Russia has once again been banned from competing in international sporting events over a sustained state-sponsored cheating scheme involving banned performance enhancing drugs.
On Dec. 11, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), overseen by the International Olympic Committee, banned Russia for four years from all sporting events, including the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The new ban comes just over a year after the country returned to international sporting after an earlier ban.
The new decisions are a response to Russia’s failure to address the cheating scheme, in which athletes’ contaminated urine samples were switched with clean ones during doping probes. According to a 2016 report, the Russian state actively aided the scheme, thereby allowing Russian athletes who used banned performance enhancing substances to compete in international competitions.
The report stated that “beyond a reasonable doubt,” Russia’s Ministry of Sports and the Federal Security Service (FSB), with the WADA-accredited laboratory in Moscow, had conspired to allow the use of illegal drugs. The discovery prompted the International Olympic Committee to strip 67 Olympic medalists of their awards.
Russia has 21 days to appeal the decision, after which the ban kicks in, stripping Russia of its flag and anthem for the next two Olympic games.
Individual athletes may still compete under the neutral Olympic flag if they meet WADA’s criteria.
What happened
In 2016, Canadian Attorney Richard McLaren was hired by WADA to investigate a potential doping scheme overseen by the Russian government.
The allegations were based on a whistleblower complaint by Grigory Rodchenkov, head of the Moscow laboratory where the probes were switched.
By then, the Russian track and field federation was already banned for drug use. According to the findings of the International Association of Athletics Federations, 146 medals, including 55 golds, were won by Russian athletes with suspicious test samples between 2001 and 2012 – a third of the total medals won by the country.
The McLaren Report, published on July 16, 2016, found that conspirators used a secret room to hide evidence of the scheme. The scheme operated from at least 2011, and more than 1,000 Russian competitors in various sports benefited from the cover-up.
The Russian anti-doping agency was subsequently banned, while over 100 Russian athletes were denied participation in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. After additional reports were made public, Russia was banned from participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Individual Russian athletes were also allowed to compete under the Olympic flag in those games.
Although the Russian anti-doping agency was reinstated in September 2018, it has now been banned once again.
“Russia was afforded every opportunity to get its house in order, but it chose instead to continue in its stance of deception and denial,” said Craig Reedie, head of WADA, after the decision was made public.
Punishment
The new sports sanctions against Russia are among the harshest ever placed on a country. WADA’s anti-doping code is ratified by over 600 sports organizations, including FIFA, the world soccer federation; FIBA, the world basketball federation; and IIHF, the world ice hockey federation.
These federations will now determine whether to also apply sanctions against Russia. However, Russia will maintain the right to participate in the 2020 European soccer championship, for which it has already qualified, and will host the 2021 Champions League finals match scheduled to take place in Saint Petersburg.
The sanctions mandate that Russia’s flag and other national symbols are banned from international competitions, the country will be denied entry into international competitions, Russian government and sport officials are banned from sports venues and Russia isn’t allowed to apply for or hold international sporting events.
While individual athletes may be allowed to participate, they must not be mentioned in the McLaren Report, must have a clean doping record and must meet additional WADA criteria to be finalized before the next major sporting event.
Russia will also cover the expenses for WADA’s investigation and pay a $100,000 fine.
