Russia ‘hijacked’ sport with mass doping, says investigator Richard McLaren claiming ‘institutional conspiracy’

Russia hijacked international sport by using more than 1,000 athletes in an “institutional conspiracy” to win medals at the Sochi and London Olympics and other global events, a top investigator said Friday.

Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, who has previously accused Russia of “state-sponsored” cheating, said in a new report for the World Anti-Doping Agency that he had confirmed the switching of samples at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 and that salt and coffee were used to manipulate samples.

More than 1,000 athletes in the summer and winter Olympics and Paralympics “can be identified as being involved in or benefiting from manipulations to conceal positive testing”, his report said.

Information on 695 Olympic athletes had been sent to sports federations. “Well known and elite level athletes” were among competitors whose tests were “falsified”.

“A cover-up that evolved over the years from uncontrolled chaos to an institutionalised and disciplined medal-winning strategy and conspiracy,” McLaren said as he introduced his report.

Russia’s sports ministry again denied state backing for doping. But the report said the campaign that started about 2011 came under official control from 2012 under then sports minister Vitaly Mutko amid fears that the cheating would be detected.