COLORADO SPRINGS: Travis Tygart, ceo of the United States Anti Doping Agency, has reiterated his opposition to “an unprecedented level of criminality” revealed by the McLaren Report into Russia’s state-sponsored doping strategy.

A report to the World Anti-Dping Agency from Canadian Professor Richard McLaren pulled no punches in accusing the Russian Sports Ministry of overseeing the operation of a cover-up system involving the Moscow anti-doping laboratory and the Sochi Winter Games in 2014.

Tygart, ahead of the report’s publication, had called for Russia’s entire team to be barred from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next month.

After McLaren’s revelation were made public, Tygart said: “The McLaren Report has concluded, beyond a reasonable doubt, a mind-blowing level of corruption within both Russian sport and government that goes right to the field of play.

“Most importantly, our hearts go out to the athletes from all over the world who were robbed of their Olympic dreams.

“Looking forward we must come together as an international community – comprised of those who truly believe in the spirit of Olympiasm – to ensure this unprecedented level of criminality never again threatens the sports we cherish.”

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