Sports: More Than 1,000 Russian Athletes In 'institutionalised' Doping - McLaren

LONDON, Dec 9 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 09th Dec, 2016 ) : More than 1,000 Russian athletes were used in an "institutional conspiracy" with banned drugs at the Sochi and London Olympics and other global events, investigator Richard McLaren said Friday.

International sport was "hijacked" by the Russians, according to the the Canadian lawyer who has previously accused Russia of "state-sponsored" cheating. McLaren said in his 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 when checked by international experts.

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", the report said.

Information on 695 Olympic athletes had been sent to sports federations. He said "well known and elite level athletes" had tests declared to WADA "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.