No Update From IOC Investigations Into Russia Doping

(ATR) The IOC is no nearer to bringing sanctions against Russia, which may include a ban from the PyeongChang Olympics.

Around the Rings is told that the two commissions investigating the Russian doping scandal at the Sochi Olympics will not report as previously expected to the IOC executive board meeting in PyeongChang next week.

Interim reports to the IOC’s ruling body from the two inquiries probing evidence of state-sponsored doping in WADA investigator Richard McLaren’s two dossiers were expected.

Swiss IOC member Denis Oswald, who is chairing the commission analyzing allegations of doping manipulation at the Sochi 2014 Games, told ATR in January that an interim report would be ready for the IOC’s March 15-17 meeting.

An update from Samuel Schmid’s commission investigating the involvement of Russian government ministers in the doping conspiracy was also due.

But it’s now clear that the IOC’s plan to be in a position to "take all the appropriate measures and sanctions" in March was very premature due to the mountain of work involved in the parallel investigations.

"The work of the two commissions is ongoing and they are working independently," an IOC spokeswoman tells ATR.

"No report on the substance of their work is planned at the EB next week."

Oswald and a member of Schmid’s commission had revealed to ATR the scale of the task they faced to complete thorough investigations.

Oswald said he didn’t expect to deliver a full report to Thomas Bach’s top brass before summer – and almost certainly well after that. On the findings of his commission, he said he hoped for "a more clear situation in summer but not a final one".

McLaren’s second report released in December added another layer of work. In his explosive dossier, he said more than 1,000 Russian athletes were involved in or benefited from "a cover-up on an unprecedented scale".

Additional documentation and hearings have expanded the huge brief.

Disciplinary proceedings were brought against 28 Russian athletes in December following Sochi 2014 doping retests found evidence of violations. More cases are expected following re-analysis of samples from all the country’s athletes who participated at the Games.

Dragging out the process will be the hearings that are necessary as part of the disciplinary procedure.

The IOC’s ruling body is unlikely to be equipped with enough information to decide Russia’s fate until the end of the year. Sanctions over the Sochi 2014 doping conspiracy may come just weeks before the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics open in February.

Possible IOC sanctions include a blanket ban on Russia, disqualification of certain athletes from the Olympics and the exclusion of implicated officials, entourage or government executives from the Games.

On Wednesday, World Anti-Doping Agency director general Olivier Niggli says Russia's anti-doping reforms were too sluggish.

"It's not happening at the speed I would have liked to see but it is happening," he told the BBC at the Tackling Doping in Sport conference on Wednesday.

With the PyeongChang Games looming, he spoke of Russia’s roadmap for reforms: "We are working with them to see if things can be put into place and a credible system be reinstated in Russia in the coming months.

"We will see where they are when we get closer to the Games. They still have a number of months to do the right thing. The ball is in their camp, they know what they have to do."

Reported by Mark Bisson

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