Athletics truly lies in tatters. An extraordinary World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report has confirmed systemic, institutionalised doping involving Russian athletes, coaches/trainers, doctors, bureaucrats and even the secret police. The commission goes on to strongly recommend that Russia be blocked from participating in the 2016 Rio Olympics till the country’s anti-doping controls are rectified, and five athletes and five coaches banned for life. The inquiry also recommends that the anti-doping lab in Moscow lose its accreditation because it indulged in “intentional and malicious destruction” of more than 1,400 blood and urine samples despite WADA’s formal notification to preserve them.