The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced on Thursday that its 'Operation LIMS' probe has resulted in 302 sanctions against 291 Russian athletes. Eleven athletes face two sanctions each for separate violations.
The investigation, hailed by WADA President Witold Banka as "the most successful in anti-doping history," relied on data from the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory's Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), recovered in 2019.
Sanctions have been imposed by 23 different anti-doping organizations across 22 sports, with weightlifting (107 cases) and athletics (93) leading the tally. Four additional cases are pending final judgment.
Russia's anti-doping agency (RUSADA) was declared non-compliant in 2015 after widespread doping was uncovered. WADA's conditional reinstatement of RUSADA in 2018 allowed investigators to retrieve 24 terabytes of lab data, laying the foundation for hundreds of cases.
Banka defended the controversial 2018 decision, stating it was essential to obtain critical evidence. All Operation LIMS cases have now been investigated, marking the end of a probe that reshaped the global anti-doping landscape.