MOSCOW—The day after the 2014 Sochi Olympics ended with Russia atop the medals table, a beaming President Vladimir Putin presented his athletes with state awards for “defending the honor” of their country by showing that its “great and glorious” sports traditions were still strong.
From its decades of dominance in the 1960s to the 1980s when the Soviet Union was known as the “Big Red Machine,” international sports has held outsized importance for Russians as a way to measure their country’s standing in the world.
That’s why accusations of cheating—widespread, state-sponsored doping—drew such a harsh reaction Tuesday in Moscow. It would be a huge embarrassment for Russia if its track and field athletes were kept out of next summer’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Russian officials have sought to discredit the report by a commission from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), saying it failed to prove its main points and suggested the existence of an anti-Russian conspiracy.
“As long as there is no evidence, it is difficult to consider the accusations, which appear rather unfounded,” said Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The acting head of the Russian athletics federation, Vadim Zelichenok, said the report’s conclusions appeared to have been “made to order.”
Putin has called a meeting Wednesday with the heads of Russia’s sports federations to discuss preparations for the 2016 Olympics. Zelichenok told The Associated Press the doping allegations could be discussed.
Monday’s report alleged Russia engaged in systematic doping and cover-ups affecting its track and field athletes, including Olympic medalists. It said that agents from the FSB intelligence service interfered with the work of a doping lab at the Sochi Games.
The WADA commission recommended that track and field’s governing body, the IAAF, suspend the Russian federation from competition. IAAF President Sebastian Coe gave the federation until the end of the week to respond to the doping allegations.
The International Olympic Committee said it would be ready to strip medals from any Russian athletes found guilty of doping violations.
Russia also has been threatened with suspension from track and field competitions, including the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Zelichenok appealed to the IAAF to show “prudence” and allow Russians to compete.
Russian track and field head coach Yuri Borzakovsky, a former Olympic 800-meter champion, will be among those meeting with Putin.
In the first move to implement a recommendation from the report, WADA revoked the accreditation of Russia’s anti-doping lab in Moscow. Hours later, lab director Grigory Rodchenkov resigned, according to the state news agency Tass.
Russia has been a track and field power for decades, but in recent years its main strengths have been in race walking, women’s middle-distance running and the field events, including world-record holder Yelena Isinbayeva in the pole vault.
