PhotoThe latest and most comprehensive report on Russia’s cheating at the 2014 Winter Olympics gives the International Olympic Committee all the evidence it needs to ban every Russian team from the forthcoming Rio Games. has already upheld a ban by the track and field ruling body to bar the Russian track and field team from the Rio Games. The report, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate a fast-growing body of evidence against Russia, is damning and unequivocal. The integrity of the Games, the dreams of athletes the world over and the imperative to proclaim Russia’s behavior totally unacceptable all demand a blanket ban. Russia will loudly remonstrate, as it did when the cheating accusations first arose, that the report is another American-orchestrated political ploy to discredit Russia, that doping is universal, that Russia will punish those responsible, that it is unfair to penalize all Russian athletes for the offenses of isolated officials and athletes, and so on.

Source: International New York Times July 19, 2016 07:18 UTC