Russian cyclists take legal action against World Anti-Doping Agency

Three Russian cyclists have filed a law suit against the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and Canadian doping investigator Dr Richard McLaren. They allege that they were "unfairly implicated" in a report on state-sponsored doping and that this led to their not being able to compete at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

The BBC reports that Kirill Sveshnikov, Dmitry Strakhov and Dmitry Sokolov had been selected in Russia’s team pursuit squad, but were banned in the wake of the McLaren report, an independent study commissioned by Wada.

While the report did not name them, the UCI confirmed in the week before the Olympics began that it had been “informed that three riders named by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to compete in Rio 2016 were potentially implicated.”

The three cyclists, who deny taking EPO, then lost an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport ahead of the Olympics.

The cyclists now say that they "suffered great reputational harm" and have filed a lawsuit in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, claiming damages.

"Together, Wada and Dr Richard McLaren prevented us from reaching our lifelong goal of participating in the Rio Olympics, the pinnacle of our sport, and we allege that they wrongly associated our names with cheaters and doping," said Sveshnikov. "We are asking the court to review all of the evidence and to vindicate us."