Lausanne: The World Anti-Doping Agency on Monday banned Russia for four years from major global sporting events including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, over manipulated doping data.
WADA's executive committee, meeting in Lausanne, handed Russia the four-year suspension after accusing Moscow of falsifying laboratory doping data handed over to investigators earlier this year.
Not only will Russia be ruled out of the next Olympic cycle, but Russian government officials will be barred from attending any major events, while the country will lose the right to host, or even bid, for tournaments.
"WADA's executive committee approved unanimously to assert a non-compliance on the Russian anti-doping agency for a period of four years," WADA spokesman James Fitzgerald said.
Under the sanctions, Russian sportsmen and women will still be allowed to compete at the Olympics next year and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics but only if they can demonstrate that they were not part of what WADA believes was a state-sponsored system of doping.
It will be up to FIFA to stipulate how a team of Russian players can take part in the qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup.
Euro 2020, in which the Russian city of Saint Petersburg will host four matches, is not affected by the ban because it is not defined as a "major event" for anti-doping purposes.
"They are going to have prove they had nothing to do with the non-compliance, (that) they were not involved in the doping schemes as described by the McLaren report, or they did not have their samples affected by the manipulation," Fitzgerald said.
The independent report by sports lawyer Richard McLaren, released in 2016, revealed the significant extent of state-sponsored doping in Russia, notably between 2011 and 2015.
It led to the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) being suspended for nearly three years previously over revelations of a vast state-supported doping programme.
Full disclosure of data from the Moscow laboratory was a key condition of Russia's controversial reinstatement by WADA in September 2018.
HIGHLIGHTS
November 2015
WADA find a ‘deeply rooted culture of cheating’ in Russian athletics, and demand a ban from all of international athletics.
May 2016
NYT reports that athletes who competed at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, were part of a state-run doping program.
July 2016
Independent commission set up, seconds the NYT investigation.
August 2017
Russia remain barred from athletics, yet 19 athletes allowed to compete at world c’ships as neutrals.
December 2017
IOC suspends ROC and ban from the Pyeongchang Winter Games.
February 2018
168 atheletes compete as under neutral ’Olympic Athlete from Russia’, of which, two still fail the drug tests. Later, the country was reinstated by the IOC after remaining tests return negative
September 2018
WADA’s executive committee vote to reinstate RUSADA
January 2019
WADA extract more than 2,000 samples from the discredited Moscow laboratory.
September 2019
WADA say data supplied by the RUSADA falsified, following another suspension.
November 2019
WADA recommend four-year Olympic ban for doctoring data
