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Following a yearlong battle fighting drug use in athletics, Russia faces a ban from international athletics – including the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, after a WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) commission report alleged widespread corruption which added up to a state-sponsored drugs culture in the sporting superpower, reported CNN.
The commission, set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), found a "deeply rooted culture of cheating" in Russian athletics, and has also cast the global governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in bad light.
The report, which showed evidence of systematic cheating in Russia with the consent of the government in Moscow, noted that drug tests for athletes were conducted at a Russian laboratory which they avered ‘lacked credibility.’
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said there was no evidence for the accusations against the Russian Athletics Federation, and that the samples had been destroyed at WADA's request.
When asked if the doping was state sponsored, former IAAF President Richard Pound, who heads the committee, said "In the sense of consenting to it, there's no other conclusion."
Pound said that he hopes that all sports will have to look at their anti-doping systems and help in making international sport better, "I hope all sports will look at their governance and their anti-doping systems because their existence may be at risk," he told a news conference. "Public opinion is going to move towards the view that all sport is corrupt."
WADA officials are due to meet in Colorado next week to discuss the future of Russia in athletics. Coe has given Russia time till Friday, the 13th of November, to disprove the claims which have been lodged on them and the Russian government has called the scandal an attempt at character assassination.
"I want an explanation," Coe said on a conference call. "I am completely shocked by the allegations."
"My instinct remains to encourage engagement not isolation, but the extent of what's being said, I need to seek (IAAF) council support to have them (Russia) report back by the end of the week," Coe went on to add.
