New Tests for Sochi Olympic Samples

(ATR) Scratch marks on bottles are being tested for conclusive proof of tampered doping tests of Russian athletes at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games.

An IOC disciplinary commission is examining whether Russian athletes escaped detection during the 2014 Games. The suspicions are the result of allegations by the doctor overseeing the drug testing lab for Sochi. He has claimed that samples from Russian competitors were secretly removed from the lab, the bottles opened, samples tampered with, resealed and then returned to the refrigerator where they were stored.

A 2015 report by Canadian professor Richard McLaren for the World Anti Doping Agency concluded that microscopic scratch marks on the caps of the bottles were evidence that the bottles had been opened without breaking the seal.

Now a second opinion is coming from an IOC Disciplinary Commission formed to investigate the Sochi accusations. Headed by IOC member in Switzerland Denis Oswald, the commission’s findings could lead to bans for Russian athletes at the 2018 Olympics.

In an email to Around the Rings, Oswald confirms that a forensic examination of the bottles is now underway using a different methodology from that employed by the investigators for the McLaren report.

"Richard McLaren had requested opinion of forensic experts in London to determine whetherthere were scratches on the [B sample] bottles and whether these scratches were the result of opening the B bottles before closing them again (probably after swapping the content). The conclusion was that it was the case," says Oswald.

"To be on the safe side, the IOC decided to request another forensic laboratory (Lausanne University) to give its opinion in order to have a second independent opinion," says Oswald.

He says the first batch of 50 bottles is ready to be tested and that all will be finished by the beginning of September. If the tampering is confirmed, Oswald and his two colleagues on the commission may take action against the athletes whose samples were manipulated. A total of 254 samples are being examined. Retesting of 63 blood samples from Sochi have all been negative.

Oswald and his colleagues could recommend penalties that could prevent Russians from competing in PyeongChang.

Appeals are likely from athletes whose samples are determined to have been tampered. They could argue that they had nothing to do with the manipulation, which may have been part of a systemic breakdown of the Russian anti-doping system.

The alleged institutional corruption is the remit of a second IOC Disciplinary Commission which could call for sanctions against Russian sports leaders.

Written by Ed Hula.

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