Russia Banned for Two Years after Failed Doping Test
Russia has been banned from participating in all spring activating activities after a failed dope test. A doping scandal was raised against them and investigation carried on them and they were found guilty by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The ban still prevents them from competing in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, set to be held next year, and football’s 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Russia was initially given a four-year ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Cas said the reduction of the ban should not be seen “as any validation” of their conduct.
The ban will now run until 16 December 2022. Wada declared Russia’s Anti Doping Agency (Rusada) non-compliant for manipulating laboratory data handed over to investigators in January 2019.
They were told to hand over data to Wada as a condition of its controversial reinstatement in 2018 after a three-year suspension for its vast state-sponsored doping scandal.
Reports from Cas showed how they manipulated test results, they released a statement which said: “The panel has imposed consequences to reflect the nature and seriousness of the non-compliance and to ensure that the integrity of sport against the scourge of doping is maintained.”
Cas also said: “It has considered matters of proportionality and, in particular, the need to effect cultural change and encourage the next generation of Russian athletes to participate in clean international sport.”
Also, they will no longer host any international event during the ban period. When Wada announced its sanction last December, Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev said the ban was part of “chronic anti-Russian hysteria”.
Athletes who can prove they are untainted by the doping scandal will be able to compete under a neutral flag. A total number of 168 of their athletes competed under a neutral flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
