Paris 2024 Olympics | Explained: Doping, WADA Prohibited Substances, and Russia's State-sponsored Scandal

As the Paris 2024 Olympics approaches, athletes must adhere to some regulations and to take the route of doping is completely prohibited. The issue of doping remains a significant concern in sports, as it goes against the core values of fair competition. So let's understand what doping is, the substances which are banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the first high-profile case, and the sensational doping scandal sponsored by the Russian government.

As the prestigious Paris 2024 Olympics looms, there is a lot of buzz amongst sports fans about the world’s biggest-ever sporting event. In such a mega event like the Olympics, everyone expects a fair competition. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has released a set of measures that need to be followed by the athletes during preparation for the Games. One of those regulations includes the ban on the use of prohibited substances or methods to enhance performance. Doping remains an issue of concern in the sporting world and it is banned to defend the values championed by sport and competition: ethics, perseverance and excelling. Henceforth, as the Paris Games are approaching, understanding the concept of doping, athletes who were involved in the malpractice and Russia's state-sponsored doping scandal becomes pivotal.

What is doping?

Doping refers to the consumption of artificial and often illegal substances to gain an unfair advantage over others in sporting competitions by increasing muscle mass, endurance and recovery speed. These substances can range fromanabolic steroids, human growth hormones, stimulants and diuretics to erythropoietin (EPO) and methods can include blood transfusions and gene doping.

List of all banned substances by WADA to compete in sporting events

When did the IOC ban doping in the Olympic Games?

Following the death of Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen during the Team Time Trial in 1960, the IOC introduced the doping rule and measure in line with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code in 1967. The committee instituted the Olympic Medical Commission and created a list of banned substances. The drugs were prohibited for consumption from the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

Ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the IOC delegated the responsibility to a specialist independent agency – the International Testing Agency (ITA). The ITA looks after the anti-doping programme for the Olympic Games.

The First Victim

The first athlete to have a medal rescinded as a result of doping was Sweden’s Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall in 1968, who had consumed two beers to calm his nerves before the shooting event.

The first high-profile case was of Canada’s Ben Johnson, who was stripped of his medal in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Johnson bagged the gold medal in the 100-meter sprint event, setting the new world record time of 9.79 seconds. But, just three days after his sprinting glory in the 100-meter final, he was disqualified after testing positive for the usage of Stanozolol steroid. Following this incident, Johnson's records were scrapped and the gold medal was awarded to American Carl Lewis instead, who clocked 9.920 seconds.

Russian Doping Scandal

Generally, doping is considered to be an individual’s act, but it was state-sponsored and systematic, with the Russian government supplying steroids and other drugs to its athletes in pursuit of winning more medals in track and field events. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found the Russian Federation guilty of violating anti-doping regulations, including an attempt to deliberately damage investigations by manipulating computer data. Later, WADA banned the federation from participating in all major sporting events, including the Olympics, for four years in 2019. However, in 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced the ban period to two years following an appeal by Russia.

Russia has the most competitors who have been caught doping at the Olympic Games, which comprises over 30 per cent of the global total. It also has 50 athletes stripped of their medals – four times more than the second country on the list.

Based on a report from the WADA, the IOC said, “All Russian athletes … are considered to be affected by a system subverting and manipulating the anti-doping system.” Yet, the committee gave rights to the governing bodies of each sport to determine the eligibility of individual athletes.

As a result, 271 of 389 Russian athletes were cleared for competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil including 67 athletes removed by IAAF before the IOC’s decision, reported CNN.

In December 2017, the IOC announced that the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has been suspended with immediate effect, but Russians with no previous drug violations are allowed to compete under the Olympic Flag as an "Olympic Athlete from Russia" (OAR) however no national anthem and Russian officials will be permitted to attend the Games.

Russia was forced to make some institutional changes and some fines were imposed on Russian Federations. After imposing fines, the IOC announced on 19 February 2021 that Russia would compete under the acronym "ROC", after the name of the Russian Olympic Committee in the 2020 Summer Olympics, which was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 23 March 2023, World Athletics (WA) announced that Russia's doping suspension has been lifted after nearly seven and a half years. They were suspended in November 2015. However, the ban on Russian athletes was continued due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

How many athletes have been stripped of Olympic Medals?

Approximately 133 Olympic medals including 42 gold, 43 silver and 48 bronze have been taken away from athletes for various offenses at the Summer Games. Notably, at least one athlete has been disqualified for the consumption of prohibited substances since its introduction except for the 1980 Moscow Games. At the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, there were nine cases of positive doping results. A total of 353 athletes have been disqualified for the same reason in the history of the Olympic Games.

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