This archive report was first published on 9 December 2019.
On December 9, 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced a four-year ban for Russia from all global sports, effective immediately.
This ban means that Russian athletes will miss the 2022 Qatar World Cup and may also be barred from participating in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics unless they compete under a different flag.
WADA president Sir Craig Reedie stated that the decision was made in response to Russia's continued doping crisis, which has been ongoing since at least 2015 when the country was banned from competing in athletics.
Reedie emphasized that Russia was given multiple opportunities to reform and rejoin the global anti-doping community, but instead chose to continue its stance of deception and denial.
As a result of this ban, 168 Russian athletes were forced to compete under a neutral flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
