According to Yuri Ganus, the general director of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), the agency has detected over 113 positive doping cases in the first 8 months of 2018.
This statistic is already almost double the number of cases found in 2017- 59 cases in total. According to the RUSADA and FINA websites, no Russian swimmers have received sanctions since 2016.
The immense rise of doping cases in Russia is partly due to extra testing RUSADA has performed. Ganus told USA Today that the RUSADA collected 7,013 samples in the first 8 months of 2018, which is once again higher than 2017, by over 800 tests.
Russia has had a history of doping scandals in the past. In 2015, RUSADA and the national laboratory were both suspended after finding evidence of corruption. In 2017, the Russian Olympic Committee was also suspended, which resulted in the banning of the Russian national team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
In June 2018, Russia signed an anti-doping agreement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to further tackle their rise in cases over the next 4 years. The agreement will involve, “international cooperation measures, including measures against anti-doping rules violations.”
OK, Russia is corrupt and dirty, and I trashed them during Euros for their doping history. But this is a GOOD thing. It means that they’re finally starting to take anti-doping seriously–that’s why they’re catching people. I think they should have been banned a long time ago, and they have many steps still before I will believe in Russian athletes, but this is some very positive news on that front.
Suspend them
Love how you use Efimova on the front image😂