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Agence France-Presse

Hundreds of attempts to carry out drug tests on Russian athletes this year have been thwarted, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) said Wednesday, in a bombshell report issued just days before a key decision on the country’s participation at the Olympic Games.
Drug testers had faced intimidation and threats from armed Russian security forces while athletes continued to evade doping control officers with a variety of techniques.
The report comes just two days before the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) meets in Vienna to decide whether Russian athletes should be allowed to participate in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
But the explosive revelations in the Wada summary will raise fresh questions about Russia’s repeated vows to clean up its drug-tainted sporting culture in time.
The Wada summary said more than 736 tests between February 15 and May 29 were declined or cancelled for a variety of reasons ranging from sample collection or athlete whereabouts.
State TV says 14 Russians on list for 2008 Olympics doping
Testers reported receiving hostile treatment when attempting to carry out drug tests in military cities, including intimidation and threats of expulsion from the country.
Military cities are often given as a place of residence by athletes seeking to avoid drug testers because of the difficulty in gaining access to the areas, the report said.
On other occasions, Russian coaches, doctors and venue staff had insisted on taking photographs of doping control officers’ accreditation cards and paperwork.
Other passages of the report highlighted the darkly comical lengths drug cheats would go to in an effort to avoid detection.
One track and field athlete had been caught trying to provide a urine sample using a container inserted into her body.
“When she tried to use the container it leaked onto the floor and not into the collection vessel,” the report stated.
The athlete subsequently threw away the container and then attempted to bribe the doping control officer.
Other examples of obstruction occurred during an athletics event.
Pole vault star Isinbayeva slams doping ‘discrimination’ as Russia awaits Olympics verdict
One athlete was seen running away from a mixed zone in an effort to avoid being taken to doping control by a chaperone.
Another athlete exited a stadium during a race and subsequently could not be found, the report said.
At the Russian National Walking Championship on February 27, 15 athletes mysteriously did not start, withdrew or were disqualified, the report said.
Two cyclists meanwhile came to the attention of drug testers after it was discovered they had not been seen at their stated “whereabouts location” for more than a year. When they were cited for missed tests, they both retired.
In another incident, the entire Russian under-18 team at the Ice Hockey World Championships were withdrawn en bloc and replaced by the under-17 team, reportedly due to use of the banned drug meldonium.
Meldonium, the drug which led to the recent tennis ban for Russian star Maria Sharapova, was involved in 49 of 52 doping cases logged between February 15 and May 29.
Meanwhile at a Russian national wrestling championship, there had been reports of a “laboratory” equipped with its own “centrifuge and other analytical equipment”, Wada said.
The Wada report, which was compiled with the help of UK Anti-Doping, whose testers went into Russia, provides further ammunition for critics who have called for the IAAF to issue an Olympic ban when it meets this week.
Vladimir Putin orders action on doping scandal as Russia scrambles to avoid Olympics ban
The IAAF suspended Russia from competition in November after an earlier Wada report which detailed a systematic doping program and corruption by sports officials.
IAAF president Sebastian Coe has said the ban will only be lifted if there is clear evidence of a “verifiable change both in anti-doping practice and culture.”
In its bid to overturn the ban, Russia has announced a raft of reforms including the introduction of compulsory anti-doping classes in schools to reform attitudes toward the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Russia’s anti-doping agency Rusada will develop a special curriculum, based on Wada guidelines, for the 3,000 sports schools where the country’s elite athletes train.


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Russia is again in hot water over doping in the final run up to the Olympics in Rio. Photo: AP

An employee works in the Russia's national drug-testing laboratory in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 24, 2016. The Russians have been accused of state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and the IOC has asked WADA to carry out a full-fledged investigation and plans to retest Sochi samples. Russian Anti Doping Agency RUSADA organised a press tour of its anti doping laboratory on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russia's Sports Minister Vilaty Mutko gestures as he answers a journalist's questions, after their press tour of its anti doping laboratory in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 24, 2016. The Russians have been accused of state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and the IOC has asked WADA to carry out a full-fledged investigation and plans to retest Sochi samples. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Athletics: Russia could look outside for help on doping, minister says

FILE - In this May 16, 2011 file photo then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, is flanked by Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, left, as they visit a sports complex that is under construction for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, in Krasnodar, southern Russia. WADA's independent commission said Monday, Nov. 9, 2015 Russia's athletics federation should be suspended and its track and field athletes banned from competition until the country cleans up its act on doping. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Pool, file)

A view through a fence, decorated with the Olympic rings, shows a building of the federal state budgetary institution "Federal scientific centre of physical culture and sports", which houses a laboratory accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), in Moscow, Russia, November 11, 2015. The international investigation into alleged drug cheating inside Russian athletics could draw in other Russian sports since they used the same laboratory that now stands accused of covering up failed drugs tests. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

A woman walks from the entrance of National anti-doping agency, RUSADA in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Nov. 9, 2015. Russian track and field athletes could be banned from next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after a devastatingly critical report accused the country's government of complicity in widespread doping and cover-ups. The World Anti-Doping Agency commission set up to investigate doping in Russia said even the country's intelligence service, the FSB, was involved, spying on Moscow's anti-doping lab, including during last year's Olympics in Sochi. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A sign reads: "Russian National Anti-doping Agency RUSADA" on a building in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Nov. 9, 2015. Russian track and field athletes could be banned from next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after a devastatingly critical report accused the country's government of complicity in widespread doping and cover-ups. The World Anti-Doping Agency commission set up to investigate doping in Russia said even the country's intelligence service, the FSB, was involved, spying on Moscow's anti-doping lab, including during last year's Olympics in Sochi. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russian President Vladimir Putin with Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, who has said he is ready to put forward a road map. Putin has remained silent on the allegations of state-sanctioned doping. Photo: AP

Banned for four years for doping rule breach – it looks all over for top Hong Kong triathlete Ivan Lo

Portrait of Hong Kong triathlete Ivan Lo Ching-hin, pictured during a training at Happy Valley Racecourse. 04OCT13

Ivan Lo Ching-lin lost his appeal case in the doping scandal. Photo: Unus Alliadin

Triathlete Ivan Lo Ching-hin has been hit with a four-year suspension. Photo: Richard Castka

Hammered: Russian Olympic champion suspended over doping

Russia's Tatyana Lysenko celebrating after winning the women's hammer throw final at the 2012 London Olympics. The two-time former world gold medallist, has been provisionally suspended for doping. Photos: AFP

(FILES) This file photo taken on August 16, 2013 shows Russia's Tatyana Lysenko competing during the women's hammer throw final at the 2013 IAAF World Championships at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow. Russian hammer thrower Tatyana Lysenko, the reigning Olympic champion and two-time former world gold medallist, has been provisionally suspended for doping, the IAAF announced on April 5. / AFP PHOTO / FRANCK FIFE

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Attempts to carry out drug tests on Russian athletes this year have been thwarted, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) said Wednesday, in a bombshell report
