The Soviet nation looks set to be prevented from sending a team to Rio following widespread allegations of state-sponsored drug use, although ‘clean’ athletes may be able to compete under the International Olympic Committee banner.
Jerseyman Campbell, who ran for Great Britain in the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics before competing in the 1976 Winter Olympics as a bobsledder, says recent news unveiling the extent of government-funded doping schemes is no surprise.
‘I think they should have been banned years ago, quite frankly,’ said the former 800m British record holder.
‘It is widely known that Russians and previously the East Germans were notorious for drugs, and there’s no question it was down to the individual athletes doing as they were told by their federations. It has been going on for decades, not just a few years … but now it has become far more state-aided, as far as Russia are concerned, with the deliberate hiding of positive tests.’
Full interview in Friday’s JEP.
