Russia’s four-year ban from all international sport over doping failures UPHELD by CAS

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has upheld Russia‘s ban from all international sport due to the country’s doping failures, but have cut the four-year sanction in half to two years. 

The ban will therefore still force Russian athletes to compete under a neutral flag – and without the country’s national anthem – at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. 

The verdict also means Russia’s football team will not be able to compete at the FIFA World Cup in two years’ time in Qatar, more than 24 months after they hosted the last tournament.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has upheld Russia’s ban from all international sport

Russians were banned from competing under their flag at the Olympics and other major events in December last year

However, the ban states Russia is banned from world championships but not qualifying events, meaning Stanislav Cherchesov’s side could – and probably will – still take part in World Cup qualifying even though they are banned from competing in the tournament itself.

The country was banned from the world’s top sporting events and from hosting international competitions including the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics for four years last December for tampering with doping tests.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) executive committee acted after concluding that Moscow had planted fake evidence and deleted files linked to positive doping tests in laboratory data that could have helped identify drug cheats.

‘For too long, Russian doping has detracted from clean sport,’ said WADA president Craig Reedie at the time, adding that the actions of Russia – who deny the allegations – had demanded a robust response.

It means athletes like Ilia Burkiv will have to compete under a neutral flag for two years

Russia’s football team will therefore miss the next FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar in 2022

RUSADA had 21 days following the ruling to appeal the four-year package of sanctions and did so shortly after Christmas.

The matter was then referred to CAS, with hearings taking place in Lausanne, Switzerland, last month between November 2 and November 5, and now the decision has been made to uphold but reduce the ban.

Last year’s ruling followed a judgement in September 2019 when Russia’s Anti Doping Agency (RUSADA) was declared non-compliant for manipulating laboratory data of drug tests handed over to WADA investigators in January 2019.

The latest news comes after Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov revealed earlier this year that the country ‘has cheated for decades’.

RUSADA, led by Yuri Ganus, launched an appeal and the case was referred to CAS last month

The autobiography of former Moscow lab boss-turned-whistleblower claimed that the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympics because they had such a huge problem that USSR politicians feared international exposure and drugs shame if they took part.

‘I knowingly defrauded the world’s anti-doping authorities for more than a decade [as head of WADA’s Moscow lab], both for the greater ‘glory’ of Russian athletes and also to satisfy sports bureaucrats who were bent on perpetuating Russia’s sporting success,’ Rodchenkov wrote.

‘I justified my actions by explaining that there had never been any real doping control in the Soviet Union or in Russia so I was continuing along a well-trodden path.

‘In some countries there is a stigma associated with using steroids but that was never the case in Russia,’ writes Rodchenkov.

Whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov said that Russia has cheated for more than a decade

 Rodchenkov claimed Moscow boycotted the 1984 Olympics due to their big drugs problem

‘Training at the Olympic level puts significant strain on the body. Steroids reduce fatigue and trauma, and can also help muscles recover. I know plenty of athletes who used them for years and have lived long and healthy lives.’

World Athletics however opened the door for Russian track and field stars to compete in next summer’s Olympics providing the country now shows signings of enacting its promises of serious reform.

The Russian Athletics Federation was initially suspended in November 2015 following allegations of state-sponsored doping, but the election of a new president, Peter Ivanov, earlier this month has led to optimism of their return.

RUSADA was conditionally reinstated in September 2018, but was declared non-compliant late last year in WADA’s judgement 12 months later.

The president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, nevertheless said he would be ‘pleased’ to see Russian athletes competing in Tokyo, even if it was under a neutral flag.

Sebastian Coe said he would be ‘pleased’ to see Russian athletes competing in Tokyo