Ryhall said suggests that this is because many athletes potentially use Therapeutic Use Exemptions as a means to cheat, rather than state-sponsored doping Russia has been plagued with.
Ryhall said that “I think they [Russia] should be allowed back into the Olympics and the politics of it all… they’re demonised”.
She also thinks Team Sky “breached an ethical line”.
“There’s lots of unanswered questions in relation to transparency, data collection and recording which appears to have gone missing.
“I think that there’s a degree of gamesmanship, I think if they didn’t cheat by breaking rules, then there’s been questionable methods relating to TUE’s.
“Athletes argue they need this for medical reasons but arguably the might not have, but certainly not in those quantities.”
“If the rules say you can’t use substance ‘x’, then you can’t use substance ‘x’.
In order to ‘stop the rot’, Ryhall believes a greater control over risk assessments:
“If an athlete knows they are definitely going to get caught cheating, they won’t do it – it’s not worth it.
“If there’s a 5% chance, then they might think ‘it’s worth the risk’.
“Elite sport is always trying to get the extra edge, unfortunately they’ll do whatever is necessary to do that even if it means walking along the line, without falling over it.
“If there’s more money ensuring you’re less likely to get away with it then athletes won’t do it.
“They won’t not do it for moral reasons, there’s been studies where I’ve asked elite athletes would they take a substance where they’re more likely to die in five years’ time but you’d be the best person in your sport and win everything, most athletes responded ‘yes’.
“That is how much sport means to them.”
Ryhall’s statements condemn modern athletics, similar to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s report on combatting doping.
