Russia faces Olympics ban amid big doping scandal

Russia faces being banned from the Rio 2016 Olympics after an investigation revealed “state-sponsored” doping on a wide scale in one of sport’s biggest ever scandals.

An independent commission that was set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has revealed that 1,417 samples were deliberately destroyed on the orders of the director of Russia’s drug-testing laboratory, who took cash to cover up positive tests, while there was intimidation of officials by undercover officers from the Russian secret service FSB.

The commission’s chairman, Richard Pound, said that Russia should be banned from next year’s Olympics.