World Anti-Doping Agency

20 Stories

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...

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...

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...

Tour de France Rider: I May Have Been Poisoned

Team RadioShack pulls Fränk Schleck out of competition

(Newser) - Team RadioShack pulled Fränk Schleck out of the Tour de France yesterday, after the Luxembourg cyclist tested positive for a banned substance. But Schleck insists he's innocent, and is using a fairly novel defense. "I have no explanation for the test result and therefore insist that the...

Growth Hormone Test Added to NFL Deal

HGH can give the perception of improved speed, vision

(Newser) - The NFL officially is back in business, collective bargaining agreement and all. That 4 1/2-month lockout? A thing of the past in every way. All those players with new contracts who had to sit out practice for a few days? They hit the field with all of their teammates yesterday...

Cycling Battles Doping With 'Biological Passports'

Blood profiling case could determine the future of antidoping

(Newser) - A landmark doping case being pursued by cycling authorities could help the sport pull ahead of the pack in the fight against performance-enhancing drugs, the New York Times reports. Cycling's governing body is preparing a case using blood profiles—or "biological passports"—that show telltale changes in the...

IOC to Retest 5,000 Samples From Olympics

New drug found in Tour de France cyclists prompts probe

(Newser) - The International Olympic Committee will retest samples from Olympic athletes for traces of a new drug, the BBC reports. Cera, a new version of a blood-oxygen-boosting drug, was found in a second look at samples from two Tour de France cyclists this week. Olympic policy allows additional testing for 8...

20 Stories