Russian athletes accused in doping report could lose Olympic medals

The IOC suspended Lamine Diack as an honorary member Tuesday and said it was ready to strip medals from any Russian athletes found guilty of doping and consider retesting samples from the Sochi Olympics.

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The International Olympic Committee convened an urgent meeting of its executive board by video conference to consider what action to take in response to the corruption and doping crisis engulfing track and field.

The board agreed on the provisional suspension of Diack, the former IAAF president who was placed under investigation by French authorities last week on charges of corruption and money-laundering related to the coverup of Russian doping cases.

Diack served as a full IOC member for 15 years until 2014, when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 80 and became an honorary member. The Senegalese official stepped down in August as president of the IAAF after 16 years in charge of track's governing body.

The IOC also acted on the damning report released Monday by a World Anti-Doping Agency panel that alleged a widespread, state-sponsored doping program in Russia, implicating the government and intelligence services as well as athletes, coaches and team officials.

The WADA commission, headed by IOC member Dick Pound, recommended that Russia's track and field federation be suspended until it cleans up its act on doping. The IAAF is scheduled to decide Friday whether to suspend Russia, a move which could keep Russian athletes out of next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

"The IOC expects the IAAF and WADA to consider all necessary action to be taken to protect the clean athletes and rebuild trust," the Olympic body said in a statement Tuesday.

Pound's report said the 2012 London Olympics were "sabotaged" by Russian athletes who should have been banned from competing in the games because of previous suspicious test results.

"The IOC has asked the IAAF to initiate disciplinary procedures against all athletes, coaches and officials who have participated in the Olympic Games and are accused of doping in the report of the Independent Commission," the statement said.

Following the conclusion of the IAAF investigation, the IOC "will take all the necessary measures and sanctions with regard to the withdrawal and reallocation of medals and as the case may be exclusion of coaches and officials from future Olympic Games."

The WADA report recommended life bans for five athletes, including two medallists in London — women's 800-metre winner Maria Savinova and third-place finisher Ekaterina Poistogova.

If those medals are taken away, South Africa's Caster Semenya stands to be bumped up from silver to gold. Kenya's Pamela Jelimo, who finished fourth, could move up to silver, while Alysia Johnson Montano of the United States could go from fifth to bronze.

The IOC said it had no reason to question the drug-testing results from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, despite the allegation in Pound's report that the lab was infiltrated by agents of Russia's FSB intelligence service.

The IOC said a post-games report by WADA observers "makes no mention of any such irregularity."

"Nor was any such irregularity reported by the international experts involved, nor found by the IOC itself," it said. "Therefore, the IOC has no reason to question the credibility of the results of the anti-doping tests carried out" in Sochi.

However, the IOC — which stores Olympic doping samples for 10 years — said it will retest samples "should substantial doubts arise."

"In any case, the IOC may retest samples once new scientific techniques become available," it said.

The IOC has previously stripped medals retroactively based on retesting of samples, including some gold medallists .

Putin to meet with head track coach

Stung by the WADA report, which accused Russia of a vast state-sponsored doping program, Vladimir Putin will meet with the head coach of the country's track federation on Wednesday.

The report accused Russia of widespread doping and cover-ups affecting track and field athletes, including Olympic medalists. It said that agents from the FSB intelligence service interfered with the work of a doping lab during last year's Winter Olympics in the Russian resort of Sochi.

Russian officials fought back Tuesday against the report, saying it failed to prove its main points and suggesting the existence of a conspiracy to vilify Russia.

"As long as there is no evidence, it is difficult to consider the accusations, which appear rather unfounded," Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the report.

Because of the report, Russia has been threatened with suspension from track and field competitions, including next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The Russian track federation said head coach Yuri Borzakovsky, a former Olympic 800-metre champion, will meet Putin at a sports centre in Sochi on Wednesday.

While the meeting between Putin and Russian sports leaders was planned as a discussion of preparations for next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, acting federation president Vadim Zelichenok told The Associated Press the doping allegations could be discussed.

"There may be a conversation, but not necessarily within the framework of the main meeting," Zelichenok told the AP by telephone.

Anti-doping lab shut down

In the first move to implement a recommendation made in Monday's report, WADA revoked the accreditation of the Russia's anti-doping lab in Moscow. That blocks all testing of samples, which will now be transported to another WADA-accredited lab outside Russia.

The WADA commission said tests were routinely falsified at the lab to protect top Russian athletes.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said the head of the lab, Grigory Rodchenkov, resigned hours after it was stripped of its right to test samples.

Rodchenkov was accused of covering up positive doping tests, extorting money from athletes and destroying 1,417 samples before inspectors visited. Monday's report recommended a lifetime ban for Rodchenkov.

Mutko told Russia's Tass news agency that Rodchenkov "took the decision to resign to take all the negatives away with him" as the lab begins a reform process.

Nikita Kamaev, executive director of the Russian anti-doping agency known as RUSADA, said Tuesday that Rodchenkov's lab had "ceased functioning" but said RUSADA is still operational.

"The Russian agency completely complies with the requirements of WADA at the current time," Kamaev said, adding that the agency is preparing a detailed response to all issues raised against it in the WADA report.

The Russian agency faces possible suspension by WADA after the report, which accused it of numerous failures in its testing program, including notifying athletes ahead of time for supposedly surprise tests, colluding with coaches and allowing some banned athletes to continue competing.

Kamaev is one of a number of Russian officials to say the report is biased against Russia.

"Some of the issues have a particular acuteness and are, if you like, politicized," he said, refusing to go into further detail.

Allegations that FSB agents infiltrated the testing process are the product of an "inflamed imagination" and more suited to a spy film, Kamaev added.

Earlier in the day, Zelichenok said in comments quoted by Russian media that the report contains "an element of material made to order," without specifying who might have manipulated the report.

Zelichenok also appealed to the sport's governing body to show "prudence" and allow Russian track and field athletes to compete at next year's Olympics.