“It's pretty disturbing. It's worse than we thought," says the head of an inquiry into signs that Russian track and field athletes use banned drugs to give them an edge in major events. A commission set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency accuses Russia's government of allowing or authorizing widespread doping and cover-ups by its runners, hurdlers, pole vaulters, javelin tossers and other track competitors. In response, Russia's track and field federation is suspended by the sport’s international governing body -- opening the possibility that its athletes can't enter next summer's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Last Friday's action by the International Association of Athletics Federations marks the first time it suspended a nation because of doping concerns.

After investigating for 11 months and getting evidence from whistleblowers, the anti-doping commission in Geneva says six Russians shouldn't have competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London because blood tests showed banned substances. Two of them were runners who won gold and bronze medals. According to the findings, a Russian sports lab director covered up positive test results, took bribes from athletes and destroyed 1,417 samples before inspectors visited. The world body bars future results from the lab, whose director resigned a day after the accusations.

The world agency recommends lifetime bans from international sporting events for five Russian athletes, five coaches and one doctor. "It would be naive in the extreme to conclude that activities on the scale discovered could have occurred without the explicit or tacit approval of Russian governmental authorities," the study report says. In response, Russia’s sports minister claims his country is unfairly targeted. "Doping is not the problem of Russia," Mutko says in Moscow. "Russia shouldn't be singled out. It's a world problem."

Monitoring official says: "The outcome may be that there are no Russian track and field athletes in Rio." – Dick Pound, chairman of World Anti-Doping Agency commission that investigated

Russia says: "As long as there is no evidence, it is difficult to consider the accusations, which appear rather unfounded." – Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin

British columnist says: "Russia should be banned from participation in the summer and winter Olympics for a full decade." -- Brent Budowsky, The Observer newspaper (London)