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Russian media tries to prove its Olympic athletes are victims of a ‘doping trap’

About 270 Russian Athletes have been cleared to compete in the Rio Games.

About 270 Russian Athletes have been cleared to compete in the Rio Games. Photo: Getty

A Russian state-owned sports television channel is approaching Western media outlets claiming the country’s banned Olympic athletes are victims of “international politics, disinformation and harassment”.

Match TV, run by Gazprom-Media, a subsidiary of Gazprom (a company the Russian government holds a majority stake in), has contacted The New Daily a number of times about a “groundbreaking Match TV documentary on doping”.

“As the hysteria around banning the Russian Federation from Rio 2016 Summer Olympics is at its peak, we at Match TV made a documentary about the people who are hurt the most as a result of what amounts to international politics – the athletes,” an email from Match TV General Producer Tina Kandelaki wrote.

“True, doping is a terrible thing and athletes who cheat shouldn’t compete. However calling all of Russia the nation of cheaters is going a little bit too far.”

The documentary is titled Doping Trap and aims to present “the Russian side of the story”, by interviewing four athletes who have been affected by the doping controversy. It aired in Russia on July 18 (local time).

In June, Russia’s athletics team was banned from competing at the 2016 Rio Olympics due to reports revealing “state-sponsored doping”.

Watch the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMcAA4bz8-E&feature=youtu.be

Earlier this week a World Anti-Doping Agency [WADA] commissioned report found that state-sponsored doping was rife among Russia’s Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics team.

This led to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) discussing the possibility of the entire Russian Olympic team being banned, not just the athletics representatives.

Russia olympics doping

The documentary offers ‘the Russian side of the story’. Photo: Getty

The athletes in the program are Ekatherina Poistogova (800m runner), Alexey Lovchev (weightlifter, banned for doping), Sergey Shubenkov (hurdles world champion), and Alexander Markin (volleyball, failed drug test 2016).

Poistogova and Shubenkov have never failed a doping test, Match TV claims, but are not allowed at the Rio Games because the whole athletics team was banned.

“The documentary presents the Russian side of the story, and offers facts that point to a consistent campaign of disinformation and harassment waged against Russian sports establishment and Russian athletes,” another press release for the program wrote.

“The Match TV film seeks to redress the balance and introduce some fairness into the debate. WADA has sought to pre-judge Russia’s hundreds of elite athletes in what looks likely to be a prejudiced and biased report.”

IOC delays Russia ban call

While the Russian athletics team is banned from Rio, the fate of the rest of Russia’s Olympic team still hangs in the balance.

Russia olympics doping

Russian Sports Minister Vaitaly Mutko has been banned from attending the Olympics. Photo: Getty

At an emergency IOC Executive Board meeting in Switzerland, the day after the independent report detailed a systematic and state-run doping program in Russia, members fell short of an immediate ban.

“[The IOC] will explore the legal options with regard to a collective ban of all Russian athletes for the Olympic Games 2016 versus the right to individual justice,” a statement said.

However, the IOC said Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko would be banned from the Games.

On Thursday (AEST), the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will rule on whether Russia’s athletics team can participate at Rio after it was banned in June. Match TV began broadcasting in November 2015 and was created after at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

-with ABC

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