Dr Sergei Portugalo, a Russian doctor, has been banned for life from involvement in athletics.
Dr Sergei Portugalo Banned for life
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) has stated that there is “clear evidence” that Dr Sergei Portugalov doped athletes.
A WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) report from 2015, made very strong indications that the Russian doctor was “very active in the conspiracy to cover up athletes’ positive tests in exchange for a percentage of their winnings”.
“As a consequence, a lifetime period of ineligibility has been imposed,” Cas said.
Last year’s Wada-commissioned McLaren report said more than 1,000 Russia sportsmen and women had benefitted from a state-sponsored doping programme.
Russian athletes are banned from competition by athletics’ governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), until it is happy the country’s anti-doping measures stand up to scrutiny.
Russia’s anti-doping agency, Rusada, is also working to have its credentials restored.
Senior figures in athletics and at Wada have welcomed Russia’s work on restoring its anti-doping programme but have stressed the country still has a lot to do.
Speaking at a Wada conference on Monday, the organisation’s president, Craig Reedie, said: “There remains significant work to do. It must demonstrate its processes are autonomous and independent from outside interference.”
Russia’s sports minister Pavel Kolobkov also spoke at the meeting to outline progress made – including changes to legislation criminalising doping in sport.
He added: “We are ready to pass any kind of external inspection.”
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