#wada-investigation

#wada-investigation

The ongoing discussions regarding future structural changes to the game, such as the introduction of new tournaments (eg. Fifa Club World Cup), further intensify this challenge. These changes have the potential to significantly reduce the downtime available to elite players, affecting their recovery and overall well-being.

The report describes the situation as a 'human rights emergency' and points to what it calls a 'recognizable pattern of authoritarian practices' in the country.

World Athletics, the international governing body for athletics, requires all athletes to undergo an SRY test before competing in the female category for all major championships and Diamond League events. The rule is in place to exclude trans women and intersex people from competition. The SRY gene tests are used to detect the presence of the Y chromosome via a cheek swab or blood sample and cost £185.

The sport-adjacent drama has been the real story of this year's Winter Olympics in Milan. Despite RTE's lacklustre Winter Olympics coverage, I have become completely enthralled in it. Not only by the sport but also for all the off-piste, behind-the-scenes, sport-adjacent drama. And by jove, there has been a cornucopia of it this year, from cheating confessions and allegations, to 'penisgate'.

Nutrition expert Sharon Madigan says taking weight-loss drugs to improve performances will deliver unexpected side effects

USA's Katie Uhlaender, a five-time Winter Olympian in skeleton, accused the Canadian team of deliberately pulling four of its six athletes from a race in Lake Placid, New York, last weekend in order to make it harder for athletes from other countries to qualify. The reduced field meant fewer qualifying points were available and Uhlaender, who won the event, missed out on a place at this year's Games, which will take place in Milan-Cortina, Italy.

But there's also the matter of making sure one's equipment is up to snuff - and, beginning with this year's Winter Olympics, that means not having any PFAS, or "forever chemicals," in the mix. What happens if a competitor does turn out to have such chemicals in their equipment? They'll find themselves disqualified. As GearJunkie's Mary Andino reports, three skiiers have been disqualified so far due to their use of fluorocarbon wax, also known as "fluoro wax."

The Italian biathlete Rebecca Passler rejoined her team at the Winter Olympics on Monday after a successful appeal against a suspension handed out before the Milano Cortina Games for an alleged doping violation. Passler began training in the bright sunshine at the Antholz-Anterselva Biathlon Arena on Monday afternoon, firing off shots in bunches of five on the range as her coaches watched intently.

I think anything that is distracting from these Games is sad, right? But we've learned over the many years ... there's always been something that has taken the lead, leading up to the Games," Coventry said. "Whether it has been Zika, COVID, there has always been something.