A ban of Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics and possibly the 2020 Tokyo summer Games should be considered if there was state-run doping in the country, Germany’s Olympic Committee chief Alfons Hoermann said yesterday.

Leaders of 19 anti-doping agencies also called for a blanket ban on Russia from all international sport with the second part of Richard McLaren’s report for WADA exposing the huge scale of state-sponsored doping and cover-ups in the country.

“Major sanctions are now needed, there is no doubt about that. There has to be a clear signal,” Hoermann said.

“Should it be confirmed that there was state doping in Russia and that the Russian Olympic Committee violated the IOC Charter then for me a complete ban of the entire Olympic team for Pyeongchang 2018 and possibly Tokyo 2020 should be an issue for the IOC.”

Russian track and field athletes were already prohibited from travelling to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics last year over the doping affair.

But the IOC stopped short from banning the entire Russian Olympic team despite mounting calls to do so, in the end allowing close to 300 athletes, who were cleared by their international federations, to compete.

Russia’s athletics ban has continued into 2017 and may include the August World Championships after a Task Force monitoring the nation’s anti-doping programme refused last month to put any dates on a “road map” for a return.