Russia facing ban from major events

Russian athletes should be forced to compete as neutrals at next year’s Olympics in Tokyo and other major events, a key World Anti-doping Agency panel has recommended.

Wada’s compliance review committee proposed a four-year ban on hosting major events in Russia and a ban for the same period on flying the Russian flag at major competitions. The Wada executive committee will rule on the recommendations on Dec 9.

The recommendation follows a lengthy investigation into lab data handed over by Russia in January. That was part of a deal to lift a suspension of the Russian anti-doping agency, and was meant to expose past cover-ups of drug use by Russian athletes.

Instead, the Wada panel says data on hundreds of positive tests was removed.

Russia was officially banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang but allowed by the International Olympic Committee to send a 168-strong team under the name “Olympic Athlete from Russia”.

The panel’s recommendation would create a similar system lasting four years and covering not just the Tokyo Olympics but also the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and major championships in several sports, including football.

With Russia having booked their place at Euro 2020, their elimination now could potentially open the door for Scotland, who finished behind them in their qualifying group.

The expert panel’s advice could have serious implications for Uefa in general if accepted in full by Wada’s executive committee.

The recommendations include stripping Russia of sports events already awarded “unless it is legally or practically impossible to do so”.

St Petersburg is set to host four games, including a quarter-final, at Euro 2020, which is being cohosted by 12 countries. Some tickets for those games have been sold ahead of the tournament draw on Saturday. St Petersburg could be replaced by Stockholm, a losing candidate when host cities were chosen in 2014. St Petersburg was also chosen to host the 2021 Champions League final.

Wada said the most recent edits to the vast lab data archive were made last December and in January this year.