WADA to Publish McLaren Report -- Monday Memo

(ATR) The World Anti-Doping Agency will release its highly-anticipated McLaren report on Monday, July 18.

The report could likely fan the flames of the rapidly spreading Russian doping scandal first made public by German documentary maker Hajo Seppelt in October 2015. The documentary led to an Independent Commission report by WADA released in Nov. that found evidence of state-sponsored doping programs within the country’s athletics federation ARAF.

The report led to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) suspending ARAF indefinitely until it could meet certain reinstatement requirements. Those requirements have not been met in time for Russia’s track and field program to be reinstated in time for the Rio 2016 Olympics this Aug.

In May, former Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) director Grigory Rodchenkov told the New York Times in an exclusive interview that he facilitated a massive doping cover-up at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics where he would swap tainted urine samples with clean samples taken before the athlete’s doping regimen began.

The McLaren report on Monday will reveal the details of the investigation into Rodchenkov’s claims of the doping program at Sochi 2014.

The report could implicate other national federations in Russia in the doping scandal, particularly the athletes of the winter sports federations whom Rodchenkov alleges took ‘steroid cocktails’.

CAS to Rule on Russian Appeals

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is expected to make its decision regarding the appeals of numerous Russian athletes who have been suspended from the Rio 2016 Olympics on Thursday, July 21.

Sixty-eight Russian athletes filed an appeal to CAS arguing that a country-wide ban on its track and field athletes is not within the IAAF’s authority. The athletes say they are being punished despite competing without doping and that they should be eligible to race at the Rio Games next month.

Although the IAAF created a loophole for Russian athletes who could prove they had distanced themselves from ARAF and the country’s tainted doping programs to compete in Rio, the federation only accepted one of the 68 appeals on July 10.

The federation’s doping review board decided that Russian long jumper Darya Klishina met the exceptional eligibility criteria to compete in international competition, clearing her to compete as a neutral athlete.

Doping whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova, a pivotal figure in helping WADA to expose Russia’s state-sponsored doping system, is the other athlete already cleared to compete at this summer’s Games.

The Rio 2016 Olympics begin Aug. 5 and conclude Aug. 21.

Atlanta Looks Back on 20 Years of Olympic History

Tuesday, July 19 marks the 20th anniversary of the opening ceremony of the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics.

Over the weekend, 2,000 people gathered at Centennial Olympic Park for an anniversary celebration featuring musical performances, stories from Olympians and organizers as well as a fireworks display. The event was created to primarily honor and reunite the volunteers of the Games who helped the Games in Atlanta run smoothly.

The volunteers were easy to spot in their uniforms from 1996, like Terry Anderson. He tells Around the Rings it's unbelievable to think 20 years has passed since he last wore the outfit.

"It’s unbelievable, all my kids were small and now they’re grown," Anderson says. "Twenty years has gone by so fast, I used to come down to the park every night... it was a wonderful, once in a lifetime experience that I couldn’t pass up. "

Olympians and Paralympians from 1996 were among those invited to the anniversary, including Carl Lewis, Janet Evans, Amy Van Dyken, Teresa Edwards, Mitch Richmond, five of the "Magnificent Seven" USA Gymnastics team, Lenny Wilkens, LeAnn Shannon, Curtis Lovejoy and Al Mead.

"This is awesome; it’s really cool to be back in Olympic Park," said Amy Van Dyken, the most decorated athlete of the Atlanta Games winning four golds in swimming. "For me to see this out of my hotel window is the coolest thing ever, to be back in the city where my life changed forever over the course of five days, five swims."

"I walked in here and no one knew who I was and left the most decorated athlete of the Games," she says. "It is cool to see how this city has grown, how I’ve grown and how everybody else has grown. This town will always have a place in my heart."

Rio 2016 Olympic Village Opens

On Sunday, July 24 the Rio 2016 Olympic Village will officially open as athletes from all over the world are finally able to set up shop in Rio de Janeiro.

Athletes will have two weeks to get acquainted with the village before the opening ceremony and competition begin on Aug. 5.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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