Doping: The Russian state doping scandal just never ends

GIt’s been twelve years since the big fraud, around ten years since it was uncovered and the first major block, eight years since another data manipulation was exposed – and a good four years ago the temporary end of all sanctions. But in reality, the major Russian state doping scandal, which has shaken sport like few other affairs, will probably never go away.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has to deal with the foothills again. The portal only recently published The Insider a research according to which the secret service unit that was also responsible for the attacks against Russian opposition figures such as Andrei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov was ultimately involved in the implementation of the state doping program. On top of that, the responsible Wada investigative unit has specifically set its sights on the current head of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada): Veronika Loginova.

This concerns the accusation made by a key witness that Loginova was involved in the cover-up operations in Sochi. So what happened at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia, when the secret service exchanged doping-contaminated samples from Russian athletes during the night for tubes with clean urine. Loginova herself denies this. As the New York Times When she first reported on the topic, she described it as “fantasies that apparently arise from the desire to boost sales with ‘hot facts’.” Although she was part of the Wada team, she had no influence on the work of the anti-doping laboratory or the handling of the samples. Now she emphasized again that she was not charged and was willing to cooperate.

When looking at Russia, world sport is primarily concerned with the war against Ukraine. Russia’s Olympic Committee is still suspended and Russian athletes usually only start as neutral athletes. But even though the war rages as before, the first sports, from judo to swimming, are beginning to see Russia as a regular member again, including the flag and anthem at major events. It is only a matter of time before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) follows suit. But even if sport considers this issue to be over at some point, there is still this eternal question of doping.

This begins with the many unresolved strands of the Russian state doping scandal. This not only included the action in Sochi in 2014, but also the fact that for years positive samples were reported as negative to the international authorities. These cover-ups and the subsequent data deletion had the precise purpose of hiding who benefited from the body tuning. Possibly also athletes and/or coaches who are still competing today or will be competing again soon?

WADA initially largely ignored evidence of Russian state doping

At this point, at the latest, the question arises as to how the doping control system actually works in Russia today. At the Winter Games in Milan, Wada President Witold Banka reported that Rusada was currently considered “non-compliant” – meaning it was not authorized to carry out internationally recognized tests. According to Banka, this is only for technical reasons, although these technical reasons mean that Russia has to adapt its legislation. You can imagine the enthusiasm this is causing in Russia.

Against this background, it will be exciting to see how Wada’s new investigations into the state doping scandal continue – and, above all, what consequences Wada’s political leadership draws from the work of its investigative unit. Throughout the years of the doping scandal, world sport and especially the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have largely treated Russia leniently. WADA itself only had a short phase in which it acted strictly – it had originally even ignored evidence of Russian state doping.

In any case, the whole picture in the Loginova case already includes one remarkable circumstance. After all the scandals in Russian sport and at Rusada, Wada demanded “independence” when it came to leadership a few years ago – and then had no problem with Veronika Loginova as the new boss at the end of 2021 – even though she had worked for Rusada and the Ministry of Sports for years.