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Russia Faces New Olympics Ban In Doping Saga

By RFE/RL December 08, 2019

Russia is facing sweeping sanctions in connection with another doping-linked scandal when the executive committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) meets on December 9.

A WADA panel last month recommended to ban Russia from global competition for four years, including next year's Olympics in Tokyo, after "inconsistencies" were found in laboratory data provided to the agency.

Doping allegations have plagued the country since the revelation of large-scale state-sponsored doping aimed at improving its medal performance at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi.

In September 2018, WADA lifted the suspension of the Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA that had been in place for three years on condition that Russia hand over doping data and samples from 2012 to 2015.

But WADA's Compliance Review Committee on November 25 accused Russia of falsifying some of the data provided by a Moscow laboratory in January, and proposed to impose a four-year ban on RUSADA and to exclude the country from major sporting competitions.

The final decision will rest with WADA's executive committee when it gathers in Paris on December 9.

If the committee adopts the recommendations, Russia would be denied its flag and anthem at events including the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo and 2022 Winter Games in Beijing -- just as they were absent from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the past two track-and-field world championships.

Russian athletes could compete as neutrals under the Olympic flag if they are not linked to positive doping tests or the data corruption.

WADA could also impose a four-year ban on Russia hosting, bidding for, or being awarded major sporting events such as the 2032 Summer Olympics.

Sports bodies would then be required to move events that had already been awarded, except if "it is legally or practically impossible" to move them.

Other consequences could be banning Russian government representatives and other officials from attending major sporting events.

RUSADA will have 21 days to challenge WADA's decisions with the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Other interested parties could also appeal to the court in Lausanne, whose rulings will be binding on the International Olympic Committee and other sports bodies.

Russia has lashed back at the proposed sanctions, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying they amounted to one more Western effort to sideline Russia.

"There are those who want to put Russia in a defensive position accused of pretty much everything in every sphere of international life -- conflicts, economics, energy, gas pipelines, arms sales," Lavrov has said.

However, RUSADA chief Yury Ganus has called the proposed punishments "justified."

With reporting by dpa and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-faces-new- olympics-ban-in-doping-saga/30314325.html

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.