Russia has been banned from all major sporting events for the next four years by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Due to this ban, the Russian flag and anthem will not be allowed at major sporting events including the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and football’s 2022 World Cup in Qatar. However, Russian athletes who can prove they are untrained by the doping scandal will be allowed to complete under a neutral flag. The decision was made unanimously by the executive committee of WADA at a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. The decision comes after Russia’s Anti Doping Agency, Rusada, declared non-compliant for manipulating laboratory data that was handed over to investigators in January of this year. It was made to hand over data to WADA as part of the condition of its controversial 2018 reinstatement following a three year suspension for it’s enormous state-endorsed doping scandal. According to WADA, Rusada has 21 days to appeal against the ban. If it chooses to do so, the appeal will be referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Linda Helleland, the WADA Vice-President said that the ban was “not enough”. She said she wanted “sanctions that can not be watered down” and added that “We owe it to the clean athletes to implement the sanctions as strongly as possible.” In the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, a total of 168 Russian athletes competed under the banner of the neutral flag after the banning of the country following the 2014 Games, which it hosted Sochi. During these games, Russian athletes won 33 medals, 13 of which were gold. Despite the ban, Russia will be able to compete at Euro 2020 – in which St Petersburg will be a host city – as European football’s governing body Uefa is not defined as a ‘major event organisation’ with regards to rulings on anti-doping breaches. Keep up to date with more news at ProperGaanda: For $15 Australian pedophiles can abuse Philippine children online