WADA Bans Russia From Global Sporting Events For Four Years Over Doping

9th December 2019

A spokesperson for WADA, whose executive committee is meeting in Lausanne, said: "The full list of recommendations have been unanimously accepted."

A woman smokes in front of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) headquarters in Moscow on November 26, 2019. Russia's anti-doping chief said on November 26, 2019 he expected the country to be barred from all sporting competition for four years, after a bombshell recommendation from the World Anti-Doping Agency that shocked Russian athletes. WADA's Compliance Review Committee recommended the ban on Monday, accusing Moscow of falsifying laboratory data handed over to investigators. It recommended Russia also face a four-year ban from staging or bidding for major international sporting events -- potentially putting Saint Petersburg's status as a venue for the Euro 2020 football tournament in jeopardy. PHOTO | AFP
A woman smokes in front of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) headquarters in Moscow on November 26, 2019. Russia's anti-doping chief said on November 26, 2019 he expected the country to be barred from all sporting competition for four years, after a bombshell recommendation from the World Anti-Doping Agency that shocked Russian athletes. WADA's Compliance Review Committee recommended the ban on Monday, accusing Moscow of falsifying laboratory data handed over to investigators. It recommended Russia also face a four-year ban from staging or bidding for major international sporting events -- potentially putting Saint Petersburg's status as a venue for the Euro 2020 football tournament in jeopardy. PHOTO | AFP
SUMMARY
  • The World Anti-Doping Agency on Monday banned Russia from global sporting events including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
  • The ruling means Russian athletes will still be allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics as neutrals, but only if they can demonstrate that they were not part of what WADA believes was a state-sponsored system of doping

LAUSANNE, Switzerland- The World Anti-Doping Agency on Monday banned Russia from global sporting events including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics after accusing Moscow of falsifying data from an anti-doping laboratory.

"The full list of recommendations have been unanimously accepted," said WADA spokesman James Fitzgerald, speaking at a meeting of the body's executive committee in Lausanne.

"WADA's executive committee approved unanimously to assert a non-compliance on the Russian anti-doping agency for a period of four years," he added.

The ruling means Russian athletes will still be allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics as neutrals, but only if they can demonstrate that they were not part of what WADA believes was a state-sponsored system of doping.

"They are going to have prove they had nothing to do with the non-compliance, (that) they were not involved in the doping schemes as described by the McLaren report, or they did not have their samples affected by the manipulation," Fitzgerald said.

The independent McLaren report, released in 2016, revealed the significant extent of state-sponsored doping in Russia, notably between 2011-15.

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