Russia banned from international sport for 4 years

Moscow accused of ‘extreme’ cheating and ‘fraud.’

The World Anti-Doping Agency slapped Russia with a four-year ban from participating in international sports, including the Olympics, Monday.

The decision came after Moscow was accused of manipulating athletes’ doping records and falsifying drug laboratory data that was turned over to WADA in January.

While Russia as a nation will be banned from the coming two Olympics, some individual Russian athletes may be permitted to compete, if they can prove in advance that they are clean — as happened at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics.

WADA’s executive committee voted unanimously to ban Russia during a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. During the meeting, Linda Helleland, the organization's outgoing vice president, accused Russia of “extreme” cheating and “complete denial of the fraud” it perpetrated.

Margarita Pakhnotskaya, a senior official at Russia's anti-doping agency, told POLITICO that while the decision is not pleasant for Russia, it is "legal and logical."

The Russian sports ministry has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in a litany of doping scandals that have blighted high-level international sports this decade. It is expected to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The next summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo in July/August 2020, and the next winter Games will take place in Beijing in February 2022.

This story has been updated.