Russia’s athletics doping scandal kicked into high gear today, with the sport’s governing body banning the country from competing in international events until they clean up their act. This is a slight problem for Russia, as it all but seals them out of competing in 2016 Rio Olympics.
Russia absolutely cleaned up at London’s 2012 event, claiming 24 gold medals, 25 silver and 32 bronze. It’s been confirmed that at least some of those winners were doping at the time, most notably 800M Olympic champion runner Mariya Savinova-Farsonova. She’s already been threatened with a life ban from competing.
1185 days have past since I raced in London. How many more do I have to wait until I receive my Olympic gold medal?
— Jared Tallent (@JaredTallent) November 9, 2015
Russia doesn’t have a huge amount of time to make the changes necessary to compete in the next Games, let alone the other athletics championships before then, so it might be a while before we hear their cracking national anthem again.
Image: Stu Forster via Getty.
