Share
LAUSANNE, Switzerland โ Russia was slapped Monday with a four-year ban from international sports events, including next summerโs Tokyo Olympics, over a longstanding doping scandal, although its athletes will still be able to compete if they can show they are clean competitors.
The sanctions are the harshest punishment yet for Russian state authorities who were accused of tampering with a Moscow laboratory database. Russiaโs anti-doping agency can appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within 21 days โ an action it has signaled it would take.
โRussia was afforded every opportunity to get its house in order โฆ but it chose instead to continue in its stance of deception and denial,โ WADA president Craig Reedie said.
Russian athletes can compete in major events only if they are not implicated in positive doping tests or if their data was not manipulated, according to the WADA ruling.
For soccerโs 2022 World Cup, WADA said the Russian team will play under its name in the qualifying program in Europe. If it qualifies to play in Qatar, the team name must be changed to something neutral that likely would not include the word โRussia.โ
At the past two track and field world championships, Russians competed as โAuthorized Neutral Athlete.โ A softer line was taken ahead of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games, when the International Olympic Committee suspended the Russian Olympic body yet allowed athletes and teams to compete as โOlympic Athlete from Russia.โ

The Latest Round of Sanctions Were Imposed Because of Tampering
Going forward, โthey cannot use the name of the country in the name of the team,โ WADA president-elect Witold Baลka told The Associated Press.
Legal fallout from the WADA ruling at CAS seems sure to dominate preparations for the Tokyo Olympics, which open July 24.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev urged sports organizations to appeal and said WADAโs ruling was โa continuation of this anti-Russian hysteria which has already become chronic.โ
The latest round of sanctions were imposed because tampering with the Moscow data was a new violation of anti-doping rules committed as recently as January.
Handing over a clean database to WADA was a key requirement given to Russia 15 months ago to help bring closure to a scandal that has tainted the Olympics over the last decade.
WADA investigators and the IOC agreed that evidence showed Russian authorities corrupted data from the Moscow lab that was long sealed by security forces. Hundreds of potential doping cases were deleted and evidence falsely planted to shift the blame onto whistleblowers.
โFlagrant manipulationโ of the data was โan insult to the sporting movement worldwide,โ the IOC said last month.
Athletes whose data was manipulated in the 2012-15 testing period now face disciplinary cases by their sportโs governing body.
The Decision to Appeal Has Been Stripped From RUSADA Chief Executive
โYes, we do know who those athletes are. They will be kept out of the (Tokyo) Games,โ said British lawyer Jonathan Taylor, chairman of the WADA panel whose proposed sanctions were unanimously approved Monday.
โIโm not happy with the decision we made today. But this is as far as we could go,โ said Linda Helleland, a Norwegian lawmaker who has long pushed for a tougher line against Russia. โThis is the biggest sports scandal the world has ever seen. I would expect now a full admission from the Russians and for them to apologize on all the pain all the athletes and sports fans have experienced.โ
Although the IOC has called for the strongest possible sanctions, it wants those sanctions directed at Russian state authorities rather than athletes or Olympic officials.
That position was opposed by most of WADAโs athlete commission. It wanted the kind of blanket ban Russia avoided for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games when a state-run doping program was exposed by media and WADA investigations after Russia hosted the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.
The decision to appeal has been stripped from RUSADA chief executive Yuri Ganus, an independent figure criticizing Russian authoritiesโ conduct on the doping data issue. Authority was passed to the agencyโs supervisory board after an intervention led by the Russian Olympic Committee.
The ROC on Saturday labeled the expected sanctions as โillogical and inappropriate.โ

Sports Fans Worldwide Will Still Be Watching Top-Tier Events From Russia
Russia has stuck to its claim that deceptive edits in the data were in fact made by WADAโs star witness, Grigory Rodchenkov. The former Moscow lab directorโs flight into the witness protection program in the United States was the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary.
โAs usual, Russia has disregarded all of its promises and obligations to clean sport,โ Rodchenkov said Monday in a statement from his lawyers.
Sports fans worldwide will still be watching top-tier events from Russia in the next four years despite the hosting ban.
In soccer, St. Petersburg will still host four games at the 2020 European Championship and the 2021 Champions League final, because European soccer body UEFA is not bound by the ruling. Nor is the Formula 1 racing series, which goes to Sochiโs Olympic Park for a race each year.
โThe contract is valid through 2025,โ Russian Grand Prix spokeswoman Tatyana Rivnaya told the AP in a telephone interview.
World championships in lower-profile Olympic sports โ including luge in two months and wrestling in 2022 โ could stay in Russia due to legal difficulties moving them.
โThere will be practical issues,โ Taylor acknowledged, โand we canโt ignore those.โ
However, Taylor said a block on Russia bidding for or being awarded sports events in the next four years would have a longer effect beyond the ban.
[activecampaign form=29]
Pentagonโs Watchdog to Review Hegsethโs Use of Signal App to Convey Plans for Houthi Strike
6 hours ago
President Trumpโs Tariffs Could Be the Political Tipping Point
7 hours ago
Order That Kept Water in the Kern River Reversed by 5th District Court of Appeal
7 hours ago
Trump Tariff Fears Erase $2 Trillion From US Stocks
2 hours ago
Senate Confirms Mehmet Oz to Take Lead of Medicare and Medicaid Agency
4 hours ago
First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close
5 hours ago
Pence Will Receive the Profile in Courage Award From the JFK Library for His Actions on Jan. 6
6 hours ago
Pentagonโs Watchdog to Review Hegsethโs Use of Signal App to Convey Plans for Houthi Strike
6 hours ago
President Trumpโs Tariffs Could Be the Political Tipping Point
7 hours ago
Order That Kept Water in the Kern River Reversed by 5th District Court of Appeal
7 hours ago
Trump Tariff Fears Erase $2 Trillion From US Stocks
2 hours ago
Senate Confirms Mehmet Oz to Take Lead of Medicare and Medicaid Agency
4 hours ago
First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close
5 hours ago
Pence Will Receive the Profile in Courage Award From the JFK Library for His Actions on Jan. 6
6 hours ago
Pentagonโs Watchdog to Review Hegsethโs Use of Signal App to Convey Plans for Houthi Strike
6 hours ago
President Trumpโs Tariffs Could Be the Political Tipping Point
7 hours ago
Order That Kept Water in the Kern River Reversed by 5th District Court of Appeal
7 hours ago

Trump Fires NSC Officials a Day After Far-Right Activist Raises Concerns to Him

China Halts Approvals for New US Investment Projects

Trump Tariff Fears Erase $2 Trillion From US Stocks

Senate Confirms Mehmet Oz to Take Lead of Medicare and Medicaid Agency
