Richard McLaren called Russia's state-directed cheating programme the "disappearing positive methodology" on Monday as he confirmed it lasted for at least four years.

SOUNDBITE (English) Richard McLaren, head of WADA commission investigating doping by Russian athletes:
"Upon embarking on our investigation we soon discovered a wider means of concealing positive doping results than what had been described for Sochi in the New York Times article. We uncovered a system that ensured if any of the lead performing athletes who were doped did not achieve protection by the various in-the-field mechanisms in place during the sample collection and transportation process, and previously described by the three person investigation committee, then their doping would be covered up at the laboratory stage. The Moscow lab's 'disappearing positive methodology', as we have dubbed it, was the state's fail-safe strategy. The system was set up after Russian authorities felt it was an abysmal medal count by the Russian Olympic team at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and it was in place until at least August of 2015. In essence, the 'disappearing positive methodology' allowed for the transformation of positive analytical results into a negative one by an order from the Deputy Minister of Sport that the operational analytical processes of the Moscow laboratory be altered and a false record filed with WADA (The World Anti-Doping Agency) and in the laboratory records."