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PA
World News

Russia doping scandal: Sport 'affected by sin'

by Antony Bushfield

A seven month investigation into the country's state-run doping programme has revealed Russian athletes corrupted the London 2012 Olympic Games "on an unprecedented scale".

The findings of the investigation, led by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren and conducted for the World Anti-Doping Agency, were published on Friday.

Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

McLaren found evidence that found that over 1,000 Russian athletes in more than 30 Olympic and Paralympic sports were involved in a doping conspiracy which began at least as early as 2011 and ran until 2015.

It suggested that Russian spies were swapping urine and blood samples and in some cases stealing them.

Speaking to Premier, Jonny Reid from Christians in Sport was keen that it didn't put Christians off getting involved in competitive sport: "Sport inherently doesn't have anything wrong with it so this shows that we need Christians in the world of sport from players to administrators.

"It's an aspect of our world that millions people are passionate about and we need to remember that the world of sport needs the Gospel and thus needs Christians going into that world."

He added that it was "really, really sad" that the scandal had tainted the Olympics.

Sport, he said, was a good part of God's creation "but like everything in the world it's affected by our sin and our brokenness".

Russia won 24 gold, 26 silver and 32 bronze medals in London, while no Russian athlete failed a drugs test at the time of the Games.

McLaren, however, has now found evidence that positive samples from 78 athletes, including 15 medallists, simply disappeared. Ten of those medal-winners have been caught in the International Olympic Committee's retesting of London samples this year, but five remain unpunished.

It is a similar story for the World Athletics Championships in Moscow, where four athletes had their positive samples swapped for clean ones.

At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, 12 medal-winning athletes are among those implicated.

Jonny Reid speaking to Premier's Antony Bushfield:

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