Olympic Swimmer: After Russian Doping, 'No Confidence' Of Fair Competition In Rio

Published May 20, 2016 at 1:25 PM EDT

Olympic athletes from around the world are outraged at the latest doping allegations out of Russia. Earlier this week the International Olympic Committee said it retested 454 urine samples from the 2008 games in Beijing and discovered suspicious results from 31 athletes. The announcement came after an investigation from the New York Times, which showed the former head of Russia’s anti-doping lab tampered with samples to help the country’s top Olympic athletes beat drug tests.

Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson discusses Russia’s doping scandal with Here & Now’s Peter O’Dowd, who spoke with Kirsty Coventry, an Olympic swimmer from Zimbabwe. Coventry says she’s not confident the competition in Rio will be fair due to the recent doping allegations.

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Peter O’Dowd, Here & Now assistant managing editor. He tweets @odowdpeter.

(L-R) Two-time gold medal winner at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Russia's bobsledder Alexander Zubkov, Russia's Deputy Minister of Sport Yury Nagorny and gold and silver medalist at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Russia's cross country skier Alexander Legkov look on during a press conference on May 13, 2016 in Moscow.

The Kremlin on May 13 dismissed claims that dozens of Russian athletes including at least 15 medallists at the 2014 Winter Olympics were part of an extensive state-run doping programme, saying the allegations, produced by former head of Russia's anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, were unsubstantiated slander by a "defector".
/ AFP / VASILY MAXIMOV (Photo credit should read VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images) — (L-R) Two-time gold medal winner at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Russia's bobsledder Alexander Zubkov, Russia's Deputy Minister of Sport Yury Nagorny and gold and silver medalist at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Russia's cross country skier Alexander Legkov look on during a press conference on May 13, 2016 in Moscow. The Kremlin on May 13 dismissed claims that dozens of Russian athletes including at least 15 medallists at the 2014 Winter Olympics were part of an extensive state-run doping programme, saying the allegations, produced by former head of Russia's anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, were unsubstantiated slander by a "defector". / AFP / VASILY MAXIMOV (Photo credit should read VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Olympic Swimmer: After Russian Doping, 'No Confidence' Of Fair Competition In Rio

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