The London Olympics were "more or less sabotaged" by Russian athletes who should have been banned for doping, a report finds.
01:32, UK,
Tuesday 10
November 2015
Russia is facing a world athletics ban after a report revealed "state-supported" doping.
The report, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA), claims the London Olympics were "more or less sabotaged" by
Russian athletes who should have been banned for doping.It accuses the Russian government of complicity in widespread drugs cheating and attempts to cover it up.
One of the recommends is for Russia to be suspended from athletics - possibly including next year's Rio Olympics.
The new president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Lord Coe, told Sky News it was "possible" he could impose a ban at a meeting on Friday.
The 350-page report describes an "inexplicable laissez-faire" attitude to drug cheats from the Russian Anti-Doping Agency and the IAAF under previous president Lamine Diack, who is the subject of a criminal investigation.
The commission behind the report has recommended lifetime bans for five Russian middle-distance runners - including gold and bronze-medal winners in the 2012 Olympics 800m - and five Russian coaches and administrators.
Report chairman Dick Pound said it was "not possible" that Russia's sports minister Vitaly Mutko - also a FIFA executive committee member - was unaware of what went on.
The report calls for a Moscow laboratory at the centre of the allegations to be stripped of its accreditation, and for its director Grigory Rodchenkov to be fired, saying he was key to a "conspiracy to extort money from athletes in order to cover up positive doping test results".
The report says Russia's intelligence service, the FSB, infiltrated anti-doping work during the Sochi Games - part of a wider pattern of "direct intimidation and interference by the Russian state".
As the findings emerged, global police body Interpol said it would co-ordinate a global investigation into corruption and doping in athletics.
Mr Mutko, the Russian sports minister, claimed "we have the same percentage (of cheats) as other countries".
And in a later statement, the sports ministry said: "(The) recommendations will help Russia to improve the anti-doping system in the near future.
Russia came fourth in the London 2012 medal table with 82 medals in total - 24 of them gold.
Marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe told Sky News athletes should be given lie detector tests and have their homes searched on top of drug tests.
But she believes Lord Coe is the right man to clean up athletics.
"I'm heartened that it has come to light and Russia hasn't got away with it," she said.
"But I believe we have the right person now to clean this up."
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