The decision will hold the Russian National Team from the upcoming 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and the 2022 World Cup.
Russia was first banned from the Olympics in 2018 after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) discovered they were doping during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Despite the ban, 168 Russians were allowed to compete in the games as “Olympic Athletes from Russia.” As a condition of their reinstatement, Russia was required to provide WADA with data from their anti-doping laboratory, but the data was found to be tampered with by Russian officials, leading to the most recent ban.
Doping has been a problem in the Olympics for years and Russia’s ban is not the first time punishments have been doled out for doping.
The first athlete to be disqualified from the Olympics over doping was during the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. A member of the Swedish pentathlon team was stripped of his medal after he tested positive for excessive alcohol, which led to the entire Swedish team being forced to return their medals.
One of the more prominent cases of doping in the Olympics happened in 1988. During the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, Canadian track runner Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal after testing positive for steroids.
In 1990, it was discovered that many East German Olympic teams between 1970 and 1980 were given anabolic steroids by their coaches. Many of the German officials involved in the doping scandal were tried and found guilty but did not face consequences in the Olympic games.
In 2003, American Sprinter Marion Jones was suspected to have used steroids prior to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Jones admitted that she used steroids in 2007 and was forced to return five different Olympic medals.
The U.S. faced another doping scandal in 2015 after Olympic sprinter, Tyson Gay failed three drug tests following his appearance in the 2012 Olympic games. Gay served a one-year suspension, but qualified for the 2016 Olympics and competed in Rio de Janiero. However, Gay and his men’s relay 4 × 100 teammates were stripped of their bronze medal after Justin Gatlin was determined to have committed a violation when taking the baton during the race.
A number of other countries have faced punishment for doping, but none have more than Russia. Russia was first banned in 2018, but their most notable issues with doping date back to 2008, when seven members of the track and field team were suspended prior to that year’s Olympics for manipulating urine samples.
In total, Russia has seen 43 medals stripped, the most of any country in Olympic history.
A number of other countries have also been banned from the Olympics for other reasons not connected to doping. From 1976 to 1988, South Africa was banned due to the nation’s enforcement of apartheid, a system that allowed discrimination against people of color. Prior to Russia’s ban on Monday, the most recent Olympic ban on a country was in 2000, when Afghanistan was banned due to its discrimination against women under Taliban rule.
WADA has stated that Russia will have 21 days to appeal their ruling, to try to lower or reverse the ban placed on the country.
