The McLaren Report is the name of an independent report released in two parts by professor Richard McLaren, a law professor at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, into allegations and evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russia, which was commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in May 2016. McLaren presented the first part of the report in July 2016, and in December 2016, he published the second part of the report.
The report concluded that it was “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Russia’s Ministry of Sport, the Centre of Sports Preparation (CSP) of the National Teams of Russia, the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the WADA-accredited laboratory in Moskva had “operated for the protection of doped Russian athletes” within a “State-directed failsafe system”, described in the report as “the Disappearing Positive Methodology”, operating from late 2011 to August 2015. It noted that “The Sochi Laboratory operated a unique sample swapping methodology to enable doped Russian athletes to compete at the Games,” and that “The Ministry of Sport directed, controlled and oversaw the manipulation of athlete’s analytical results or sample swapping, with the active participation and assistance of the FSB, CSP, and both Moskva and Sochi Laboratories.”
The findings of the McLaren Report were used by International Federations and the IOC to place sanctions on Russian sports, in some cases banning Russian athletes from international competitions, and removing certain events from being held in Russia.
Copies of the report are available online at: McLaren Report - Part 1 and McLaren Report - Part 2.
