Recently, the World Triathlon Federation announced sanctions against the Russian Triathlon Federation: due to a number of cases of Russian athletes taking banned drugs illegally, Russia will not be allowed to hold any worldwide and European-level competitions in the next year, and Russian officials who hold important positions in the International Triathlon Federation will also face a one-year penalty of temporary dismissal.
Sanctions are approved by the Executive Committee of the World Triad Trinity Alliance and include the following:
1. The Russian Triathlon Federation will reach an agreement with the Russian Anti-Banned Drug Organization to conduct drug testing for all Russian athletes, especially those who want to participate in international competitions.
2. In terms of anti-drug measures, the Russian Triathlon Federation will work with the World Triathlon Federation to develop educational programs for Russian athletes and coaches.
3. The Russian Triathlon Federation will compensate and reimburse the prize money previously awarded to Russian Triathlon athletes who have been penalized for taking doping.
4. Officials holding official positions in the World Triathlon Alliance shall be suspended for one year.
5. The Russian Triathlon Federation cannot organize any Triathlon events of world or European level in the coming year (until the end of 2022).
6. The Russian Triathlon Federation shall compensate all expenses of the World Triathlon Federation, including but not limited to the costs of experiments, hearings and travel expenses of coaches and athletes who violate anti-anti-drug rules.
7. Sanctions must be imposed among all athletes and coaches within the Russian Tri-Trinity Federation involved in the use of banned drugs, and the Russian Tri-Trinity Federation must be implemented in cooperation with the World Tri-Iron Tribune Agency.
The World Triathlon Alliance said that it will make every effort to crack down on any form of banned drugs and completely eradicate the use of prohibited drugs and methods in the Triathlon Movement, and the World Triathlon Alliance will continue to invest a lot of time, energy and budget for anti-banned drug figures.
On August 13 this year, the World Federation of Triathlons announced that Igor Polyanskiy, a Russian triathlete and 43rd in the Tokyo Olympics triathlon, had failed a recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) drug test, and another Russian triathlete, Aleksandra Briuhankov, had also been found to have tested positive, and both were banned for three years.
Compared with the vigorous practice of the World Triathlon Federation, both the Olympic Organizing Committee and the World Athletics Association seem to be less efficient:
Uja, who represented the United Kingdom and won the silver medal in the men's 4x 100m relay at the Tokyo Olympics, was banned for finding two anti-doping ingredients in the A-bottle urine sample after the Men's 4x 100m Relay at the Tokyo Olympics.
After Uja requested a B-bottle test, on September 8, the International Doping Testing Agency confirmed that the analysis of the B sample was carried out by a WADA-accredited Tokyo laboratory on August 19, 2021, which finally confirmed the results of the A sample. Under the rules, the British team will be disqualified and stripped of their silver medals. Canada, which initially finished third, will receive a silver medal, while the relay team that initially finished fourth, China, will receive a bronze medal.
However, several months after the results of the B-bottle test were announced, there was still no news of the deprivation of medals and subsequent replacements.
It is hoped that before the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese relay team led by Su Bingtian will be able to make up for the bronze medal of the Tokyo Summer Olympics, which is an affirmation and the biggest praise for the Chinese athletics team.