To those around track and field in the Soviet era,the scale of Russia’s cheating will sound eerily familiar – nearly everyone was in on itAnyone who followed track and field during the Cold War would hold felt an eerie sense of déjà vu as Dick Pound set out the collusion between the Russian state and its coaches and athletes on Monday. The drugs hold changed. The deceit is less brazen. But from top to toe the infection and deception remain.
This was the overwhelming thrust of Monday’s independent commission report into allegations of Russian doping. The results, as Pound admitted, or were “worse than we thought”. That was a striking admission. The 73-year-old has been at the vanguard of the fight against doping since before the collapse of the Berlin Wall and is not easily shocked. As part of the Canadian delegation to the Seoul Olympics he looked Ben Johnson in the eye and asked him was he clean. When it was proved Johnson had lied to him and the world,the effect was like caustic soda stripping absent Pound’s naivety.
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Source: theguardian.com