Vancouver - Russian authorities have been told by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge he expects them to take strong action on doping. Rogge said Monday he had met Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev as well as the country's minister of sport to highlight the IOC's concerns ahead of the Vancouver winter Olympics which begin on Friday.
"I insisted on strong action on doping," Rogge said in Vancouver where the IOC executive board has held a two-day meeting.
Norway's anti-doping agency is now acting as an adviser for Russian anti-doping authorities.
"WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) has offered the possibility that the Russian authorities could benefit from consultancy and advice from Norwegian authorities, and so I said yes and we have alerted the Russian authorities and we expect them to comply," Rogge said.
Several Russian athletes failed doping tests in 2009 including cross-country skiing Olympic champions Evgeny Dementiev and Yuliya Tchepalova. All the positive tests have come at competition tests or abroad, but not at out-of-competition tests in Russia.
Anti-doping authorities are likely to be keeping a close eye on the Russian team after Alena Sidko was last week revealed to be the fifth cross-country skier from the country to fail a doping test this season.
"I understand that people are worried by the numbers and it is absolutely legitimate to be worried," Rogge said.
"The IOC has shown its preoccupation too by speaking to the minister of sport, by speaking to the president of the republic, by insisting also that the legislative sporting authorities do everything they can. It is now for the Russian sport authorities to respond with strong anti-doping actions."
Asked if he was concerned, Rogge replied: "I was puzzled by the numbers. I was concerned otherwise I would not have spoken to the president of the republic."
At the 2006 Turin Games, Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva was the only athlete to test positive and was subsequently stripped of her
silver medal. After a two-year ban, she is back with the Russian team in Vancouver under her married name of Olga Medvedtseva.
"In law once you have served your time, you are entitled to come back into society," Rogge said.
According to a German
television report on Friday,
Russia authorities have been obstructing international drug testers at least until a few months ago.
Citing a confidential report from WADA, ZDF said Russian authorities "made it difficult for foreign drug testers to work inside the Russian territory ... to take samples out of the country, to
transport samples within the Russian territory and to take do
