Exclusive - WADA Investigator Blasts IOC

(ATR) Richard McLaren tells Around the Rings he is frustrated by the IOC’s handling of the Russian doping scandal.

The Canadian lawyer’s bombshell reports released in July and November last year shook the Olympic Movement after shining a spotlight on the scale of doping in Russia.

IOC president Thomas Bach launched two commissions in July to investigate the WADA official’s findings and help determine sanctions for athletes and whether Russia should be banned from the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics.

Samuel Schmid’s team is probing the role of government ministers implicated in state-directed doping, while Denis Oswald’s panel is investigating allegations of doping manipulation at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Speaking exclusively to ATR at the WADA symposium in Lausanne, McLaren revealed his frustrations.

"I think they are trying to use the report for something that it was never intended to be used for and was not part of my mandate," he said.

"I was looking to see what was going on in the system, in labs and how they operated, not individuals and their guilt or responsibilities or doping violations," he said.

He has a clear message for the IOC.

"We will give whatever information we have and they can use it whatever way they want," he said.

"They can’t use the report in the way in which they are alleging it should be used and say it doesn’t serve their purposes. Well, it doesn’t serve their purposes. It wasn’t created by them, it was created by WADA for an entirely different purpose."

Asked if the IOC and WADA were too far apart on Russian doping issues and changes to global anti-doping efforts, he added: "I don’t know if it’s grown. But I would say they both need to do a better job of getting on with each other."

In his speech to the WADA conference, McLaren shed some light on the workings of his investigation.

He explained why he had believed in the testimony of Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenko, the former director of the Moscow anti-doping lab who first made allegations of sample manipulation at the Sochi Olympics to the New York Times.

"He was at risk if he didn’t tell the truth to myself or members of the team that he would lose his visa and be deported," he said of Rodchenkov who fled from Russia to the USA in 2015. "You can draw conclusions from what would happen there. That is a powerful incentive. I think he was truthful with us."

He said Rodchenkov’s claims of state-sponsored doping in Russia was corroborated by objective forensic analysis of doping sample bottles, which revealed clear signs of sample swapping and tampering.

McLaren responded to Russian criticism of his use of the phrase ‘state-sponsored doping’, which is regarded as something that reaches president Vladimir Putin and "his inner circle".

Meetings with Russian officials between July and November made him adjust the label, even though the "evidence I have" runs to the former deputy minister of sport and his ex-boss Vitaly Mutko. He maintained at the symposium, "use what label you like".

After the rush to complete his first report on Russian doping before the Rio Olympics, he added: "The facts in July only became more facts in November."

McLaren now prefers to use the terminology "institutional manipulation and cover-up" to cover Russia’s multitude of sins against WADA’s anti-doping code.

Earlier in the day, new sports minister Pavel Kolobkov issued Russia’s latest denial against state-directed doping but said his country was committed to WADA’s roadmap for reinstatement.

McLaren said Kolobkov had "advanced the ball" by saying "well we have some fault, we do have some doping systems to correct".

"I have dealt with the minister personally and expect to have further meetings."

In listing some lessons from his more than two years investigating Russian sport corruption, the WADA independent commission chair made a plea for more funding to finance such probes and called for more protection for whistleblowers.

Reported by Mark Bisson in Lausanne.

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