--- title: Russian Sports Minister Apologizes for Athlete Doping description: Russia’s Minister of Sport on Sunday said he is “ashamed” of the country’s athletes who have broken anti-doping rules canonical: https://time.com/4336536/russian-sports-minister-apologizes-doping/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-15T20:17:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:37:50.964Z article:section: Sports og:title: Russian Sports Minister Apologizes Over Athlete Doping Scandal Ahead of Olympics og:description: "We are ashamed of them" og:url: https://time.com/4336536/russian-sports-minister-apologizes-doping/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e4eca6dbeb8132d/6988933e0b72e3b7436e9628/vitaly-mutko-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Russian Sports Minister Mutko speaks to media during news conference following meeting held to hear reports and elect new officials of Russia's Athletics Federation in Moscow og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Russian Sports Minister Apologizes Over Athlete Doping Scandal Ahead of Olympics twitter:description: "We are ashamed of them" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e4eca6dbeb8132d/6988933e0b72e3b7436e9628/vitaly-mutko-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Russian Sports Minister Apologizes Over Athlete Doping Scandal Ahead of Olympics > Sponsored content. 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Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko speaks during a news conference in Moscow on Jan. 16, 2016.Maxim Shemetov—Reuters  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan May 15, 2016 8:17 PM UTC Russia’s Minister of Sport on Sunday said he is [“ashamed” of the country’s athletes who have broken anti-doping rules](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sport-doping-russia-minister-idUSKCN0Y60BL) and pleaded for Russia’s athletes to be allowed to compete in the upcoming Olympics. Vitaly Mutko penned an apology that was published in Britain’s Sunday _Times_, acknowledging that “[serious mistakes](http://time.com/4108526/russia-doping-problem/?iid=sr-link2)” were made by the federation management, athletes and coaches in dealing with the doping problem. “We are ashamed of them,” he wrote. “We are very sorry that athletes who tried to deceive us, and the world, were not caught sooner,” he added. “We are very sorry because Russia is committed to upholding the highest standards in sport and is opposed to anything that threatens the Olympic values.” Russia’s track and field athletes were suspended from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) after several Russian athletes were caught using banned performance-enhanced substances, Reuters reports. The IAAF is set to determine the team’s fate in June, about two months before the [Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games](https://www.rio2016.com/en) begin, according to [_USA Today._](http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2016/05/15/russia-has-doping-problem-and-is-sorry-says-minister/84408902/) “We will do everything humanly possible to ensure our athletes are a part of clean, fair and enthralling Games,” Mutko pledged. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4336536/russian-sports-minister-apologizes-doping/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4336536/russian-sports-minister-apologizes-doping/"},"headline":"Russian Sports Minister Apologizes Over Athlete Doping Scandal Ahead of Olympics","datePublished":"2016-05-15T20:17:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:37:50.964Z","description":"\"We are ashamed of them\"","url":"https://time.com/4336536/russian-sports-minister-apologizes-doping/","keywords":["russia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e4eca6dbeb8132d/6988933e0b72e3b7436e9628/vitaly-mutko-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e4eca6dbeb8132d/6988933e0b72e3b7436e9628/vitaly-mutko-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Russian Sports Minister Mutko speaks to media during news conference following meeting held to hear reports and elect new officials of Russia's Athletics Federation in Moscow","caption":"Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko speaks to the media during a news conference following a meeting held to hear reports and elect new officials of Russia's Athletics Federation (ARAF) in Moscow, Russia, January 16, 2016. 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