Doping – Law Street https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com Law and Policy for Our Generation Wed, 13 Nov 2019 21:46:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8 100397344 New Report: 1,000 Russian Athletes from 30 Sports Guilty of Doping https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/sports-blog/russian-doping-program-report/ https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/sports-blog/russian-doping-program-report/#respond Sat, 10 Dec 2016 15:37:26 +0000 http://lawstreetmedia.com/?p=57505

The damaging, and thorough, report is 151 pages long.

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The Canadian lawyer whose investigation into Russia’s state-sponsored doping program resulted in over 100 Russian athletes being barred from the 2016 Rio Olympics struck again on Friday. Richard McLaren released a 151-page report, published by the World Anti-Doping Agency, implicating 1,000 Russian athletes, participating in 30 different sports, in the Kremlin’s doping schemes.

McLaren spent months combing through emails, documents, scientific, and forensic evidence from Russian officials and athletes, and published his findings in a tirelessly thorough account. He found guilty athletes who participated in Olympic Games and world championships. In the 2012 Summer Olympics in London alone, McLaren found, 15 medalists violated doping rules; ten have since been stripped of their medals.

“It is impossible to know just how deep and how far back this conspiracy goes,” McLaren said on Friday. “For years, international sports competitions have unknowingly been hijacked by the Russians.” In one of the most recent examples, McLaren documented the case of two female hockey players who participated in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Their urine samples contained male DNA.

Another technique the Russians employed in their urine tampering practices was mixing salt and coffee grains to dilute tainted samples. McLaren’s report examined 100 urine samples belonging to Russian athletes from the Sochi games. All had been tampered with, including four from gold medalists.

In response to McLaren’s report, Russia said it is “denying the existence of any state-sponsored doping programs in sports and will continue the fight against doping from the positions of ‘zero tolerance,'” according to a statement from its sports ministry. However, the statement continued, Russia “is ready to cooperate with international organizations in improving the Russian and world antidoping program.”

Many athletes are upset about the overwhelming evidence concerning Russia’s doping program. In two months, Sochi is set to host the bobsledding and skeleton championships. American athletes have discussed boycotting the event. International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said the report’s contents detailed a “fundamental attack on the integrity of sport,” in a statement.

Participating athletes “should be excluded for life from any participation from the Olympic Games in whatever capacity,” Bach continued. He said the IOC will inspect 150 urine samples from the Sochi Olympic Games that have yet to be examined.

Alec Siegel
Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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271 Russian Athletes Cleared for Rio https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/sports-blog/271-russian-athletes-cleared-rio/ https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/sports-blog/271-russian-athletes-cleared-rio/#respond Fri, 05 Aug 2016 15:34:44 +0000 http://lawstreetmedia.com/?p=54653

But Russia isn't completely in the clear.

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Hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic games in Rio, the International Olympics Committee announced that 271 Russian athletes were cleared to compete after a doping scandal disqualified nearly one-third of the country’s team.

The committee denied 118 athletes that Russia hoped to send after a report from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) last year revealed some of the team members’ involvement in a government-sanctioned doping system.

271 may sound like a lot, but the Russian Federation sent 436 athletes to the London Games in 2012, and those lucky 271 make up only about 70 percent of the 389 athletes the country hoped to send.

For many Russians, this is a preferable alternative to a blanket ban on the whole team, but Russia isn’t completely in the clear. The scandal has raised doubts about Russia’s integrity and WADA found Russian athletics to have a “deeply rooted culture of cheating at all levels.”

You can find a list of which Russian athletes are and are not allowed to compete in Rio here.

Samantha Reilly
Samantha Reilly is an editorial intern at Law Street Media. A New Jersey native, she is pursuing a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park. Contact Samantha at SReilly@LawStreetMedia.com.

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How to Get Away with Steroids: Doping on the Eve of Rio 2016 https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/issues/entertainment-and-culture/get-away-steroids-doping-eve-rio-2016/ https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/issues/entertainment-and-culture/get-away-steroids-doping-eve-rio-2016/#respond Wed, 16 Mar 2016 17:58:28 +0000 http://lawstreetmedia.com/?p=51015

The Rio games are almost here.

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"Morro do Pão de Açúcar" courtesy of [Rodrigo Soldon via Flickr]

Abeba Aregawi is one of the world’s fastest women. She is the reigning world champion in the indoor 1500m, and competed in the 2012 London Olympics, the 2013 Moscow World Championships and the 2014 World Indoor Championships in Sopot. However, it is not her athletic accomplishments that have put her in the spotlight this month–it is her suspension from running after testing positive for a banned substance. Aregawi has stated that she did not take drugs and has asked for a separate sample to be taken and tested in order to clear her name.

But as we draw closer to the 2016 Rio Olympics, professional athletes are pushing themselves harder and harder in order to compete at the highest level of their sport–even if that means bending the rules on performance-enhancing drugs. Aregawi is only one of dozens of Olympic athletes who have been accused of using banned substances in the lead up to the summer games. Just this month, a senior Ethiopian official admitted that nine of the country’s elite runners have been placed under investigation for doping. Take a look at the current state of Olympic drug regulation and what it means for Rio 2016.


Changes to Doping Regulations

This month, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced a major shift in the oversight of doping for future Olympic games. The IOC has agreed to remove itself from the oversight commission and to instead hand authority over to a group of independent sports arbitrators. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is forming a new committee of one to three doping “specialists” to oversee cases presented by athletes and officials who wish to contest charges of doping brought against them.

This transition is designed to make doping cases more equitable and independent, but the logistics involved in handing this responsibility off to a different organization are proving challenging for the IOC. The CAS is setting forth new guidelines which countries may not be able to adapt to with ease. As of now, the Brazilian anti-doping agency is not in line with CAS regulations.  If the agency can not reform its drug testing facilities by the end of the month, samples will have to be sent to facilities outside of Brazil for testing–a cumbersome task that will delay processing for athletes and could increase the risk of contamination or tampering with samples.

Banning Non-Compliant Countries

The World Anti-Doping Agency recently proposed banning Kenya from the coming Olympic games after Kenyan officials missed a deadline to implement new, stricter regulations. In the last three years alone, approximately forty Kenyan athletes have been banned from their respective sports because of doping. The threat of a ban has been looming over Kenya for months but recent talks have set April 5 as the definitive deadline to reform its doping policy if it wants to partake in the Rio Games. Lord Sebastian Coe, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), has made it clear that he is comfortable cutting Kenya from the Olympic roster. Wilson Kipsang, president of the Professional Athletes Association of Kenya and a former marathon world record holder, said in a recent statement that:

If we are banned, Kenya will never be the same again.  This is a country which has made its name as an athletics giant. We have done well in the Olympic and world championships and therefore, we should not miss out complying with the doping directives…Since the formation of Adak [the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya], the agency has never been formalised and most importantly given powers to deal with doping. It also needs legislative will from government.

Although Kipsang claims that a ban would destroy Kenya’s athletic reputation, Russia was banned from world athletics in 2015 but its expulsion has been lifted in time for the country to send its best athletes to Rio this summer. A brief hiatus from Olympic competition would be a blow to Kenyan athletes who have been training to compete this year, but it would not necessarily be as strong a punishment as the IOC and the IAAF might think. If the ban only includes a single Olympics, national teams can make minimal adjustments to their training programs and then return to doping again in the future, once they are not being scrutinized so closely. Only a long-term ban may carry sufficient enough weight to dissuade athletes from doping at the Olympic level.


Bribery in the IAAF

Despite the IAAF’s efforts to reign in corruption, there are problems within the organization itself that have tarnished its credibility. A January report on the IAAF suggests that Russia was only able to sustain its doping practices thanks to widespread corruption embedded within the organization . Former IAAF president Lamine Diack has been accused of taking bribes from Russian athletes and of planning to blackmail marathon runner Liliya Shobukhova.

There are further accusations that the IAAF accepted bribes during the bidding process for hosting the 2017 World Championships. Papa Massata Diack, the son of former President Lamine Diack, has been accused of soliciting a five million dollar payment from Qatar in exchange for securing its bid. There is no evidence that he received this payment but the fact that he asked for it reveals potential the corruption within the bidding process. Unforunately, Papa Massata Diack is currently in Senegal and cannot be formally held accountable for his actions until he is extradited back to Europe.

These scandals within the IAAF have prompted major companies such as Nestle and Adidas to withdraw from their sponsorship deals, pulling millions of dollars of funding away from world athletic events. As sponsors jump ship, Lord Sebastian Coe is left in charge of an allegedly inefficient and corrupt organization that is gradually losing its control over the athletic industry it exists to regulate.


American Icons

The United States has a grand tradition of athleticism on the world stage. Michael Phelps, history’s most decorated Olympian, is currently trying to qualify for his fifth Olympics. Yet at the same time, we have a consistent tradition of doping among our elite athletes. In 2004, cyclist Tyler Hamilton lost his gold medal after it was discovered he had been blood doping–receiving blood transfusions to improve his abilities. In 2007, gold medalist Marion Jones admitted to doping and was stripped of her medals before serving six months in jail. Just last spring, the U.S. men’s sprint relay team was stripped of their medals after the IOC discovered team member Tyson Gay had been using a product containing a banned substance.

The most famous American doping scandal to date broke in 2013, when Lance Armstrong finally admitted to sustained use of performance enhancing drugs after a 2012 investigation that resulted in a lifetime ban from professional sports and the removal of his Tour de France titles. Yet instead of fading into anonymity, Armstrong’s doping–and more specifically, how he got away with it–has become a topic of fascination for reporters and filmmakers. Athletes who are caught doping don’t always fade from the public sphere, they simply shift from the heroic narrative of the champion to the notoriety of the rule breaker. As American athletes train for Rio, it is important to remember that Kenya and Russia are not the only countries where athletes have sustained a program of performance enhancing drugs during championship events.


Conclusion

Monitoring banned substance abuse within the Olympic games is a daunting task that involves coordination between dozens of governments, sports organizations, and individual athletes. The possibility of a false positive can never be ruled out until comprehensive testing is completed but long-term doping is not a myth. Recent overhaul of the doping regulations and efforts to be stricter on countries that violate them are a step in the right direction but this progress has been undermined by the scandals within the IAAF. The United Kingdom has stepped up to the plate, requiring its athletes to agree to never represent their country if they take drugs and proposing a life-long ban on athletic competition after even a single drug offense. Other countries have yet to institute such stringent anti-doping policies, which raises troubling questions about how much national teams care about sportsmanship and equality in international competition. The Rio Olympics have already been fraught with problems, from a failure to sell tickets to fears regarding the Zika virus. A failure to address and rectify doping scandals within the competition could both disrupt the logistics of Rio 2016 and permanently destroy the reputation of the Olympic Games as an institution.


Resources

BBC: Abeba Aregawi: World 1500m Champion Fails Drugs Test

BBC: Senegal ‘Won’t Extradite’ IAAF Bribery Suspect Papa Massata Diack’

ABC News: IOC to Remove Itself From Handling of Doping Cases in Rio

The Sidney Morning Herald: Rio Olympics 2016: Independent Body to Take over Judging of Doping Cases

The Telegraph: Kenya Edges Closer to Olympics Ban over Doping

The Telegraph: Wada Report on Doping: This Scandal is not Just a Russian Problem, it is an Issue Worldwide

The Guardian: Sebastian Coe: IAAF Could Ban Kenya from 2016 Olympics in Rio

The Guardian: IAAF in Crisis: a Complex Trail of Corruption that Led to the Very Top

The Washington Post: WADA’s New Report Cites ‘Embedded’ Culture of Corruption in IAAF

Sky Sports: Former IAAF President Lamine Diack Investigated in Doping Bribery Probe

Sky News: Qatar Athletics Bids Investigated For Bribery

The Richest: 10 Most Shocking Doping Scandals In Sports History

Jillian Sequeira
Jillian Sequeira was a member of the College of William and Mary Class of 2016, with a double major in Government and Italian. When she’s not blogging, she’s photographing graffiti around the world and worshiping at the altar of Elon Musk and all things Tesla. Contact Jillian at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com

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Maria Sharapova Suspended From Tennis After Failing Drug Test https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/news/maria-sharapova-suspended-tennis-failing-drug-test/ https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/news/maria-sharapova-suspended-tennis-failing-drug-test/#respond Wed, 09 Mar 2016 15:29:53 +0000 http://lawstreetmedia.com/?p=51079

Here's what we you need to know about the newly banned drug Meldonium.

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Maria Sharapova’s spot as the highest paid female athlete in the world is in jeopardy after the tennis star tested positive for a recently banned substance at January’s Australian Open.

Sharapova admitted to failing the drug test at a press conference Monday. As a result, the International Tennis Federation will be provisionally suspending Sharapova effective March 12, pending determination of the case.

During the conference, Sharapova said that she had been taking the drug for the past 10 years legally, but was unaware when she took her drug test that it had been added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances on January 1. Sharapova said she takes “full responsibility” for failing the test.

Still many are wondering if the positive results are indicative of intentional foul play, or perhaps just an honest mistake. The substance had only been banned for a week when Sharapova failed her test, and so far several other athletes have tested positive for it as well.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this obscure drug, here’s what you need to know:

What is Meldonium?

Meldonium, also known as Mildronate, is a drug that has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but is available in Russia. It was created to help patients suffering from heart conditions, but there has been a rise in athletes, especially in Europe and Russia, taking the drug to enhance performance because it also aids oxygen uptake and endurance.

Why was she taking it?

Sharapova claims that she was prescribed the drug by her family physician in 2006 after suffering from a variety of health issues including signs of diabetes and irregular electrocardiography (EKG) test results.

However, according to ESPN, the Latvian company responsible for making the drug says the normal course of treatment for the drug is four to six weeks–not 10 years.

Wasn’t she notified that it was banned?

Sharapova said that she received an email in December notifying her that the drug’s status was changing, but she failed to read the information in time for the Australian Open.

So what’s next for Sharapova?

As a first-time offender, she could face a four-year ban for failing the test. If she is able to prove that she didn’t intentionally violate the doping regulations she could likely have the suspension reduced to two years.

Still the blowback will reach her off the tennis court as well.

Since news of the scandal broke, a slew of Sharapova’s endorsements have begun to “suspend ties” with her, including Nike, Porsche, and watchmaker TAG Heur. Spokespersons from all three companies released statements indicating that they would be monitoring developments in the case, but there was no indication of whether or not they planned to resume business with her in the future.

The combined loss of these deals will most likely mean a drastic pay cut for the athlete; her net worth is estimated at $195 million.

Former adversary and current World No. 1 ranked female tennis player Serena Williams came to Sharapova’s defense after facing questions at a news conference on Tuesday. Williams said she “showed a lot of courage” adding,

I think most people were happy she was upfront and very honest and showed a lot of courage to admit to what she had done and what she had neglected to look at in terms of the list at the end of the year…It’s just taking responsibility, which she admitted that she was willing to do and ready to do…Just hope for the best for everybody in that situation.

Watch the video of her announcement below.

 

Alexis Evans
Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Al Jazeera Documentary Links Peyton Manning, Others to Illegal Doping Ring https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/news/al-jazeera-documentary-links-peyton-manning-others-illegal-doping-ring/ https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/news/al-jazeera-documentary-links-peyton-manning-others-illegal-doping-ring/#respond Mon, 28 Dec 2015 20:47:35 +0000 http://lawstreetmedia.com/?p=49773

This undercover investigation accuses some of the biggest names in sports of taking performance enhancing drugs.

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An in-depth investigative report from Al Jazeera released Sunday has accused several professional athletes, including superstar Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, of illegally using performance enhancing drugs in order to gain an edge on the competition.

The documentary enlisted the help of 37-year-old British hurdler Liam Collins, who spent six months undercover working on behalf of Al-Jazeera’s investigative unit to secretly record meetings with doctors, pharmacists, and suppliers of the drugs.

Collins posed as a prospective buyer, looking to do “whatever necessary” to once again compete at an international level and qualify for the Rio Olympics. Armed with hidden cameras, Collins recorded his interactions with several drug suppliers.

However, the brunt of the investigation relied on a series of recordings with a pharmacist named Charlie Sly, who in 2011 worked at an anti-aging clinic where Manning sought treatment for a sidelining neck injury. Sly told Collins that Peyton and his wife, Ashley, would visit the Guyer Institute after hours and receive IV treatments. He also claimed that the clinic regularly sent shipments of human growth hormone or HGH to Ashley, but he believed the drugs were actually intended for Peyton.

According to the report, prescribing HGH in the U.S. is extremely limited, and is only used to treat patients suffering with HIV, pituitary tumors, and shortened bowels. Some athletes take the drug illegally in order to retain muscle mass or recover from injuries.

HGH isn’t the only drug Al Jazeera claims Sly provided to professional athletes. In the hidden camera footage, Sly also brags about supplying Delta-2, another banned substance, to Green Bay’s Mike Neal, Julius Peppers, and Clay Matthews. He also claimed to have supplied drugs to baseball players Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals and Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies, and football players Dustin Keller, formerly of the Miami Dolphins, and James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Al Jazeera contacted each of the accused athletes for comment but all either declined to comment or outright denied the doping claims. Manning addressed the report Sunday, telling ESPN he was “disgusted” by the claims vowing to sue the news organization for defamation. Manning told ESPN,

It’s completely fabricated, complete trash, garbage — there’s more adjectives I’d like to be able to use. It really makes me sick.

Since the report was released, Sly uploaded a scripted video response recanting any and all statements he made to Al Jazeera. But while most of his recorded conversations with Collins sounded like an exaggerated name-dropping session, there very well may be truth to his original claims–no one knows yet.

The sports industry has been privy to many doping scandals in the past, but the bevy of athletes from different sports believed to be involved in this doping ring causing serious concern for the integrity of our country’s athletics.

So far there has been no word of any formal investigation into the legitimacy of Al Jazeera’s claims, but the likelihood of one is strong. Given the recorded evidence, it would be irresponsible to ignore these allegations, even if they do involve one of football’s most beloved athletes.

Watch Al Jazeera’s Investigation Below

 

Alexis Evans
Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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State-Sponsored Doping in International Athletics https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/issues/entertainment-and-culture/state-sponsored-doping-international-athletics/ https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/issues/entertainment-and-culture/state-sponsored-doping-international-athletics/#respond Fri, 11 Dec 2015 16:23:29 +0000 http://lawstreetmedia.com/?p=49344

Another international sports crisis.

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On November 13, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the governing body for international athletics events (track and field, marathons, etc.) announced it was provisionally banning the Russian Federation from international events, effective immediately. The ban will prevent Russian athletes from competing in any competitions, including the 2016 Rio Olympics, stops Russia from hosting any IAAF-sanctioned events, and calls for lifetime bans for five athletes and five coaches.

Russia has been given the opportunity to prove that its athletics programs and drug-testing procedures have been reformed in order to have the ban removed in time for the 2016 Olympics. However, the scandal continues to cast a long shadow over international athletics, calling into question the results of prior competitions (such as the 2012 London Olympics) and raises suspicions of other countries’ athletics programs. Read on to see the allegations against the Russian Federation, the concern of institutionalized doping programs in other countries, and where Russia and athletics as an international endeavor can go from here.


The Secrets of Doping and the WADA Independent Commission Report

In December 2014, the German television channel ARD released a documentary featuring journalist Hajo Seppelt titled “Top-Secret Doping: How Russia Makes its Winners.” The documentary alleged collusion between the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, the Russian Athletics Federation, and the Russian national laboratory. Most troubling is that all of these organizations are funded by the federal government, suggesting their awareness of the cheating, which caused the documentary to declare the cheating “state-sponsored.” The documentary was based around allegations from Russian whistleblowers Vitaly Stepanov, a former Russian Doping Control Officer, and Yuliya Stepanova, a world-class 800-meter runner. The hour-long documentary provided the names of several athletes, coaches, other officials, and a doctor who used or provided banned substances.

The documentary provided the spark for what turned into a media firestorm and a debate about doping in international swimming was inadvertently started. Sports officials the world over began reconsidering their punishments and procedures to deal with doping in their own sports. Athletes accused in the documentary had to worry about potentially forfeiting medals and other prizes. As would be expected, Russian officials decried the film and whistleblowers, calling into question the legality of their recordings.

The documentary rocked the athletics world and triggered an independent investigation from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The agency established an independent commission with the mandate to investigate “serious allegations of doping practices, corrupt practices in doping sample collection and results management, corruption and related ineffective administration of anti-doping processes.”

On November 9, the independent commission (IC) released its final report concluding:

The IC has identified systemic failures within the IAAF and Russia that prevent or diminish the possibility of an effective anti-doping program, to the extent that neither ARAF, RUSADA, nor the Russian Federation can be considered Code-compliant… the IC has recommended that the IAAF suspend ARAF.

The report found that Russian athletics had a “deeply rooted culture of cheating,” exploited athletes for financial gain, confirmed the widespread use of banned substances by actively competing Russian athletes, confirmed the involvement of coaches, doctors, and laboratory personnel, and found evidence of corruption and bribery in the IAAF.

Finally, the report concludes that it would be naive to assume that athletics is the only Russian sport affected by the state-sponsored doping program. The commission offered no conclusive opinion on other sports in Russia but stated that while no written evidence currently implicates the Russian government, such an extensive cheating program would not have been possible without some level of government approval.

On November 13, the IAAF announced it had voted 22-1 in favor of suspending Russian athletics from international events. Russia’s IAAF council member was allowed to participate in the vote.


Additional Allegations

Currently, the allegations against specific athletes are unproven. Two of the five athletes facing lifetime bans have said they will pursue legal action. Specific allegations against Russia’s anti-doping agency (RUSADA) and All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) include the tampering or destruction of at least 1,400 test samples, giving advance notice to athletes before drug tests, and intentionally scheduling tests immediately before athletes began doping regiments. Russian athletes are currently banned from competition and the country is no longer eligible to host the scheduled 2016 World Race Walking Cup or the 2016 World Junior Championships, both of which were to be held in Russia.

The independent commission’s report also criticized the way drug testing was handled leading up to and during the 2012 London Olympics, alleging that testing failures sabotaged those games. Russia came in second in the medal count behind the United States in 2012. This has also started whispers that the United States and other large countries ought to be investigated regarding athletic doping.

Midway through 2015, ARD, the German television channel, released a follow-up documentary titled “The Secrets of Doping: The Shadowy World of Athletics.” Both ARD and The Sunday Times acquired access to the test results of 5,000 athletes between 2001 and 2012. In addition to providing evidence that further implicates Russia, the documentary turned its attention to Kenya. In the last three years, 33 Kenyan athletes have failed drug tests, some escaping penalties and still managing to compete when they should be facing bans. WADA has suggested that Kenya could soon face a four-year ban for the myriad of problems with its drug-testing program.


Russian Response to the Suspension

Key figures on the Russian side have sent mixed messages since the WADA released its report and IAAF handed down its ban. While most Russian officials have pledged to cooperate with IAAF and WADA to ensure the program is reinstated in time for the Olympics, several have criticized the report and its findings. The director of the Russian anti-doping Agency denounced the report. According to current officials, the management of the ARAF was changed in the spring of 2015, meaning the current heads of the federation aren’t responsible for the faults found in the report. However, it should be noted that according to the second ARD documentary, ARAF has a history of keeping removed coaches and doctors around to provide athletes with performance-enhancing drugs while not officially being a part of ARAF.


What’s Next?

While the threat of suspension looms large for countries like Kenya, a full ban on international athletics competition is the reality for Russia. WADA has removed their endorsement of the Moscow lab that was identified as being the primary culprit for sample tampering. From top to bottom, the process of preventing doping in Russian athletics will receive oversight from WADA personnel. Additionally, an IAAF team will begin work next year to see if Russia can be readmitted to the international community of athletics. At least two of the five athletes facing lifetime bans are planning to appeal.

The IAAF has also faced some criticism for its investigation. The question has been raised of how much geopolitical issues may play in major sporting federations like the IAAF and FIFA, which has been going through its own highly-publicized scandal. Former IAAF officials have also been implicated in the WADA report though details have yet to be released due to the nature of the legal proceedings.

Based on the data on athlete drug tests from 2001-2012 acquired by ARD and the Sunday Times, an estimated one-third of medals in endurance events were won by athletes with suspicious test results. One in seven of those athletes named have tests that suggest doping or some other abnormality. Ten medals from the London games were won by athletes with suspicious results. From 2001-2012, 80 percent of Russia’s medals have been won by athletes with suspicious test results and 18 of Kenya’s medals were given to athletes with suspicious test results.


Conclusion

The world of international athletics is facing a full-blown crisis rivaling that of FIFA’s. The disturbing trend of suspicious tests from Russian and Kenyan athletes appears to be just the tip of the iceberg. Most alarming is the evidence of state-sponsorship of doping in the case of Russia. While Russia is working to become compliant with standards set by WADA and the IAAF in time for the 2016 summer Olympics, it is entirely possible that one of the foremost powers in global athletics may not send a team to Rio. Meanwhile, the IAAF has its own problems that it must sort through in order to secure the integrity of a sport that has been much maligned in the past year. There has always been suspicion of drugs and cheating in athletics, but the WADA report and ARD documentaries put hard evidence in the spotlight.


Resources

Primary

WADA: The Independent Commission Report #1 Final Report

IAAF: Provisionally Suspends Russian Member Federation ARAF

Additional

BBC: Athletics Doping: Russia Provisionally Suspended by IAAF

BBC: Athletics Doping Scandal: Russian Runners say they are Innocent

BBC: Athletics doping: Wada Commission Wants Russia Ban

BBC: Leaked IAAF Doping files: Wada ‘Very Alarmed’ by Allegations

BBC: Lord Coe Role in Eugene 2021 Worlds Decision Questioned

al Jazeera: Two Kenyans Suspended for Doping at World Championships

al Jazeera: Russia Reacts After ‘Systematic Doping’ Accusations

CNN: Russia Could be Banned from 2016 Olympics after Doping Report

The Guardian: Russian Athletics Chief ‘Prepared to Resign’ as Olympic Ban Risk Grows

The Guardian: IAAF Confirms Investigation into Allegations of Kenya Doping Cover-up

Hajo Seppelt/ARD: The Secrets of Doping: how Russia Makes its Winners

Hajo Seppelt/ARD: The Secrets of Doping: the Shadowy World of Athletics

RT: Russia’s IAAF Expulsion about Geopolitics and Prelude to War – Not Doping – Tony Gosling on RT

Samuel Whitesell
Samuel Whitesell is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill having studied History and Peace, War, and Defense. His interests cover international policy, diplomacy, and politics, along with some entertainment/sports. He also writes fiction on the side. Contact Samuel at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Will Russia be Excluded from the 2016 Olympic Games? https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/news/will-russia-be-excluded-from-the-2016-olympic-games/ https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/news/will-russia-be-excluded-from-the-2016-olympic-games/#respond Mon, 09 Nov 2015 19:59:24 +0000 http://lawstreetmedia.com/?p=49029

An independent commission found Russia was involved in state-sponsored doping.

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Image courtesy of [Carine06 via Flickr]

The 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro may not include Russia, after a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission has determined that Russian athletes used illegal substances. The release of the commission’s report has led to speculation that the Russian Federation will be banned from the next Olympic games in 2016.

An independent commission convened by the WADA concluded that Russia undertook a program of state-sponsored doping for its athletes at the 2012 summer Olympics in London, as well as other international athletic events, like the Chicago Marathon. The inquiry took 10 months, and was created after a German radio station aired a piece that accused Russia of state-sponsored doping. The radio piece featured admissions from athletes, coaches, and others, and claimed that the government had helped to cover up test results that would have excluded Russian athletes from various events.

The report claims that coaches, athletes, trainers, doctors, and the lab in Moscow that is responsible for testing Russian athletes’ samples were all involved. The report mostly focused on track-and-field athletes–a group responsible for a large number of the inquiries. According to a New York Times description of the report:

It detailed payments to conceal doping tests and arrangements by which athletes were made aware of when they would be tested, in violation of code which dictates they be spontaneous, and also the destruction of samples.

The report also said that members of Russian law enforcement agencies were present in the Moscow lab and involved in the efforts to interfere with the integrity of the samples, creating ‘an atmostphere of intimidation’ on lab processes and staff members.

The findings also criticized Russia for a “deeply rooted culture of cheating at all levels” and said that the Russian athletes who competed despite doping essentially sabotaged the 2012 Summer Olympic games because they shouldn’t have been allowed to compete in the first place. Russian athletes won 24 gold medals in those games.

Richard W. Pound, who was a co-author of the report and a member of the commission, stated that the commission’s recommendation is that the Russian Federation is suspended from bringing athletes to the 2016 Summer Games in Rio. The report also recommends that five of the athletes and coaches implicated be banned from their sports for life.

However, whether or not we’ll be seeing Russia at the 2016 games will be left up to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). In light of the allegations from the WADA report, the president of the IAAF, Seb Coe, said:

We need time to properly digest and understand the detailed findings included in the report. However, I have urged the Council to start the process of considering sanctions against All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF).

This step has not been taken lightly. Our athletes, partners and fans have my total assurance that where there are failures in our governance or our anti-doping programmes we will fix them.

We will do whatever it takes to protect the clean athletes and rebuild trust in our sport. The IAAF will continue to offer the police authorities our full cooperation into their ongoing investigation.

While Russia’s absence from the 2016 Olympic Games would surely be missed, and could affect viewership and ratings, if a suspension is what it takes for the country to crack down on doping, that may be the path the IAAF chooses.

Anneliese Mahoney
Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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