Russia: Pranksters call WADA President to expose 'dirty political struggle' against Russia

Alexei Stolyarov, journalist (English): "Hello this is Igor Zhdanov Minister of Sport Ukraine."
SOT, Sir Craig Reedie, WADA President (English): "Mr Zhdanov. Craig Reedie speaking."
Alexei Stolyarov, journalist (English): "We worry about anti-doping scandal. Can we impact on results of Olympic games in Sochi?"
SOT, Sir Craig Reedie, WADA President (English): "We need to see evidence from Dr. Rodchenkov. We hope that it will be finished in around six weeks and then we will publish the full report. So the answer to your question Minister, is that at the moment, here and now, I do not believe it makes much sense for you to appeal to the IOC because I think the IOC will then say 'we will await the results of the wider investigation.' So I think you should wait until the results of the investigation."
Alexei Stolyarov, journalist (English): "OK. Do you have any proofs accepting awards of Rodchenkov?"
SOT, Sir Craig Reedie, WADA President (English): "No, the first time I heard of this was when somebody sent me copies of the New York Times newspaper."
SOT, Travis Tygart, USADA CEO (English): "Umm yeah, I sure do. When I was in Russia he was my host."
SOT, Vladimir Kuznetsov, journalist (English): "As you know, we took third place in Olympic Games in Sochi in biathlon, when Russia took first place. We do not satisfacted and want to change results because of his interview."
SOT, Travis Tygart, USADA CEO (English): "Yeah yeah, no it's very fluid and I know WADA's investigation is moving quick. I'll certainly do what I can do. It's kind of out of our jurisdiction, in WADA's hands at the moment but feel free to tell your president that we appreciate his interest and that we've been in touch and that we'll do what we can do as this thing continues to move forward. I suspect it will take a little bit of time, we would hope, hopefully before Rio all things will be made known and then the process of reallocation of medals will flow from that."
SOT, Vladimir Kuznetsov, journalist (English): "So how do you think: does Russian team should take part in Olympic Games?"
SOT, Travis Tygart, USADA CEO (English): "I think, our position right now is for track and field yes. We don't believe that they should be there."
Russia's NTV claims it exposed that there was "no evidence except [whistle-blower Grigory] Rodchenkov" that Russian athletes were doping themselves, by making two prank calls to anti-doping chiefs. Footage released on Friday shows Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov in Moscow, calling WADA president Sir Craig Reedie and USADA's Travis Tygart, while both Kuznetsov and Stolyarov pretended to be Ukraine's Minister of Sport Igor Zhdanov.
In the show Sir Craig is heard responding to the question on whether he had any evidence apart from the testimony of Rodchenkov. He answered: "no, the first time I heard of this was when somebody sent me copies of the New York Times."
Travis Tygart was recorded under the same ruse and when asked if he knew Rodchenkov, he answered: "yeah, I sure do. When I was in Russia he was my host." Alexei Stolyarov then asked: "does the Russian team should take part in Olympic Games?" Tygart answered: "I think - our position right now is for track and field yes. We don't believe that they should be there."
The recordings were made according to NTV on May 28, but were held back in case they unduly influenced Russia's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS). The broadcaster claimed on its website that the show revealed the 'behind the scenes of the dirty political struggle' set up to prevent Russia from participating in the Olympics.
Grigory Rodchenkov headed-up a Russian anti-doping laboratory and claims to have helped Russian Olympic athletes improve on their performances by doping and switching urine samples to evade detection. He revealed much of his activities to the New York Times in an article published in May of this year and alleged that Russia's security service assisted in removing failed results.
The CAS appeal was filed by the Russian Olympic Committee on behalf of 68 track-and-field athletes who were banned from competing due to the suspension of the All-Russian Athletics Federation.
The IAAF took action following multiple World Anti-Doping Agency allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia. The country could now face a blanket ban by the International Olympic Committee which said its decision would be guided by the outcome of the CAS verdict. Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko confirmed that many officials have already been removed from their posts and pledged an independent investigation.
Credit: NTV