Róisín McGettigan-Dumas: Zero tolerance only answer to Russian deceit

As the extent of Russian doping becomes clear, former Irish middle distance runner Róisín McGettigan-Dumas reflects on the ripple effect of the crisis and says Russia must stay outside the Olympic family...

Am I surprised about this week’s revelations of doping in Russian sport? No, but I have to admit that how elaborate it all seemed is beyond my imagination.

The only solution is to ban them from the Olympics because it looks like it was a top-down operation and the majority of the Russian athletes were tied into it. If there are rare athletes who were being tested in another system as much as the rest of us were, then maybe they can compete under a neutral flag, but unless there are really stringent ways to prove they were not involved, they shouldn’t be there.