Russia sends evidence ‘refuting’ Rodchenkov’s night-time sample-swapping claims to WADA
The Russian Investigative Committee has sent documents to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). According to these papers Grigory Rodchenkov’s alleged ‘sample-swapping’ scheme could not have taken place in Sochi.
Investigators say they have collected enough evidence to refute Rodchenkov’s accusations of alleged doping violations in Russia, including sample-tampering at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
“According to the documents we obtained, the doping probes of the Russian athletes were delivered to the laboratory in Sochi in the daytime, and were registered within time-varying intervals which took from 30 minutes up to two hours before being sent to further examination,” the Investigative Committee said.
The Investigative Committee also stated that all the doping kits were kept in the laboratory for less than two hours, contradicting alleged sample-swapping of those indicating doping, which Rodchenkov said took place at nighttime.
“Therefore, we can disprove Rodchenkov’s allegations which claimed that Russian doping probes taken at the Sochi games were stored in the laboratory for some time before being replaced with clean samples at night to cover the presence of performance enhancing drugs,” read a statement.
“The laboratory staff members who worked at the 2014 Sochi Games testified there were no doping swapping procedures during the competition. All of them were warned of criminal responsibility for giving false evidence.”
A former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, Rodchenkov fled to the US at the end of 2015. He is facing charges of abusing his authority, as well as trafficking highly potent illicit drugs in his home country.
READ MORE: ‘Rodchenkov's evidence is hearsay with limited probative value’ – CAS
His testimony on alleged state-run doping instigated a wave of sanctions against Russia, which led to multiple disqualifications of Russian athletes, who were accused of violating anti-doping regulations.
In February, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) cleared 28 Russian team members of doping charges, admitting that Rodchenkov’s evidence was “hearsay with limited probative value.”
