President Vladimir Putin Tuesday signed a law that introduces prison terms for coaches and medical staff who coerce athletes into using banned performance-enhancing drugs. The law comes into force as Russia is working to clean up its image tarnished by evidence of state-sponsored doping that saw its athletics team and entire Paralympics squad excluded from the Rio Games this summer. The legislation calls for a one-year jail term for officials who force a minor to dope or resort to violence and threats to make an athlete dope. The Russian parliament and senate approved the draft law earlier this month. The law does not outline any punishments for athletes who are identified as drug cheats, with lawmakers saying further legislation is planned. Revelation of widespread state-backed doping in Russia was contained in the McLaren report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and released in the build-up to the Rio Games. Russian authorities have denied the existence of a state-run doping program and have vowed to crack down on doping. WADA's Deputy Director Rob Koehler said Sunday that the campaign to reform Russia's anti-doping program was "on the right track." Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov said this month that the country had cleaned up its doping problem and should now be allowed to take part in all international competitions. The second part of the McLaren report covering doping across Russian sport is expected to be released on Dec. 9. Agapitov is weightlifting federation chief Maxim Agapitov has been elected president of the Russian Weightlifting Federation (RWF), the organization said on its website Tuesday. Sergei Syrtsov, who had been in charge since 2010, quit in September after taking the blame for a large number of doping offences involving the country's weightlifters. The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) banned Russian weightlifters in July from competing at this year's Olympic Games. Three Russian weightlifters were among athletes stripped Monday of Olympic medals won at the London Games in 2012. Agapitov, who had been acting RWF President, was standing for election against Mikhail Stepanyants, the first Vice President of the Russian Curling Federation. Agapitov received 43 votes from the 68 delegates.
