Russia doping scandal: Britain’s drug-testing system is worse than ours, says under-fire sports minister Vitaly Mutko
Russia's under-fire sports minister Vitaly Mutko has responded to claims that he was complicit in a state-sponsored doping programme by attacking British anti-drug efforts.
A bombshell report by a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) independent commission on Monday said the London 2012 Olympics had been “sabotaged” by the avoidable presence of Russian drug-cheats.
Former Wada chief Dick Pound, the report’s author, deemed it was “impossible” for Mutko to have been unaware of the regime. World athletics boss Lord Coe has given Russia until tomorrow to respond to the allegations or face a ban from the sport.
“Now we are that medals won by our athletes at the Olympic Games in London must be taken away,” said Mutko.
“But it was the British system of doping control that operated there. Each medal winner was tested for doping and received their medal only after having tested negative. And if today you are accusing our athletes, then I am sorry, your system has zero value and is even worse than ours.”
Russian competitors won 81 medals in total at London 2012, including 17 in athletics, of which eight were gold.
Mariya Savanova, the women’s 800m champion, was among five athletes that Wada’s report recommended should be handed a lifetime ban. Russia has rejected the report’s findings.
London 2012 anti-doping chief Jonathan Harris defended testing at the Games, which he said was “so awesome that athletes wouldn’t have turned up doped”.
He added: “If these individuals had been rigorously tested in advance then these people would have not have attended because they would have been under doping sanctions.”