The International Swimming Federation (FINA) stated on its website Wednesday that two elite Russian swimmers have been provisionally barred from the Tokyo Olympics due to drug offences on the eve of the games, The Moscow Times has reported.
The athletes, Veronika Andrusenko and Alexander Kudashev, were supposed to participate in the Tokyo Olympics under the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) banner rather than the Russian tricolor.
FINA said the anti-doping rule breaches were based on information provided by WADA, which included material seized from the old Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory. The provisional suspensions are still in “process,” according to the statement.
Husain Al-Musallam, President of FINA, praised WADA for their “dilligence in assisting in ensuring clean competition at Tokyo 2020.”
Anti-doping officials have targeted a number of competitors in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics, including Andrusenko and Kudashev. Two Russian rowers on their way to Tokyo were suspended last week after testing positive for the banned drug Meldonium.
Sha’Carri Richardson, an American sprinter, was suspended for one month on July 3 after admitting to using cannabis.
