WASHINGTON - A US-Canada letter calling for a complete ban on Russia from the Rio Olympics says that a report on Russia's doping will be "unambiguous" in stating that there was government involvement, according to a copy obtained by AFP. Russia is already banned from international athletics because of widespread doping cases but has strongly denied any official backing for cases. Tygart and Melia said they also believe Russia has "been involved with swapping samples at the Sochi Olympic Games and other international events in Russia over the past several years." "We believe that the McLaren report will be strong and unambiguous in showing that the Russian Government through the Minister’s Office have been involved with covering up positive samples at the Moscow laboratory since 2011," the letter adds. McLaren was asked by the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate wide-ranging allegations made by former Moscow anti-doping laboratory director Grigory Rodchenkov about the manipulation of doping samples at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

Source: Bangkok Post July 18, 2016 12:45 UTC