Russia banned from all global sport including 2020 OIympics and 2022 World Cup finals

Authored by news.sky.com and submitted by Mistermiyagi93

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has imposed a four-year ban on Russia from all global sport, including the 2020 Olympics and the 2022 World Cup finals.

WADA's executive committee took the decision after concluding Moscow had tampered with laboratory data.

The agency found Russia planted fake evidence and deleted files linked to positive doping tests that could have helped identify drug cheats.

Russia has 21 days to appeal the decision through the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Sky's sports correspondent Martha Kelner has said the country is expected to appeal.

Individual Russian athletes untainted by the scandal will still be able to compete in competitions independently under a neutral flag.

It is unclear whether those who play team sports such as football will be able to play under a neutral flag.

Jonathan Taylor QC, chair of the compliance review committee (CRC), said: "There will be no Russian flag at the events that are covered (by the ban).

"There will not be a Russian flag and the athletes will not be participating as representatives of Russia.

"The details from sport to sport will have to differ because some are team sports, some are individual sports, so there is going to have to be a case by case basis."

Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov said after the judgement: "Everything possible was done to resolve this situation. Everything possible."

WADA said its decision was unanimous and its president Sir Craig Reedie accused Russia of choosing "deception and denial" rather than getting its house in order.

Sir Craig said: "The ExCo's (executive committee) strong decision today shows WADA's determination to act resolutely in the face of the Russian doping crisis, thanks to the agency's robust investigatory capability, the vision of the CRC, and WADA's recently acquired ability to recommend meaningful sanctions via the compliance standard which entered into effect in April 2018.

"Combined, these strengths have enabled the ExCo to make the right decisions at the right time.

"For too long, Russian doping has detracted from clean sport. The blatant breach by the Russian authorities of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency's (RUSADA) reinstatement conditions, approved by the ExCo in September 2018, demanded a robust response.

"That is exactly what has been delivered today. Russia was afforded every opportunity to get its house in order and rejoin the global anti-doping community for the good of its athletes and of the integrity of sport, but it chose instead to continue in its stance of deception and denial."

Russia has been hit with the ban after agreeing to allow WADA investigators into its laboratory in Moscow.

The investigators found that data there had been manipulated.

Russia will still be able to compete at the Euro 2020 football tournament next summer, which it has qualified for and is a tournament host with games due to be played at St Petersburg.

Will Putin's tactics be his downfall?

European football's governing body does not fall under the definition of a "major events organisation" under the international compliance code.

Russia has been banned from competing as a nation in athletics since 2015 when it was first declared non-compliant.

UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) welcomed the ban on Russia in a statement by saying it was the "only possible outcome".

UKAD chief executive Nicole Sapstead said: "We welcome today's decision to declare RUSADA non-compliant, and the decisive action by WADA's executive committee to impose four-year sanctions on Russian athletes and support personnel.

"This was the only possible outcome that the WADA ExCo could take to reassure athletes and the public and continue the task of seeking justice for those cheated by Russian athletes.

"We know however that this is not necessarily the end of the matter. If RUSADA choose to appeal this decision to CAS, this must be carried out with minimal delay, especially in light of the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

"We welcome the clear and detailed communication from WADA today which is vital in helping to maintain confidence in the global anti-doping system."

smokingace182 on December 9th, 2019 at 11:12 UTC »

Remind me how the fuck they got to hold the World Cup again.

YnwaMquc2k19 on December 9th, 2019 at 11:00 UTC »

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has imposed a four-year ban on Russia from all global sport, including the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Individual Russian athletes untainted by the scandal will still be able to compete in competitions independently under a neutral flag.

WADA's executive committee took the decision after concluding Moscow had tampered with laboratory data. The agency found Russia planted fake evidence and deleted files linked to positive doping tests that could have helped identify drug cheats. Russia has 21 days to appeal the decision through the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Sky's sports correspondent Martha Kelner has said the country is expected to appeal. She continued: "(WADA's) decision in many ways is not a surprise because it comes after the recommendation of WADA's compliance review committee. It all relates to this doping scandal which has engulfed international sport for the last few years.”

"Russia, at the height of that systematic doping programme, were hoodwinking the world. We heard how they passed dirty urine samples through the wall of a toilet at the Sochi Olympics in 2014 and switched them with clean samples. That was how cynical this doping programme was."

More from BBC:

Wada's executive committee made the unanimous decision in a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Wada president Sir Craig Reedie said the decision showed its "determination to act resolutely in the face of the Russian doping crisis". He added: "For too long, Russian doping has detracted from clean sport. The blatant breach by the Russian authorities of Rusada's reinstatement conditions demanded a robust response. That is exactly what has been delivered. Russia was afforded every opportunity to get its house in order and re-join the global anti-doping community for the good of its athletes and of the integrity of sport, but it chose instead to continue in its stance of deception and denial."

But Wada vice-president Linda Helleland said the ban was "not enough". "I wanted sanctions that can not be watered down," she said. "We owe it to the clean athletes to implement the sanctions as strongly as possible."

It comes after Russia's Anti Doping Agency (Rusada) was declared non-compliant for manipulating laboratory data handed over to investigators in January 2019. It had 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.

A total of 168 Russian athletes competed under a neutral flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang after the country was banned following the 2014 Games, which it hosted in Sochi. Russian athletes won 33 medals in Sochi, 13 of which were gold. Russia has been banned from competing as a nation in athletics since 2015.

Russia has been banned from competing as a nation in athletics since 2015. Despite the ban, Russia will be able to compete at Euro 2020 - in which St Petersburg will be a host city - as European football's governing body Uefa is not defined as a 'major event organisation' with regards to rulings on anti-doping breaches.

Rusada was initially declared non-compliant in November 2015 after a Wada-commissioned report by sports lawyer Professor Richard McLaren alleged widespread corruption that amounted to state-sponsored doping in Russian track and field athletics. A further report, published in July 2016, declared Russia operated a state-sponsored doping programme for four years across the "vast majority" of summer and winter Olympic sports.

In 2018, Wada reinstated Rusada as compliant after the national agency agreed to release data from its Moscow laboratory from the period between January 2012 and August 2015. However, positive findings contained in a version courtesy of a whistleblower in 2017 were missing from the January 2019 data, which prompted a new inquiry.

Wada's compliance review committee (CRC) recommended a raft of measures based "in particular" on a forensic review of inconsistencies found in some of that data. As part of the ban, Russia may not host, or bid for or be granted the right to host any major events for four years, including the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Here’s WADA’s procédure should Russia accept or (definitely) reject this decision: https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2019-12/wada-clarifies-next-steps-of-the-rusada-compliance-process

calibrono on December 9th, 2019 at 10:36 UTC »

Should've done it years ago. Cheating at this level (government level) should get you banned from any serious competition. Russia went through all backup plans, even withholding critical information from experts and then claiming a defector deleted it. Turns out this was fake too. Fuck them.

Sucks for all the honest russian athletes out there (and there are quite a few I imagine), but at least they can perform without a flag.