Russia Banned From Olympics and Global Sports for 4 Years Over Doping

But he offered a concession. “The Russian side, too, — by that I mean our sports community — still has significant problems with doping,” he said. “This is undeniable.”

The WADA board agreed to a suite of punishments detailed in a report from a committee led by the British lawyer Jonathan Taylor that it received late last month. The penalties include forcing Russian athletes who have not been implicated in doping to compete at a second consecutive Olympic Games in neutral uniforms and to collect any medals they win without the raising of the nation’s flag or the playing of its anthem.

They also bar Russian government officials and representatives from attending major events or from serving on the board of any organization that has signed the global antidoping code, prevent Russia from bidding on new championships, and require moving any international events the country was set to host during the four-year period.

Linda Helleland, a Norwegian who is the outgoing vice president of the antidoping agency, expressed frustration at the decision, saying she wanted the punishment to ensure that Russian athletes would not be able to compete independently, as they did in South Korea, during the ban.

But Helleland said that was not an option for what she called “the biggest sports scandal the world has ever seen,” because the board was limited to two choices: Agree with the punishments recommended by Taylor’s committee, or reject them.

“I am not happy with the decision we made today,” Helleland told reporters at the conclusion of the hourlong meeting. “This was as far as we could go.”

Travis T. Tygart, the chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, said: “To allow Russia to escape a complete ban is yet another devastating blow to clean athletes, the integrity of sport and the rule of law. And, in turn, the reaction by all those who value sport should be nothing short of a revolt against this broken system to force reform.”