Veronika (Popova) Andrusenko, Alexandr Kudashev Suspended for Olympics, FINA Announces

Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

Editorial content for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games coverage is sponsored by GMX7.
See full event coverage. Follow GMX7 on Instagram at @GMX7training #gmx7

Two athletes who qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games have been provisionally suspended for anti-doping violations, FINA announced on Wednesday.

Russian swimmers Alexandr Kudashev and Veronika (Popova) Andrusenko, have been suspended. Both were slated to compete for the non-federation Russians, since the Russian federation was barred from competing as an entity at the Tokyo Olympics because of ongoing doping issues found by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The country’s athletes are essentially competing as individuals with no anthem or flag usage allowed for the next two Olympics.

Andrusenko competed for Russia in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics in several events. Tokyo would have been her third Olympic Games.

The anti-doping violations were asserted on the basis of evidence supplied by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and stemming from WADA’s examination of materials recovered from the former Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, including the Laboratory Information Management System, according to a press release by FINA.

“FINA is grateful to WADA for its diligence in helping to ensure clean competition at Tokyo 2020,” said FINA President Husain Al-Musallam. “As a proud signatory of the WADA Code, we have followed up quickly and carefully to process the information supplied as a result of the work of WADA’s Investigations and Intelligence unit. FINA remains fully committed to protecting clean athletes and promoting clean competition at Tokyo 2020, just as we do for all the events on our calendar.”

FINA’s out of competition testing and test distribution planning are handled by the International Testing Agency, which also handles the Tokyo 2020 anti-doping program on behalf of the IOC.

FINA stated in its press release that it was thankful for the ITA’s efforts which have ensured that, despite the circumstances of the pandemic, an effective volume and targeting of out-of-competition testing has been maintained in the lead-up to the Olympic Games.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

Name*

Email*

1 Comment

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

jblow51

2 years ago

They just can’t help themselves and it’s all State Sponsored. Sad.