Russia athletes banned from competing under Russian name and flag News
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Russia athletes banned from competing under Russian name and flag

The Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland has sanctioned Russian athletes from using the country’s name and flag for two years. The arbitration procedure was between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) and several other international bodies such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The WADA had initially banned Russia from international sports events for four years in 2019. On Thursday a panel of CAS judges unanimously upheld the 2019 judgment that RUSADA has not been compliant with WADA’s testing procedures. However, the court decided to cut the ban from 4 years to 2. Furthermore, the court relieved the total participatory ban, and allowed Russian athletes to participate in the Olympics as long as their uniforms were tagged as “neutral athletes”.

The disputes between Russia and WADA are a long-running saga. In 2015, WADA gave the first sanction after reports revealed mass doping in Russian athletes. The sanction was lifted in 2018.  In December 2019, WADA alleged that RUSADA has been faking samples and deleting files that contained information of Russian athletes who tested positive.

The decision by the Court of Arbitration of Sport to halve Russia’s initial punishment of 4 years was met with criticism. British Gold medalist Callum Skinner described the ruling as “the biggest doping scandal in history gone unpunished.”

WADA has made a statement acknowledging the decision of the panel but believed that stricter punishments should be made. Other than the ban on names and flags, Russia is subjected to fines and constant supervision of WADA’s Intelligence and Investigations Department.

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