was among those banned for doping prior to the championships At the championships the IAAF collected blood samples from all participating athletes, following the procedure introduced at the
2011 World Championships in Athletics, in line with supporting its Athlete Biological Passport programme. This assisted the federation in detecting athlete's potential usage of
banned substances, including
steroids,
human growth hormone,
EPO and
blood doping. In addition to the mandatory blood tests, the IAAF also conducted around 500 urine tests at the championships in three groups: all medallists were subjected to urine tests, those showing biological passport anomalies were targeted, and random urine tests were also applied. Continuing with procedures initiated at the
2005 edition, all urine tests were scheduled for long-term storage to allow retrospective testing in future. All athlete samples were processed at the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory accredited by the
World Anti-Doping Agency. In the months preceding the event around 40 Russian athletes received doping bans. The most prominent of these were
Darya Pishchalnikova (discus runner-up at the
2012 Summer Olympics) and
Olga Kuzenkova (former Olympic and world champion in the hammer throw). The Russian Athletics Federation president
Valentin Balakhnichev defended the bans as proof of the increasing effectiveness of
RUSADA (the Russian Anti-Doping Agency) which had been formed three years before. According to
The New York Times, Pishchalnikova was a whistleblower who sent the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) a December 2012 email detailing state-run doping programs in which Russian athletes had to participate; her ban by the Russian Athletics Federation was likely in retaliation. A month before the competition it was reported that the head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory,
Grigory Rodchenkov, had been arrested on charges of drug distribution, but the case against him had been dropped. His sister was convicted of purchasing banned drugs with the intention to supply them to athletes. Former Russian coach Oleg Popov and
400 metres runner
Valentin Kruglyakov stated that athletes were ordered to dope and paid officials to conceal their positive tests. The coach of the national athletics team, Valentin Maslakov, noted that Kruglyakov had tested positive for drugs and that Popov coached
Lada Chernova, who had twice tested positive. He also stated that RUSADA and its labs were independent from the national sports federations. On 18 November 2015, WADA suspended laboratory of RUSADA – Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, however the organization was not dissolved and tests are to be done by other independent labs. In February 2016, two high-ranking directors of the organisation – Vyacheslav Sinyev and Nikita Kamayev – died. According to
Sunday Times, Kamayev approached the news agency shortly before his death planning to publish a book on "the true story of sport pharmacology and doping in Russia since 1987". Outside of Russia, three of the world's top sprinters had positive tests during the buildup:
Asafa Powell,
Tyson Gay and
Veronica Campbell Brown. The drug testing results from the competition revealed several athletes had been using performance-enhancing drugs. The fifth-place finisher in the men's javelin,
Roman Avramenko of Ukraine, tested positive for
4-Chlorodehydromethyltestosterone (a steroid), as did Turkmenistan's
Yelena Ryabova (a competitor in the women's 200 m). Another 200 m runner,
Yelyzaveta Bryzgina, also of Ukraine, was banned for the steroid
drostanolone. Afghan 100 m runner
Masoud Azizi had
nandrolone in his sample. Two athletes in the walking events,
Ayman Kozhakhmetova and
Ebrahim Rahimian, failed their tests for EPO, as did Guatemala's marathon runner
Jeremias Saloj.
Russian doping scandal Media attention began growing in December 2014 when German broadcaster
ARD reported on state-sponsored doping in Russia, comparing it to
doping in East Germany. In November 2015, the
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) published a report and the
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) suspended Russia indefinitely from world track and field events. The 335-page report, compiled following a nearly yearlong investigation by a commission led by former anti-doping agency President
Dick Pound, urged the
International Association of Athletics Federations to suspend Russia from competition, including the
Olympics in Brazil. The report said Russia "sabotaged" the 2012 Olympics by allowing athletes who should have been banned for doping violations to compete in the London Games. It recommended the anti-doping agency impose lifetime suspensions for 10 Russian coaches and athletes, including women's 800-meters gold medalist
Mariya Savinova. The United Kingdom Anti-Doping agency later assisted WADA with testing in Russia. In June 2016, they reported that they were unable to fully carry out their work and noted intimidation by armed
Federal Security Service (FSB) agents. After a Russian former lab director made allegations about the
2014 Winter Olympics in
Sochi, WADA commissioned an independent investigation led by
Richard McLaren. McLaren's investigation found corroborating evidence, concluding in a report published in July 2016 that the
Ministry of Sport and the FSB had operated a "state-directed failsafe system" using a "disappearing positive [test] methodology" (DPM) from "at least late 2011 to August 2015". ==Athlete desertion==