"Overwhelming portions of the allegations have been found by the independent commission to be true," he said.

"We want to congratulate the reporter who put it together, Hajo Seppelt, and ARD on a very fine piece of investigative journalism which has led to this unique opportunity to make some progress against doping in sport.

"The commission also wants to congratulate the individuals who were brave enough to be whistleblowers, who knew that the response would be attacks on their character."

Pound said the commission had fed additional evidence – which doesn't appear in the full report – to French prosecutors to help their ongoing investigation, and that this material would be released to the public before the end of the year.

"It's pretty disturbing," said Pound. "It's disappointing to see the nature and extent of this and that it couldn't have happened without everyone knowing about it. It has the result of affecting the results on the field of play.

"It may be a residue of the old Soviet Union system."

Pound didn't rule out that Russia could compete in the Olympics next year, "if they do the surgery and do the therapy".

"I hope they can get there," he said. "The plan is not to exclude people from the Olympics if you can avoid that."

Asked whether current Coe was the right man to solve the problems with doping in athletics, Pound said: "I think he is – you have to draw a line between post-election and pre-election.

"I think he is someone who can grasp this and bring about some change. I hope so because he is at risk if he doesn't."

Asked whether the report has uncovered state-sponsored doping, Pound said: "Yes. I don't see how you could call it anything else."