What supposedly began in 2011 has rocked the 2016 Rio Olympics. The Russian large scale, state-sponsored doping program has had huge implications on international competition and the overall integrity of sport.
Sochi Winter Olympics
The 2014 Winter Olympic games, held in Sochi Russia, supposedly signalled a ‘New, open’ Russia. The spectacle cost over £31 billion, helping President Vladamir Putin achieve his aim of altering the world’s perception of Russia to one of success.
Assisting this, Russia topped the medal tally with 13 gold medals and 33 medals overall, 5 ahead of second place USA. This signified the new, strong Russian team following the Vancouver Winter Olympics previously, where Russia only managed 3 gold medals. It would later be found that 15 of these medalists were doping.
ARD Documentary
These revelations began with German broadcaster ARD airing a documentary titled ‘Top Secret: How Russia Makes its Winners’. The documentary exposed Russia’s widespread systematic doping program, with confessions from athletes which revealed the network of coaches and doctors involved in administering banned substances and disposing of positive tests.
Yuliya Stepanova and her husband, Vitaly Stepanov, were two that exposed the state-sponsored doping of Russian athletes in the documentary.
The 800m runner, who had received a two year ban for her own use of performance enhancing substances, said Russian athletics officials were conspiring with doping officials to falsify tests. She said they would supply athletes with banned substances in exchange for 5% of their earnings, as well as telling athletes to keep clean urine samples in a freezer for tests during training.
It was also revealed that Vitaly Stepanov, an ex member of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, had been collecting details about illicit doping to pass onto the World Anti-Doping Agency since 2010.
The findings trigger an investigation into the Russian doping scandal, and the couple are praised globally but are called traitors in Russia and are forced to exile in The United States.
WADA Investigation continues
November 4, 2015, French Police began their investigation into the President of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), Diack. The report found that Diack received more than a million euros during his time as president of the IAAF for covering up positive doping tests.
The findings sparked new investigations which led to the discovery of widespread doping practices in Russia’s track and field athletes. Leaders of the investigation, Pound, came to the conclusion that the IAAF was also aware of Russian athletes use of illegal substances and allegedly took bribes to cover up doping.
As a result, Russia was banned from the IAAF and Diack was forced to step down along with other members allegedly involved, allowing a new group of people to take over. Stricter rules and regulations were put into place to insure corruption could no longer exist throughout the IAAF.
Russia’s clean up hindered by Sharapova’s failed test
Following the reports of Russian athlete’s involvement in doping, Russia underwent an internal cleanup to clear their reputation. This was put on hold in March 2016 when German public channel WDR, aired a documentary that accused Russian athletes of once again, breaking IAAF and WADA rules.
A day after the TV Documentary aired, it was revealed that World Number One, Russian tennis player, Maria Sharapova, tested positive for meldonium at the Australian Open earlier in the year. The drug is designed to improve the flow of oxygen around the bloodstream and was classified legal prior to the 2016 Australian Open. As it is unknown how long meldonium stays in an athlete’s system, WADA decided to add it to the banned substance list on January 1 2016. Sharapova claims she did not know the substance was added to the banned list and maintains she has taken the drug for quite some time throughout her career, where previously, it was never an issue.
Sharapova was issued a 2 year ban from competing and more investigations into Russian athletes took place as a result, including the retesting of urine samples. WADA later released a report stating that a further 736 scheduled Russian doping tests did not happen leading up to the 2016 Rio Olympics. A number of drug tests were scheduled between February 15 and May 29 but were cancelled or declined for numerous reason. The most common was the whereabouts of the athlete who seem to all reside in military cities due to limited access by the public and the difficulty to obtain access. Not only were the tests refused, but doping control officers had also faced intimidation and received threats from Russia’s FSB secret service in order to keep them from testing athletes.
WADA conducts McLaren Investigation
Following allegations in CBS 60 Minutes and The New York Times in May 2016, (despite a myriad of previous whistleblowers and allegations for the last few years) WADA approached Canadian lawyer and investigator, Professor Richard McLaren. McLaren began an investigation into the allegations of Russian doping, which was conducted within 57 days, with international pressure and scrutiny mounting prior to the Rio 2016 Olympics.
McLaren’s report was published on the 18th July. The report dictates three certainties: the corruption of the Sochi laboratory during the Winter Olympics through sample swapping methodology, the “State-dictated failsafe system” of the Moscow laboratory enabling doing Russian athletes protection and the undeniable roles of government and Sports Officials in actively encouraging and covering up doping.
The report states that The Ministry of Sport “controlled and oversaw the manipulation of athletes’ analytical results and sample swapping, with the active participation and assistance of the Federal Security Service (FSB); the Center of Sports Preparation of National Teams of Russia (CSP); and, both Moscow and Sochi laboratories”.
The FBS is believed to have been involved in the tampering of urine samples in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, where Russia came out on top with a total of 33 medals, the highest of any hosting nation.
Craig Reedie, President of WADA said, “The Report corroborates evidence provided by Dr. Rodchenkov, which reveals to the world of sport an extent of deliberate abuse of power and process in Russia that is totally unacceptable for all athletes, the broader sports community and the nations against which they compete”.
WADA Recommends Blanket Ban of Russian Athletes
WADA advised strict punishment of Russia in the 2016 RIO Olympics. The report recommended the IOC and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) ban all Russian athletes, unless they were to compete under exceptional circumstances, under a neutral flag.WADA also recommended all Russian Government officials be banned from the 2016 Olympics.
Craig Reedie, President of WADA said, “As the international Agency – responsible for leading the collaborative, global, clean sport movement – WADA is calling on the Sports Movement to impose the strongest possible measures to protect clean sport for Rio 2016 and beyond.”
Tensions between IOC, IAAF and WADA
Mark Adam, director of Communications for the IOC, said the IOC remains “steadfastly opposed to doping”. But, in response to WADA’s call to ban all Russian athletes, Mark Adams said the primary concern of the IOC has been in the individual justice of each athlete. He says, “It is a fundamental principle of the lawn that everyone should have a right to prove they are innocent and not be punished for the wrong doing of others, or a corrupt system.”
Track and Field Team Banned
Russia’s Track and Field athletes have been banned indefinitely by the IAAF since November 2015. But, their position was concluded when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected an appeal to compete in Rio Olympics 2016. The IAAF says the Russian Federation is at least 18 months away from returning to the full compliance with the World Anti Doping Code.
Over 100 Russians including the whole track and field team have been excluded from international competition. The Russian track and field team created their own event in response to the ban called “Stars 2016”. Around 135 banned athletes will compete at Moscow’s Znamensky Brothers Stadium on Thursday August 4th, including Olympic champion Ivan Ukhov.
Recent Developments
On Thursday August 4th, the IOC announced that the original entry list of 389 Russian athletes allowed to participate in the Rio games has decreased to 271 individuals. The IOC selected only those who met the criteria, including a clean doping past.
If international sport is to survive in the public eye in the future, “certain parts of the system need revision” said Craig Reedie, chief of WADA. The IOC and WADA have agreed they need to repair the international anti-doping system and restore trust and credibility in the fight against drugs after high profile doping across a whole range of sports.
The IOC confirmed the addition of five news sports on August 5th, including baseball/softball, karate, sports climbing, surfing and skateboarding in 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The inclusion of 18 new events and 474 athletes will mean more monitoring of doping in the new olympic sports. The future of the games “is about improving significantly a system in order to have a robust and efficient anti-doping system so that such a situation that we face now cannot happen again”, said Thomas Bach, head of the IOC on Tuesday.
By Shannon Schubert, Mikaela Ortolan, Francesca Broome, Hannah Clarke and Sinead Horne.
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