--- description: The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed in a July 18 report that Russia covered up widespread doping in the past two Olympic Games. As Olympics chiefs prepare to decide whether Russia should be banned entirely from the 2016 Games, here's how the scandal has unfolded. title: Russian Doping image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Russian Doping  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 21, 2016 9:58 AM CUT  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 21, 2016 9:58 AM CUT \[The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.\] DEC 2014 2015 A German documentary is the first to claim Russia sponsored doping and cheating on drug tests, implicating the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), then led by Lamine Diack. AUG A second documentary claims evidence of widespread doping on the basis of leaked IAAF data. Sebastian Coe succeeds Diack as IAAF chief and refutes the claims. NOV NOV. 9 The first part of a WADA investigation into the claims finds the Russian government complicit in a culture of cheating and urges bans for Russian athletes. NOV. 13 The IAAF suspends Russia’s track-and-field team from international competition. 2016 JAN The IAAF bans Russian athletics chief Valentin Balakhnichev for life for taking bribes. The second part of the WADA probe is released and accuses the IAAF of ignoring Russian doping. MAY Russia’s anti-doping-lab head Grigory Rodchenkov admits helping fake test results for 15 medal winners at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. JULY The International Olympic Committee says it will consider expelling Russia from the 2016 Games in Rio. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4416659/russian-doping/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4416659/russian-doping/"},"headline":"Russian Doping","datePublished":"2016-07-21T09:58:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:25:27.168Z","description":"The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed in a July 18 report that Russia covered up widespread doping in the past two Olympic Games. As Olympics chiefs prepare to decide whether Russia should be banned entirely from the 2016 Games, here's how the scandal has unfolded.","url":"https://time.com/4416659/russian-doping/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4416659/russian-doping/","name":"Russian Doping"}}]}] ```