Ban Russians from Olympics, says former anti-doping chief

BBC News broadcast an interview with former doping mastermind turned whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov in which he urged that no Russian athletes should be allowed to take part in the postponed Tokyo Olympics next year.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has ruled that Russian athletes who prove they are clean will be able to compete in Japan under a neutral flag but Rodchenkov, the former head of Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory, said: “It should be an absolute blanket ban without any excuses or admissions of athletes.”

Russia’s appeal against a punishment that rules it out of both the Tokyo Games and the 2022 football World Cup will be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in November.