NEWSWATCH: “Bar Russia from the Rio Olympics” – Washington Post

At the Winter Olympics in Sochi … no Russian athletes tested positive for doping, and to much celebration they took home 33 medals, more than any other nation. … behind the scenes, a system was in place that concealed the use of performance-enhancing drugs by … Russian athletes. … doping and coverups have been carried out by Russia across a range of international competitions from late 2011 to 2015, according to the report made public Monday by the World Anti-Doping Agency and led by Canadian law professor Richard H. McLaren. The International Olympic Committee said Tuesday it is studying the legal options for a collective ban of Russia from the 2016 Rio Games and taking other measures. … the cheating … more than justifies barring Russia from the Games.

An earlier investigation of Russia by WADA uncovered doping in track and field, primarily directed by senior coaching officials. …The probe by … McLaren, based on interviews, forensic investigation and thousands of pages of documents, went far deeper and established Russian doping and coverups before and after Sochi …. McLaren concluded it was the Russian government that oversaw and directed the ‘entirety’ of the falsification of test results. … the report describes how this ‘systematic scheme’ of cheating — in which positive results were made to ‘disappear’ — was modified to remain secret at Sochi.

Click here for Washington Post: “Bar Russia from the Rio Olympics”