MOSCOW – With Russia facing a renewed ban from sending a
national team to the Olympics, the country's anti-doping chief said
there needs to be "deep reforms" of Russia's sports policies.
"It will probably take another generation," Russian Anti-Doping
Agency (RUSADA) director Yury Ganus told dpa. The athletes "are
hostages to mistakes for which sports officials in this country are
guilty," he said.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said last week that it would
decide on December 9 whether Russia should banned for four years from
international competition.
Russian athletes could be allowed to compete as individuals at next
year's Tokyo Summer Games and at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games,
without bearing their country's flag, as at last year's Pyeongchang
Winter Games.
"They should be allowed to compete under the neutral flag, as they
have done so far, so they will not pay for the mistakes of others,"
Ganus said.
Over the past half-decade, Russia has struggled with allegations of
widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs among top athletes.
WADA lifted RUSADA's suspension in September 2018 following a
three-year ban, on the condition that Russia hand over doping data
and samples from 2012 to 2015.
The data was found to have inconsistencies, indicating that it had
been tampered with.
"I've always said clearly that the data was manipulated, that there
were obvious violations," said Ganus, appointed head of RUSADA two
years ago. "The cases in question are from the years before my time."