As separately addressed the factual question of what happened that led to Johaug testing positive for the steroid clostebol. That article did not consider the question of why 18 months was the suspension chosen. This piece tries to fill in that gap, by exploring the legal analysis of the CAS decision and the principles that the court applied in reaching this decision. This analysis begins by looking at how criminal sentencing usually works, then applies...
With the number of athletes testing positive at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics now topping 100 and the second part of the McLaren report into state-sponsored doping in Russia dropping within a month, WADA agreed to a new system of sanctions for countries who do not comply with the World Anti-Doping Code. International Ski Federation President Gian Franco Kasper did not like it.
Although the IOC said in July that Russia should not host any international winter sports events due to their systematic doping violations and cheating at the 2014 Olympics, it apparently walked those guidelines back -- and now Russia has been awarded biathlon World Championships, despite the fact that the country is not currently in compliance with the WADA Code.
The two published studies on meldonium excretion show that concentrations in urine samples fall below 1 μg/mL within a day or two -- so why did WADA suggest lifting provisional suspensions on athletes testing up to 15 μg/mL in the first two months of 2016?
The International Association of Athletics Federations has banned the Russian track and field team from the 2016 Summer Olympics after a doping scandal. As other federations with doping problems look on, it remains to be seen whether the decision will be upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the International Olympic Committee.
660 organizations, from governments to international sports federations, agreed to the 2009 World Anti-Doping Agency Code. But when it comes to enforcing its guidelines they don't all take their commitment so seriously, writes Dr. Barrie Houlihan in a new investigation. We ask: can the new 2015 Code do better?