Canadian law professor Richard McLaren, former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission investigating the Russian government’s allegations of doping fraud at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, spoke out against the current exclusion of athletes from Russia and the United States. Belarus to participate in international competitions. Excerpts from an interview with a lawyer from Sportschau, the sports editor of the German public law television channel ARD, published on its website on Sunday, August 14th.
“The way with them (athletes. – Red.) are being treated unfairly,” says McLaren.
The Canadian criticized the fact that athletes are called to be responsible for the policy of their countries: “Athletes were not the initiators of this conflict and are not responsible for its course. These are two good reasons to allow them to participate. again”.
McLaren did not rule out athletes’ appeal to sports arbitration
Richard McLaren expects a number of Russian and Belarusian athletes to apply to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to defend their right to compete. “If the CAS decides in favor of the athletes, the federations will be obliged to allow them to compete again”, he underlined. The lawyer declined to make a prediction about the chances of Russians and Belarusians in court, adding that the decisions on their cases could be any.
McLaren report
After the Sochi Olympics, Richard McLaren was appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency to head an independent commission to investigate doping in Russian sports. In 2016, two parts of the report were published. The report stated that more than 1,000 athletes were involved in the manipulation of doping samples at various tournaments in 30 sports. In addition, McLaren said that in Russia there was a state system that manipulated doping samples and covered athletes. Later, McLaren also spoke about the use of doping in Russian football. After the release of the report, Russian athletes and Paralympic athletes were denied access to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
After the start of the Russian war in Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that world sports federations withdraw Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions. Almost all federations followed the recommendations.
Source: DW
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