A group of the world’s leading national anti-doping organisations have called for Russia to be excluded from the next Winter Olympics over what they are calling “one of the biggest scandals in sports history”.

Allegations of state-sponsored Russian doping multiplied after a World Anti-Doping Agency commission in 2015 found that more than 1,000 Russian competitors in more than 30 sports were involved in a conspiracy to conceal positive drug tests over a period of five years.

Russia escaped a blanket ban at the 2016 Rio Olympics although it was, and remains, barred from competing in athletics.

The statement, issued after a two day meeting in Denver, was backed by anti-doping leaders from countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the USA.

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, others call for Russia Olympic ban https://t.co/wU3o9MRFyo pic.twitter.com/YACdvXbH0U— NBC OlympicTalk (@NBCOlympicTalk) 14 septembre 2017

Pyeongchang in South Korea will host the Winter Olympics in February.

The International Olympic Committee was also criticised for what the anti-doping leaders called “continuing failure in its obligations to clean sport”.

They expressed concerns about the Pyeongchang Games being clean.

with Reuters