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What's the story?
Russian Olympic Committee has expressed that they are expecting their athletes to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics under their national flag despite a 4-year ban from major sporting events.
The background
The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA)banned the Russian Federation on December 10, 2019 from competing in major global sports events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar for a period of 4 years for manipulation of doping related data. Russian authorities have said they are going to contest the ban and get it overturned. The Russian national football team will be allowed to compete at the UEFA Euro 2020 as the UEFA competitions are not considered for banning in case of anti-doping breaches.
The heart of the matter
Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov asserted that the Russian Federation is a rightful member of the Olympic movement and urged their athletes to compete under the Russian tricolour for the Tokyo Olympics. President Vladimir Putin slammed the sanctions and termed them as politically motivated. Pozdnyakov confirmed that the committe would provide their support to the Russian Anti Doping Agency's (RUSADA) decision to defy the ban inflicted by the WADA. RUSADA have expressed that they have made the decision to disagree with the 4-year ban by WADA.
WADA had accused the Russian authorities of intentionally falsifying data from doping laboratories that were handed over for investigation purposes. RUSADA will now have to communicate their decision to the WADA before the month's end and trigger the appeal process at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
As per the current sanctions, Russian sportsmen and sportswomen will be allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics as neutrals and if they are able to successfully prove that they were not part of the WADA sanctioned activities in Russia.
