July 09, 2013 – There is evidence of systemic doping coming out of the Russian Federation, possibly involving complicity by Russian anti-doping authorities reports the UK-based Daily Mail. Athletes are apparently ordered to dope by coaches; protection money assures doping athletes of “clean results” from doping tests; and athletes who do not pay protection money may fail doping tests when they are clean.

Some 44 Russian athletes are currently serving doping bans and this problem is not new. These new allegations are raising doubts about the upcoming World Athletics Championships (Aug. 10-18) and the Sochi Olympics (February 2014) both being hosted by Russia.

According to the Daily Mail at the centre of the controversy is Grigory Rodchenkov, 54, laboratory director of the WADA-approved Russian Federal State Unitary Enterprise Anti-Doping Centre and his sister, Marina Rodchenkova. Rodchenkov was apparently  arrested in a criminal investigation regarding the sale of doping products, but then was mysteriously released without charges laid or explanations given.

Meanwhile Rodchenkova’s sister went to prison in 2012 for buying and possessing banned drugs, admitting  that she had intended to supply to athletes says the report.

Rodchenkova’s Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) lab is expected to test some 2,500 samples during the Sochi Games but under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

An unidentified IOC spokesperson remarked to The Mail that “anti-doping measures in Russia have improved significantly” in recent years with an effective, efficient and new [RUSADA] laboratory and equipment in Moscow.

Back in 2010, FIS President Gian Franco Kasper threatened to suspend Russian athletes from international competitions. Russian authorities responded by firing several cross-country skiing coaches and support staff who worked with those skiers caught using erythropoietin (EPO), a banned blood-booster.

Read the Daily Mail article here.