General
Richard McLaren called for the lifting of sanctions against Russian athletes
Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission to investigate the doping scandal at the 2014 Olympics, called for Russian athletes to be admitted to the international arena.
– Athletes did not start the conflict and are not responsible for its development, depriving them of the right to participate in tournaments is unfair. I think these are strong arguments for their return to the competition. If the Court of Arbitration for Sport decides in favor of the athletes, the associations will be forced to allow them to compete on the world stage, McLaren told Sportschau.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recommended that world sports federations remove Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions due to the situation in Ukraine.
In 2016, McLaren made a report stating that Russia had a state system to support doping. Later, the head of the Independent Public Anti-Doping Commission, Vitaly Smirnov, said that the Canadian lawyer dropped the charges against Russia.
Source: Sportbox
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