Russia

Russian Olympic Committee Says Doping Ban Expired With No Grounds for Extension

In this Feb. 18, 2014, file photo, a Russian skating fan holds the country’s national flag over the Olympic rings before the men’s 10,000-meter speedskating race at Adler Arena Skating Center during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Formed with good intentions, the World Anti-Doping Agency finds itself at a crossroads as it celebrates its 20th anniversary at a conference this week in Poland. It’s an agency riven with conflicts that have hindered its fight against drugs and exacerbated its 4-year-old struggle in the high-profile case against Russia.MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia’s two-year ban from major international sports events over alleged doping violations expired Saturday, the head of the national Olympic committee said. “The two-year ban imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency and ruled on by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on December 17, 2020 expired today. As expected, there was no reason to extend it and there couldn’t have been any. We have turned over that page,” Russian Olympic Committee chief Stanislav Pozdnyakov said on social media. WADA initially proposed a four-year ban but the arbitration court halved it. Russian athletes who were tested and deemed clean were allowed to compete as neutrals under a neutral flag. Pozdnyakov said that during the past two years Russians were the world’s most tested athletes. They were tested more than 31,000 times between January 2021 and December 2022, averaging 42 times per day. Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin said his ministry would do everything in its power to ensure Russia’s dignified comeback to international sports events. “CAS sanctions are over. All restrictions on Russian athletes have been lifted. This has been conveyed in an official letter sent by WADA to all interested parties. We hope and are doing all we can to make sure that Russian athletes make a dignified return to the international sport to compete under the Russian flag,” his office said.

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