November 18, 2013 (Lausanne, Switzerland) – The Swiss-based World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has provisionally suspended the Russian lab entrusted to oversee anti-doping controls at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games because of quality control issues reports AP.

Normally, such a suspension is for a six-month period, which would cover both the February 7-23 Sochi Olympic Games and the March 7-16 Sochi Paralympic Games. The provisional suspension, which was announced last Sunday, would affect both the Moscow lab and a satellite lab in Sochi. This could mean that Russian organizers will be obligated to airlift almost 2,500 samples to another country for testing, a huge logistical challenge.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), meanwhile, has now guaranteed the “integrity” of the drug-testing program in Sochi, expressing confidence in Russian testing facilities. WADA has given the Russian lab a December 1 deadline to improve the quality of its results; if the lab meets that deadline, and another one set for April, 2014, the suspension may never come into effect. The second deadline is for many changes to be: “drafted, finalized, implemented and embedded.”

AP article here.

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