Implications of a four-year doping ban on Russia

THE World Anti-Doping Agency, whose executive committee meets in Lausanne today, is set to punish Russia’s complicity in a state-sponsored doping programme with a new four-year ban on Russian sportsmen and women.

It is likely to present more difficulties for Russian athletes wanting to compete on the world stage and for federations who are planning to stage events in a country that has often been a welcoming haven for some of the world’s less wealthy sports.

However, football and Formula One events in Russia would be exempt.

Here is what the ban would mean for Russia in more details:

The Athletes

Russia would be banned for four years from the Olympic and Paralympic Summer and Winter Games. That rules an official Russian team out of Tokyo 2020 and the Beijing Winter Olympics of 2022. Beyond that, there would be no official Russian team at the 2020 Youth Winter Olympics in Lausanne nor at the 2020 Summer Youth Games in Dakar.

They would also be barred from all other multi-sport competitions such as the European Games and the Universiade as well as any world championship organised by any of the signatories of the World Anti-Doping Code, which includes the International Olympic Sports Federations.

Russian athletes and their coaches would only be allowed in these competitions if they demonstrate that they have nothing to do with the institutional doping system put in place in the country between 2011 and 2015.

In this case, they would again compete under the Olympic rather than the Russian flag.

The Events

For four years, Russia would not be permitted to host or submit a bid to host any of the events listed above.

Some competitions and events, however, will not be affected, such as four Euro 2020 matches, including a quarterfinal, the 2021 Champions League final and the Russian Formula One Grand Prix in Sochi.

The Administrators

No representative of the Russian government would be permitted to work for or sit on the committee of any signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code, which effectively means any international sports federation. – AFP