“It’s probably the most important sports sanction since the IOC booted South Africa back in 1970,” Pound told Postmedia. “For too long, Russian doping has detracted from clean sport,” WADA president Craig Reedie said in a statement. The ban also means that Russian athletes will not be able to perform at the Olympics in Tokyo next year under their own flag and national anthem. Russia has been embroiled in doping scandals since 2015 when WADA, citing a report by Pound, found evidence of mass doping in Russian athletics and declared the country’s anti-doping agency noncompliant. But Pound said Russian officials initially wouldn’t turn over the laboratory records requested by last year’s Dec. 31 deadline.

Source: National Post December 09, 2019 22:52 UTC