Russia rejects global anti-doping agency's report

Russia walks back admission of widespread doping of athletes

Officials say acting director of Russia's anti-doping agency was misquoted

Russia’s national anti-doping agency will apparently not be reinstated by the global anti-doping body, after a Russian official said Thursday that the country has rejected the outcomes of a report on Russian athletes’ behavior at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

“As for the report, we have repeatedly said that it contains certain contentious positions and provisions,” Vitaly Smirnov, head of Russia’s state-backed anti-doping commission, was quoted as saying by R-Sport news agency, according to Reuters.

“Undoubtedly, no one is going to accept this report,” Smirnov said.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said Wednesday that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) had passed 19 criteria toward compliance with the global body, but still needed to clear 12 more hurdles, Reuters reported.

For example, the global body has demanded that Russia’s Ministry of Sport and its National Olympic Committee publicly accept the reported outcomes of WADA’s McLaren Investigation, named for Richard McLaren, the Canadian lawyer who was appointed to conduct the probe.

The McLaren study found evidence of widespread state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes at the Sochi Games.

As a result, RUSADA lost its international accreditation in 2015 and has yet to regain good standing.

McLaren found that more than 1,000 Russian athletes in more than 30 sports conspired to conceal positive drug tests over five years, Reuters reported.

As part of the 12 remaining hurdles, RUSADA must select a new director general via a transparent recruitment process overseen by two international experts.

The Russian government also must allow testers to access stored urine samples in its Moscow laboratory, Reuters reported.

The Russian case was to be a topic of discussion in London on Thursday, at a meeting of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

This story includes reporting from the Associated Press.