Death of former Russian anti-doping boss Nikita Kamaev

The former executive director of the Russian anti-doping agency, Rusada, has died, two months after leaving his post amid the country’s doping scandal.

Rusada spokeswoman Nataliya Koshel confirmed Nikita Kamaev had died, two months after quitting work at the agency which is at the centre of Russia’s biggest doping scandal.

He was 52.

Former Rusada general director Ramil Khabriev told Russia’s state Tass news agency he believed Mr Kamaev had died at home of a “massive heart attack” after feeling pain in his chest.

Mr Kamaev and Mr Khabriev both quit in December as the Russian sports ministry pushed for the agency to carry out reforms under new leadership.

That was a month after the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) declared it non-compliant with anti-doping rules.

A Wada commission had accused Rusada of covering up cases of doping by leading Russian athletes, giving them advance knowledge of supposedly surprise tests and allowing banned athletes to continue competing.

The day after the Wada commission’s report emerged accusing Rusada of the cover-up, he responded that the commission had produced a biased report based on evidence from athletes who had been caught doping.