Leaders of a House committee say they are alarmed over new findings outlining extensive Russian state-sponsored doping of Olympic athletes.
“The extraordinary lengths the Russians took to cheat in Sochi are cause for significant alarm and should serve as a warning for Rio,” said Reps. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Frank Pallone, D-N.J., chairman and the top Democrat, respectively, on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Upton and Pallone previously sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee expressing concerns about doping ahead of the summer games in Rio, which start Aug. 5.
The statement came after the World Anti-Doping Agency released a report that concluded “beyond a reasonable doubt” Russian officials were involved in doping athletes for both the summer and winter games and that Russian intelligence officials were involved in the coverup of Russian doping in the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.
The full WADA board called for all Russian athletes to be banned from the summer games. The IOC said that it will call for the “biggest sanctions” in response to the report, according to Reuters.
