The Executive Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) decided today at its session in Lausanne to suspend Russia for four years from all sports competitions, including the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, the Winter Olympics in Beijing 2022 and the World Cup in Qatar.
This decision was made due to the violation of the World Anti-Doping Code, i.e. due to concealment of real and false tests.
This means that Russia will not formally participate in the Games. There will be no flag, no anthem will be played, no official of the Russian Olympic Committee will be able to attend the Games, and the presence of state officials will also be prohibited.
Russian athletes could compete, but only those for whom there is clear evidence that they have never had a doping affair. A similar thing happened at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games, when 168 Russian athletes competed under the title "Olympic Athletes of Russia".
The WADA Commission voted on the proposal of its own special commission. The Executive Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency did not have to accept the commission's recommendation, but both WADA and the IOC have often been criticized for their soft attitude towards Russia, even though since 2008 Russian athletes have been stripped of 30 Olympic medals due to doping.
The WADA Executive Committee has 12 members, none of whom are from Russia or the USA. At the helm is Craig Reedy, a former badminton player from Great Britain and a long-time sports administrator.
The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) can file an appeal within 21 days. In the event that the appeal is not accepted, the case may end up at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, whose decision is binding.
The IOC, on the other hand, must respect the decision of the WADA Executive Committee, as this is in accordance with the Olympic Charter.
This is not the first time that athletes from Russia have been suspended. Russian male and female athletes were, for example, suspended from the Games in Rio 2016. After the suspension from the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency was re-established, with clear rules that it must fulfill in order for Russia to be fully involved in the sporting life of major competitions. .
Until December of last year, this did not happen, the WADA Commission found, but a large number of samples were hidden, or false samples were planted, which caused a new round of suspicions.
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