Russia could be banned from the 2020 Olympic Games as well as the 2020 European Championship in football because of doping concerns, according to The Guardian.
The newspaper reported that the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) was expected to recommend Russia be found “non-compliant” over anomalies in drug testing results.
It said Wada’s executive committee was to meet on 9 December to assess the conclusion of its independent compliance review committee, which had been inspecting laboratory data belonging to Russia’s anti-doping agency, Rusada.
If the executive committee agrees with the findings, Russia could receive a blanket ban from participating in major sporting events, but also have hosting rights removed, including St Petersburg’s as a Euro 2020 venue.
The data relates to the period January 2012 to August 2015. It was obtained by Wada earlier this year under the terms of a settlement relating to a previous drugs ban.
The data is missing positive results that were made public by a whistleblower, and the deadline for Rusada to explain those omissions has passed.
Wada’s Compliance Review Committee (CRC) met on 17 November to consider a report from its Intelligence and Investigations Department and independent forensic experts.
An independent inquiry led by Professor Richard McLaren in 2016 found ‘state-sponsored’ and ‘systematic’ doping had occurred across multiple sports. Russia was declared non-compliant but the country’s athletes still competed in the 2016 Olympic Games and Russia hosted the football World Cup in 2018. The country was then reinstated as compliant in September 2018, with access to the Moscow laboratory data being one of the conditions laid down.