U.S. lawmakers move to criminalize global doping fraud

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U.S. lawmakers introduced the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act on Tuesday with rare bi-partisan support to criminalize international doping fraud conspiracies, a week after the World Anti-Doping Agency decided against suspending Russia.
The proposed law would attack U.S. sponsorship and broadcast rights money for global sports events with U.S. competitors to ensure fraud against Americans wouldn't go unpunished, with penalties up to a 1 million-U.S. dollar fine and 10 years in prison.
"Now is the time to create stiff penalties for Russia's cheating and send a signal that Russia and other sponsors of state-directed fraud can't use corruption as a tool of foreign policy," U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said.
WADA decided against re-imposing a ban on Russia for missing a deadline to provide data from drug tests in the wake of the 2016 report from Richard McLaren detailing Russian state-backed doping from 2011 to 2015 involving more than 1,000 athletes across more than 30 sports.
"We know from experience we must meet the bad behaviour of Russia's corrupt government with strength," Whitehouse said.
"Anything less they take is encouragement. That's why the responses of WADA and the International Olympic Committee to the Russian doping scandal fall woefully short."


While WADA eventually received the data, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) chief Travis Tygart criticized WADA, saying: "Change is needed for a global system that holds athletes strictly accountable but allows states to corrupt the Olympic Games and perpetuate massive fraud on athletes and the public." 

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