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Russian MP hopes our beloved Mr Trump will end doping investigation
Source: The Guardian
Russian MP hopes ‘our beloved Mr Trump’ will end doping investigation
• ‘Let’s investigate the US, British and Canadian teams,’ says head of committee
• Wrestling chief talks of ‘maniacal attempt to prove something that doesn’t exist’
Alec Luhn in Moscow
Friday 9 December 2016 17.28 GMT
If international sport officials were expecting an apology from Russia after the latest findings of its state-sponsored doping at the London Olympics and other events, they were disappointed. Continuing a line of argument that began after the first allegations of Russian widespread performance enhancing drug use in 2014, officials in Moscow dismissed the accusations and said the report was politicised. One MP even called on the US president-elect, Donald Trump, who has spoken favourably of Russia, to stop the investigations.
The World Anti-Doping Agency report by the Canadian law professor Richard McLaren found that more than 1,000 Russian athletes, including competitors at the London and Sochi Olympics, benefited from state-sponsored doping between 2011 and 2015.
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Mikhail Degtaryov, head of the sport committee in parliament, called the report biased and questioned why it hadn’t investigated other countries. “There was an order to attack our athletes. It was carried out in great detail,” Degtaryov said. “Then let’s investigate the US, British and Canadian teams. I think a lot of interesting things would be presented to the world if investigations were conducted.”
The MP Igor Lebedev told R-Sport that he was hoping Trump, who has praised Putin and talked of cooperating with Russia, would end the doping investigations. “It was expected that there wouldn’t be any evidence, there would be yet another stream of falsehoods, groundless accusations,” Lebedev said. “All this has a strong political undertone and we and all Russians hope that our beloved Mr Trump will put an end to this.”
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
• ‘Let’s investigate the US, British and Canadian teams,’ says head of committee
• Wrestling chief talks of ‘maniacal attempt to prove something that doesn’t exist’
Alec Luhn in Moscow
Friday 9 December 2016 17.28 GMT
If international sport officials were expecting an apology from Russia after the latest findings of its state-sponsored doping at the London Olympics and other events, they were disappointed. Continuing a line of argument that began after the first allegations of Russian widespread performance enhancing drug use in 2014, officials in Moscow dismissed the accusations and said the report was politicised. One MP even called on the US president-elect, Donald Trump, who has spoken favourably of Russia, to stop the investigations.
The World Anti-Doping Agency report by the Canadian law professor Richard McLaren found that more than 1,000 Russian athletes, including competitors at the London and Sochi Olympics, benefited from state-sponsored doping between 2011 and 2015.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Mikhail Degtaryov, head of the sport committee in parliament, called the report biased and questioned why it hadn’t investigated other countries. “There was an order to attack our athletes. It was carried out in great detail,” Degtaryov said. “Then let’s investigate the US, British and Canadian teams. I think a lot of interesting things would be presented to the world if investigations were conducted.”
The MP Igor Lebedev told R-Sport that he was hoping Trump, who has praised Putin and talked of cooperating with Russia, would end the doping investigations. “It was expected that there wouldn’t be any evidence, there would be yet another stream of falsehoods, groundless accusations,” Lebedev said. “All this has a strong political undertone and we and all Russians hope that our beloved Mr Trump will put an end to this.”
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/dec/09/russian-mp-our-beloved-mr-trump-doping-investigation