Quadruple world champion in biathlon, ex-president of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) Vladimir Drachev in a conversation with expressed the opinion that the speech Richard McLaren in the media will not be an impetus for the participation of Russians in international competitions.
Drachev believes McLaren’s statement is part of a political game and was made to probe the situation in world sport.
Earlier, the International Olympic Committee called on international sports federations to withdraw Russian athletes from official competitions due to the situation in Ukraine. On Sunday, the head of the independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission investigating the doping scandal at the 2014 Olympics, McLaren, in an interview with Sportschau, called for the admission of Russian athletes to the international competitions.
Will there be progress after this statement? I think not. Few political improvements are observed so far. In my opinion, McLaren’s statement only surveys the opinions of the world. That is, he threw it away, and now people are going to discuss it. Including you and me. That is, here, let’s launch a trial balloon and see what someone says to it, who reacts how.
McLaren has always been against us. And, apparently, decided to throw away this information. And they are now watching how the world will react to this, what will be the reaction of Russia, what the athletes and politicians will say. And, probably, now for a few weeks they will collect a certain background: how important it is or not, who cares, who will say what, how the main player countries in today’s arena will react. I think this is a purely political game to probe the general context – has it changed or not.
And so, no progress, I think, will not be. This is my personal opinion. This is how I see the situation. It is now unlikely that any improvement will be expected. Because the management of international sports federations is not very well established. I think the summer and winter starts will take place without the participation of Russian teams for now,” Drachev told .
In 2016, McLaren wrote a report in which he stated that in Russia there was a state system that manipulated doping samples and covered up athletes. In 2017, Vitaly Smirnov, who headed the Independent Public Anti-Doping Commission, said McLaren had dropped allegations of state support for Russian doping.
Source : MatchTV
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