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At Least 120 Athletes at the Rio Olympics Have Previously Been Suspended for Doping

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Blablurn

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Of the approximately 11,000 athletes competing in Rio, at least 120 have served suspensions or had to return medals for doping and were reinstated in time for this year’s Games. This is about one out of every 100 competitors.
At Least 25 of These Athletes
Have Won Medals in Rio So Far

As of Friday, 28 of the 773 medals that had been awarded were won by athletes who had served suspensions for doping.

Some of these athletes have been openly criticized by their fellow competitors in Rio. In the swimming competition, Yulia Efimova of Russia and Sun Yang of China were the targets of pointed comments.

Efimova, 24, won silver medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events in Rio.

She has served a 16-month suspension for doping,
and she tested positive again this year, for the newly banned substance meldonium.




Initially, Efimova had been barred from Rio, along with six other Russian swimmers
who either had positive tests on their records or had been named in an investigation of a massive state-sanctioned doping scheme. But a last-minute ruling allowed them to compete.

Efimova was booed every time she raced in Rio and was the object of public derision from the American swimmer Lilly King.

Sun, 24, was called a “drug cheat” by the Australian swimmer Mack Horton before the men’s 400-meter freestyle. Horton, 20, won the gold medal, and Sun placed second. Horton called it “a win for the good guys.” Sun later won a gold medal in the 200-meter freestyle.

Almost One-Third of the Countries Participating in the Rio Games Have Athletes Who Were Previously Suspended for Doping

At least 63 of the 205 national delegations at the 2016 Olympics have athletes who have served suspensions for doping. The United States has the second most, with seven, after Ukraine, which has eight.


One of the more prominent Americans in this group is the sprinter Justin Gatlin,
this year’s silver medalist in the 100 meters. He has been suspended for doping twice, once for four years. Fans booed him as he took the track ahead of his race.

Another American, Tyson Gay, was caught doping after the 2012 Olympics and cost the United States team its silver medal in the 4x100-meter relay
. Gay is running with Gatlin in the same event in Rio on Friday.

More here: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...t&contentID=WhatsNext&src=recg&pgtype=article

Pretty shocking!
 
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