(Reuters) – Two Russian swimmers who have qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were provisionally suspended by the sport’s world body FINA on Wednesday for suspected anti-doping rule violations.
FINA said in a statement that a procedure was ongoing after the ADRVs were asserted against Alexandr Kudashev and Veronika Andrusenko using evidence provided by the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA.
It added that the evidence stemmed from WADA’s examination of materials recovered from the former Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory.
“FINA is grateful to WADA for its diligence in helping to ensure clean competition at Tokyo 2020,” said new 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.”
Kudashev, 25 and a gold medallist in the men’s 200m butterfly at the 2019 World University Games, was set for his first Olympics.
Andrusenko, 30, swam in the 2012 and 2016 Games and also competed in the professional International Swimming League that bars anyone who has been disqualified as a result of a doping offence.
Russian athletes are set to compete in Tokyo without their flag and anthem because of doping sanctions.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
