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Yearender: Are doping wars a new Cold War?

Xinhua, December 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

Justin Gatlin was booed when he snatched the silver medal in the men's 100-meter race at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The 34-year-old, who was caught doping twice - a record that would have caused many other runners to be banned for life - still runs on the track.

But when it comes to Russia, the strongest competitor of the United States in this event, things were handled much differently. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) released a report in July accusing Russia of running a state-wide doping program, and a number of Russian athletes were banned from the Rio Olympic Games.

One month later, the International Paralympic Committee released a statement suspending Russian athletes from 2016 Rio Paralympics.

In September, Russian hacker group known as 'Fancy Bears' claimed to have breached the files of the WADA and uncovered the identities of athletes who were permitted to take prohibited products for supposedly therapeutic reasons. The group said that "dozens of American athletes had tested positive," and that Rio Olympic medalists were given licence to dope.

The list includes top tennis players the Williams sisters and U.S. Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles. Although Moscow denied any involvement with the hacking attacks, the discovery nevertheless raised doubts about WADA's impartiality.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Oct. 11 that Russia was ready to reform its anti-doping system in order to better fight against drug use. He also vowed to reform the country's sports management system, and stressed the need to keep in touch with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in making any decisions.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recently started proceedings against 28 Russian athletes over doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. The announcement came after Russia lost hosting rights for the World Cup biathlon and speed skating events amid the country's mounting doping scandal.

The IOC instructed to sports organizations to suspend preparations to hold competitions in Russia.

During the Cold War, the United States missed the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980, and the former Soviet Union denied to take a part in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 in response.

But the doping controversy does have its differences to tensions of the past.

This time, Russia was shut out by third parties. WADA concluded that the Russian state had supported a doping program, and in response, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) voted to extend Russia's doping ban from international competitions earlier this month.

"With each Olympiad we've have problems," said the head of the Russian anti-doping commission Vitaly Smirnov in an interview.

"Mainly they are political ones," he added, calling the global reaction to Russia's doping scandal biased. Enditem