In the wake of the report the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) released yesterday about Russian athletes missing doping tests, FINA has issued a statement urging “anyone with relevant evidence to bring it forward to FINA.”
While the WADA report did not specifically identify any swimmers in particular, or the sport of swimming in general, many of the athletes tested in the period discussed participate in Summer Olympics sports, meaning that it is quite possible, but not certain, that swimmers were among the athletes who missed doping tests. Under the WADA code, missed tests can be considered evidence that a doping violation occurred.
The IAAF, the governing body for track and field, is ruling today on whether or not to bar Russia’s track and field team from competing in Rio, following accusations of a state-sponsored program to circumvent testing. FINA has not yet officially considered doing the same for Russia’s swim team, and from the press release, it would seem that it does not feel there is currently enough evidence to do so.
Russian swimmers Yulia Efimova and Yana Martynova have been banned this year for doping offenses. Martynova was banned after testing positive last summer for ostarine, while Efimova’s status for Rio is currently uncertain due to her testing positive for meldonium after it was banned.
Here is the full text of FINA’s statement:
These are very serious allegations and we urge anyone with relevant evidence to bring it forward to FINA so that we can share with all appropriate authorities and take immediate disciplinary action if required.
FINA is monitoring all developments in the world’s fight against cheating and doping in sport and is taking decisive action to protect the majority of our athletes who are clean.
In partnership with national anti-doping agencies, FINA continues to test the 10 best-performing athletes in each event in swimming and this programme will continue until the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. After the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, this robust anti-doping programme will continue in the run-up to the FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) to take place in Windsor (CAN) in December 2016.
Since the beginning of 2016, FINA has already invested around USD one million in its unannounced out-of-competition testing programme.
