World Anti-Doping Agency

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Fencer's Winning Doping Defense: Too Many Kisses

Ysaora Thibus of France says she tested positive only because she kissed her partner

(Newser) - A top world fencer has been cleared of doping allegations thanks to her unusual explanation for a positive test: kisses. Ysaora Thibus, an Olympian and former world champion, tested positive in January 2024 for the banned drug ostarine, reports USA Today . Thibus denied taking the drug and blamed regular kissing...

Out of China, a Head- Scratching Doping Case

Theory that cooking wine for noodles may have contaminated China's athletes keeps twists coming

(Newser) - It looked like a recipe for disaster. So, when his country's swimmers were being accused of doping earlier this year, one Chinese official cooked up something fast: He blamed it on contaminated noodles. In fact, he argued, it could have been a culinary conspiracy concocted by criminals, whose actions...

Olympic Champs Tell Congress: No Faith Left in Anti-Doping Agency

Michael Phelps, Allison Schmitt rip World Anti-Doping Agency

(Newser) - US Olympic athletes have lost faith in the World Anti-Doping Agency to rid their sports of cheaters ahead of next month's Summer Games in Paris, two former gold medalists told a House subcommittee on Tuesday night. The testimony by Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt followed revelations this spring that...

After Olympic Letdown, WADA to Review Controversial Ban

Sha'Carri Richardson lost spot in Tokyo Games due to pot use

(Newser) - Sha'Carri Richardson missed her chance to compete in Tokyo's Summer Olympics due to pot use, but a move by the World Anti-Doping Agency could keep future athletes from meeting the same fate. On Tuesday, WADA announced it will set up an advisory committee to review whether cannabis should...

Double Standard on Pot, Alcohol Needs to Change

Olympic officials will have to accept reality eventually, Nancy Armour writes

(Newser) - Marijuana use is legal in 18 states, and it's been decriminalized in another 12. One of the states where it's legal is Oregon, where a test found traces of pot in Sha'Carri Richardson's system, tossing out the sprinter's 100-meter victory at the US Olympic Track...

Drama Over Decision to Pull Flag During Checkers Game

Kremlin says Russian flag removal cost Tamara Tansykkuzhina the game

(Newser) - Under a World Anti-Doping Agency ruling , Russian athletes are banned from competing under their national flag until 2022—and that applies to checkers players too. The rule caused what the BBC calls a "diplomatic incident" this week when a Polish official removed the Russian checker player's flag from...

China's Greatest Swimmer Hit With 8-Year Ban

Sun Yang broke anti-doping rules in destroying blood samples

(Newser) - The career of China's greatest swimmer may be kaput after he was hit Friday with an eight-year ban for destroying blood samples. Three-time Olympic champion Sun Yang, 28, was found guilty of breaking anti-doping rules when sample collectors paid a visit to his home following the 2018 Asian Games,...

'Greatest Treachery': Russia's Anti-Doping Agency Reinstated

Country can now bid for major events again

(Newser) - The World Anti-Doping Agency declared Russia's scandal-ridden drug-fighting operation back in business Thursday, a decision designed to bring a close to one of sports' most notorious doping scandals but one bitterly disputed by hundreds of athletes and described as "treachery" by the lawyer for the man who exposed...

Russia Doped Its Athletes on 'Unprecedented Scale': Investigator

1K athletes in 30 sports in recent years

(Newser) - The Russian doping scandal just keeps getting bigger: A new report implicates 1,000 athletes in 30 sports over recent years, along with officials at various levels of government. The upshot is sure to be increased pressure to penalize Russia ahead of the 2018 Winter Games. In the report—which...

Rio Revenge? Russian Hackers Hit Medical Info of US Athletes

'What we're seeing here is a digital temper tantrum,'

(Newser) - In what one analyst calls a "digital temper tantrum," hackers linked to the Russian government have hacked into the World Anti-Doping Agency's Olympic database and released information on star American athletes, including Serena and Venus Williams. WADA has confirmed the security breach, and the hacking group "...

Russia Swapped Urine Samples Through 'Mouse Hole': Report

It led to a room full of clean, frozen samples

(Newser) - During the day, it looked like an impenetrable wall. Only under cover of darkness was the small "mouse hole" at ground level uncovered to reveal a passage from Russia's anti-doping lab to a room where clean urine tests sat waiting, frozen. "At a convenient moment, usually around...

Drug Used by Sharapova Found in 99 Other Cases

Nearly 100 positive tests so far this year

(Newser) - Maria Sharapova isn't the only athlete who's been busted for taking a heart medicine once used by Soviet troops to build stamina. Turns out the World Anti-Doping Agency has seen nearly 100 positive tests in 2016 for meldonium, a drug the group banned Jan. 1, spokesman Ben Nichols...

Maria Sharapova: I Failed a Drug Test

But tennis champion says it's an honest mistake

(Newser) - Tennis star Maria Sharapova admitted today that she's been caught using a drug restricted by professional tennis, the BBC reports. "I did fail the test and take full responsibility for it," the 28-year-old said in Los Angeles after failing a drug test at the Australian Open. But...

Russia's Doping a 'State-Sanctioned Regime'
 Russia's Doping a 
 'State-Sanctioned Regime' 
NEW REPORT
Nov 9, 2015 11:27 AM CST

Russia's Doping a 'State-Sanctioned Regime'

Authors say country could be banned from next year's Rio Olympics

(Newser) - Russian athletes should be banned from the Rio Olympics and future track and field competitions, say authors of a scathing new report on the country's systematic doping program . The report, the result of a 10-month investigation from an independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency, says top athletes, coaches,...

World Cup Anti-Doping Lab Loses License

'Repeated failures' shut down Rio facility 10 months before tournament

(Newser) - The World Anti-Doping Agency today revoked the license of the Rio de Janeiro anti-doping lab that was supposed to handle player samples for the upcoming World Cup. With just 10 months to go before the tournament, the WADA suspended the lab, citing "repeated failures" in its work. The lab...

Pistorius Put Legs on to Shoot Reeva: Prosecutor

Argues Steenkamp's death was premeditated as she's cremated in hometown

(Newser) - Oscar Pistorius put on his artificial legs to walk to the bathroom where girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp had fled after an argument and then fired into the locked door, hitting her three times, a prosecutor said at a dramatic court hearing today. Pistorius sobbed at the bail hearing as the prosecutor...

Olympics May Ax Cycling Over Armstrong Scandal

Sport needs time to clean up, IOC member says

(Newser) - Lance Armstrong's doping scandal could end up sidelining his entire sport from the Olympics, International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound warns. Armstrong—who confessed to doping in an Oprah interview set to air tomorrow—reportedly plans to implicate cycling's world governing body, which could leave the IOC feeling...

Armstrong to Appear on Oprah Next Week

Plus: Disgraced cyclist 'offered $250K to anti-doping body'

(Newser) - Lance Armstrong is rumored to be ready to confess to drug use —and it could happen on Oprah's show. The disgraced cyclist will give a "no-holds-barred" interview to Oprah Winfrey that will air on her network next week, CNN reports. In his first formal interview since he...

Lance Armstrong Might Admit Doping

Reports say he's considering a confession to reduce lifetime ban

(Newser) - Lance Armstrong has spent the last decade swearing up and down that he never, ever, used drugs to boost his performance, even as the evidence mounted and he got stripped of his titles and glory. Now, he might just fess up, reports the New York Times and Wall Street Journal...

Former Anti-Doping Chief: 90% Get Away With It

Fight against drug cheats being 'dumbed down,' Dick Pound warns

(Newser) - Close to a tenth of Olympic athletes are using banned substances, and only one in ten of those are getting caught, warns former World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound. "People who have prepared in advance" and used drugs before the London Olympics "won't get caught," he...

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