Athletics: Russia's athletics head coach has asked the sport's governing body, the
IAAF, and the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) for a more balanced drugs
testing programme.
Valery Kulichenko accused the IAAF of discriminating against the Russians, saying his athletes have been drug tested more often than most of their competitors.
"The IAAF's statistics don't lie, our athletes have been tested 102 times for the past month while the Americans only 41 and the Chinese a mere nine times," he said today.
"I don't understand why there is such a discrepancy."
Russia have been the sport's dominant force in Europe and are expected to challenge the United States for the medal count at the world athletics championship in Osaka, Japan in August.
Kulichenko said he would like to see better co-ordination between IAAF, Wada and other agencies involved in drugs testing.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm for thorough drugs control but there must be a good balance," he said in Tula, where he was preparing for the national championships.
"I don't understand why the Chinese are not tested as often as we are? Some of our athletes have been tested four-five times and (Olympic 800 metres champion) Yuri Borzakovsky, for example, was tested eight times in a month.
"That has to be some kind of a record," the coach said. "There's simply no time for training any more, just testing."
Kulichenko said he had asked Valentin Balakhnichyov, president of the Russian athletics federation, to raise the drug testing issue with both the IAAF and Wada.