athletes were not named (in the report they are mentioned under conditional numbers). Agency Director General Oliver Niggli stressed that the purpose of the McLaren report was to identify a system for circumventing anti-doping controls, not individual cases of violations.

By November 29, Russia, on doping grounds, had lost 13 medals at the Sochi Olympics, moving to fourth place in the medal standings. A number of athletes have been banned from international competitions for life.

On July 19, 2016, the IOC Executive Board on the basis of Art. 59 Olympic Charter formed two disciplinary commissions under the leadership of Samuel Schmid (to check the facts about government interference in the anti-doping system, as set out in the McLaren report) and Denis Oswald (to check the use of doping by athletes).

On December 2, 2017, the Samuel Schmid Commission submitted a report on the use of doping in Russia to the IOC Executive Board. In view of the revealed "systematic manipulation of the anti-doping rules and the anti-doping system in Russia during the Olympic Games in Sochi using the methodology of the disappearance of positive samples" On December 5, 2017, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee from participation in the 2018 Olympic Games.

Russia's official reaction to the McLaren report:

The Russian President announced on July 18 that the officials mentioned in the report would be suspended from work. Putin also called Grigory Rodchenkov, whose information initiated the investigation, "a man of scandalous reputation." Later, he explained that Rodchenkov had “mental problems” and “works under the control of the American special services. What are they doing with him there? What drugs do they give him so that he says what is needed? This is ridiculous".

In October 2016, Putin said: “We see a significant politicization of this area, and sometimes a prejudice against our athletes. But we must admit that we ourselves gave a reason for this, we ourselves made a number of mistakes and miscalculations in this most important and very sensitive area. "

Later, the President of the Russian Federation announced: “we are creating a new system for combating doping, we are transferring this system from the Ministry of Sports, from the Government, to an independent organization, as it is done in many countries of the world, to the site of Moscow State University, and not figuratively, but In the literal sense of the word. We will locate the laboratory exactly on one of the sites of Moscow State University, we will help to equip it with modern technology, equipment and personnel. I hope that there will be no swindlers who organize doping programs themselves and then flee abroad. I hope that with the help of both our independent specialists and with the help of foreign specialists involved, a strict, efficient and effective anti-doping system will be established. "

The Ministry of Education and Science has prepared a draft resolution of the government of the Russian Federation, which, in the charter of Moscow State University, will secure the right of Moscow State University to organize the work of the National Anti-Doping Laboratory (NADL). Rector of Moscow State University Viktor Sadovnichy said that the reconstruction of the building, which will house the new anti-doping laboratory at the university, will take place in a short time and will be completed in about a year. The anti-doping laboratory will be located in a building near the main building of Moscow State University. In August 2017, the Russian government officially created an anti-doping laboratory at the Moscow State University.

On the initiative of the President of the Russian Federation, a new, “independent public anti-doping commission” was created in the Russian Olympic Committee with the aim of “eradicating doping from Russian sport” and “restoring trust” of international organizations and Russian fans. Its chairman, Vitaly Smirnov, said that "there was, is not, and never will be government support for doping in Russia" and promised to "study and respond to McLaren's report."

In September 2017, Vitaly Smirnov said that McLaren had "dropped his charges of state interference." McLaren denied this claim.

The State Duma Sports Committee has created an expert commission to analyze the documents of Richard McLaren. The head of the committee, Mikhail Degtyarev, said that "this criminal group (McLaren) worked in the interests, including of foreigners, from Russian" clean "athletes made" dirty "ones in the interests of foreigners", and promised to publish his own report based on the analysis of documents posted McLaren on the Internet.

FSB representatives did not comment on the accusations against their department in any way.

In December 2017, at a government meeting, the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation stressed that Russia cannot and will not admit openly false accusations of the existence of a state system for the use of doping in sports: “We are still being demanded to be recognized in some programs. This will never happen. We cannot and will not accept false conclusions. ”