Two Russian Swimmers Suspended by Authorities Ahead of Tokyo Olympics 2020

While the doping issues are going around the world with many athletes, the latest updates see two Russian swimmers banned from the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

FINA (Federation Internationale de natation) suspended these swimmers because of anti-doping violations. Russian swimmers, Alexander Kudashev and Veronika Popova Andrusenko are suspended by the evidence given by the World Anti-Doping Agency. FINA banned these athletes because of failing to meet the criteria needed for participating in the games.

This comes as a blow for Russia as these swimmers won’t be a part of the Tokyo Olympics. Likewise, FINA had earlier banned seven Russian swimmers from Rio Olympics 2016 for doping as well.

Tokyo Olympics 2020 sees another doping ban

The evidence for the case came from WADA’s investigation of materials collected from the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory. Moreover, the lab’s management information system came under security along with it.

Many doping issues have been raised in the Russian Federation and it barred them from competing in the Olympics as a country.

The aforementioned athletes were all set to compete under the non-Federation Russians in Tokyo. But their dreams of competing in the Olympics were dashed.

Andrusenko competed in both the 2012 London Olympics and Rio Olympics in 2016. The swimmer represented Team Iron during the 2019 International Swimming League. On the other hand, Kudashev was making her debut in the Olympics.

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FINA issues a statement

While the ban comes a week before the start of the Olympics, FINA released a statement regarding this matter. New FINA President Husain Al-Musallam spoke about the doping ban issue.

“FINA is grateful to WADA for its diligence in helping to ensure clean competition at Tokyo 2020. FINA remains fully committed to protecting clean athletes and promoting clean competition at Tokyo 2020,” said Husain.

The International Testing Agency takes care of FINA’s competition testing and test distribution planning. Likewise, they are handling the International Olympic Committee’s tests for Tokyo Olympics 2020 in terms of doping.

Apart from these two Russian swimmers, Sun Yang misses the Olympics with a similar ban for doping. Anti-doping tests make the sport cleaner and better for competitors. It aims to not give an unfair advantage to other swimmers.

The Tokyo Olympics 2020 is just around the corner as swimmers look to compete in the grandest stage of them all. But these two Russian swimmers’ dreams of competing in the Olympics, have become a more distant dream for now.

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