Deadline looms on Russia's Olympic doping ban

(Reuters)
(Reuters)

We will learn early Saturday (NZT) whether Russia's track and field athletes will be allowed to compete at the Rio Olympic games.

Russia's been suspended from international competition since November 2015 after a World Anti-Doping Agency report found evidence of widespread drug cheating.

The Russian Federation has shown little interest in reform and a ban from Rio looks imminent.

The whole Russian state sponsored doping scandal was exposed two years ago in a German documentary. Amongst the testimony and video evidence a claim from one former athlete that 99 percent of the Russian olympic team had doped.

A WADA investigation confirmed the documentary's claims which led to the seven month ban, but even this week more evidence of drug cheating has emerged, including one Russian track and field athlete who tried to tamper with sample collection procedures by first using a container of clean urine inserted inside her, and when that spilled trying to bribe the doping control officer.

Most anti-doping experts believe Russian authorities haven't made enough reforms to lift the current ban - believing if your country is complicit with cheating, then your country must pay the price.

Newshub.