Russian Swimming Federation Will Drug-Test All Olympic Qualifiers

2016 RUSSIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS / OLYMPIC TRIALS

• April 16-23rd, 2016
• Moscow, Russia
• Prelims 09:00/Finals 18:00 Local Time
• Prelims 02:00/Finals 11:00 U.S. Eastern Time
• Live results (IN ENGLISH – including event-by-event start lists)
• Live stream
• Russian selection criteria

As part of their selection criteria, the Russian Swimming Federation has announced that all qualifiers for the 2016 Olympic Team will undergo doping control.

Suddenly, every policy of Russian sports federations relating to doping controls has come under warranted scrutiny after a year that has unraveled every fiber of anti-doping controls in the country. Among the major blows is the revoking of licesnes for the country’s only WADA-approved laboratory and the suspension of the country’s athletics (track & field) federation that could result in them missing the Olympic Games altogether.

• See a bigger summary of the Russian doping situation here.

Earlier this week, on April 13th, the first meeting of the Supervisory Council of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency took place.

The group’s stated goal is to develop a plan to return RUSADA to compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code.

Included at me meeting was Sergei Khrychikov, who was appointed by WADA to engage in the proceedings. Khrychikov is the head of the Sports Convention Unit for the Council of Europe, and, in a twist of political irony, a native of the Ukraine – Russia’s neighbors and recent political rivals.

“Restoring full rights RUSADA can occur at any stage, and when this happens depends on how quickly the whole system works, from the Supervisory Board down to the doping control officers,” Khrychikov said.

The supervisory board will meet quarterly.