Olympics 2018: WADA hands over list of 300 suspected Russian athletes

On Thursday, WADA allegedly handed over a list of about 300 Russian athletes suspected of doping to international sports federations. This is reported by the industry service Insidenhegames.

In November, a WADA investigation team had reached the so-called LIMS of the Moscow doping laboratory with the help of a whistleblower.

All the laboratory’s doping samples from January 2012 to August 2015 are documented in the data sets, and a good 10,000 names are to be noted there.

The 300 names now handed over are the first to come from this pool. According to insider games, they are said to be athletes from more than 25 sports. They are all suspected to have been positively tested, but deemed innocent.

In Russia, more than 1000 athletes have benefited from a state-supported doping system between 2011 and 2015. At the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, doping tests of Russian athletes were exchanged and manipulated.

So far, the IOC has imposed lifelong Olympic suspensions on 31 Russian athletes, and at least 15 other cases are still pending.

At the winter games in Pyeongchang next February, Russian athletes will only be allowed to compete under a neutral flag as “Olympic Athletes of Russia”.