Doping at the World Athletics Championships

As a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) prohibits the use of banned performance-enhancing substances by competitors at the World Championships in Athletics. A list of WADA-banned substances is regularly published to the public and amended as scientific knowledge expands. The IAAF and anti-doping bodies undertake in-competition sampling of athletes blood and urine in order to detect where athletes have taken banned substances. This is also complemented by out-of-competition tests during the tournament and in the preceding period.

Where a banned substance is detected in-competition the athlete's performance will be annulled and—depending on the severity of the infraction—the athlete may be banned from the sport for a set period. Where an out-of-competition sample tests positive for a banned substance, any performances by the athlete after that date may also be annulled. Athletes may also be banned via doping regulations if the athlete fails to submit to testing, tampers or interferes with the undertaking of anti-doping procedures, or is found in possession of banned substances. Where a performance is annulled, any medals won by the athlete will be stripped from the athlete and the IAAF may decided to reallocate the medal(s) to the next best performers. This includes disqualification of whole national relay teams should one member break anti-doping rules. Samples are stored for future retesting, as improved methods over time may lead to previously unidentified cases of doping. The IAAF began a long-term storage approach from the 2007 World Championships onwards.

A total of 162 athletes (69 men and 93 women) have had their results annulled at the World Championships, and 40 of these have been stripped of medals as a result. A total of 53 medals have been stripped as a result of doping infractions. The first doping failure pre-dates the main championships and comes from Spanish hurdler Rosa Colorado at the 1980 World Championships in Athletics – an event which only featured two women's events not on the Olympic programme. World champions to be banned include North American sprinters Ben Johnson, Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery and Kelli White. Other prominent champions to have been banned include Russian middle-distance runner Mariya Savinova, steeplechaser Yuliya Zaripova and racewalker Olga Kaniskina. The majority of stripped medallists have come from Russia.

There has been an upward trend in the number of doping violations at the championships, with a peak of 50 athletes having had their performances annulled at the 2011 event, though it is assumed that this reflects improved detection rather than increased overall doping – an anonymous survey at that championships revealed over 30% of athletes had used banned substances during their career.

Given the susceptibility of the sport of athletics to doping issues, the IAAF has been central in the development of anti-doping standards and anti-doping measures have been were present at World Championships since the first edition in 1983. The anti-doping approach had a new development at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics, where all Russian athletes were banned due to state-sponsored doping and had to request dispensation to compete at Authorised Neutral Athletes.

Disqualifications by year

Ben Johnson's disqualification in 1987 was the first time a world champion was stripped of their title for doping.

Marion Jones was stripped of three sprint medals for doping at the 2001 event

.

Edition	Year	Host city	Host country	Athletes disqualified	Medals stripped
-	1976	Malmö	Sweden	0	0
-	1980	Sittard	Netherlands	1	0
1st	1983	Helsinki	Finland	0	0
2nd	1987	Rome	Italy	3	2
3rd	1991	Tokyo	Japan	3	1
4th	1993	Stuttgart	Germany	4	2
5th	1995	Gothenburg	Sweden	0	0
6th	1997	Athens	Greece	7	3
7th	1999	Seville	Spain	7	3
8th	2001	Edmonton	Canada	17	9
9th	2003	Saint-Denis	France	11	6
10th	2005	Helsinki	Finland	11	4
11th	2007	Osaka	Japan	9	5
12th	2009	Berlin	Germany	31	5
13th	2011	Daegu	South Korea	50	10
14th	2013	Moscow	Russia	21	3
15th	2015	Beijing	China	7	0
16th	2017	London	United Kingdom	3	0
17th	2019	Doha	Qatar
18th	2021	Eugene	United States

Disqualifications by nation

Three-time racewalk world champion Olga Kaniskina of Russia has been stripped of two of those titles for doping.

Mariya Savinova is one of many Russian athletes to be stripped for World Championships medals.

Zhanna Pintusevich-Block is one of two Ukrainians to be stripped of medals for doping at the event.

This table collates the total number of athletes who have been disqualified for doping at the championships by nation. Athletes with multiple disqualifications are counted as one. Where a relay team is disqualified, this is counted as one disqualification, though multiple team members may have been sanctioned.

Last updated 17 March 2018

Nation	Men disqualified	Women disqualified	Total	Medals stripped
Russia (RUS)[nb1]	14	38	52	24
Ukraine (UKR)	4	10	14	2
United States (USA)	8	5	13	14
Morocco (MAR)	8	3	11	0
Turkey (TUR)	0	8	8	1
Belarus (BLR)	4	3	7	4
Nigeria (NGR)	2	4	6	1
Spain (ESP)	3	2	5	1
France (FRA)	4	0	4	0
Canada (CAN)	1	2	3	1
Saudi Arabia (KSA)	3	0	3	0
Greece (GRE)	0	2	2	1
Kenya (KEN)	0	2	2	0
Kazakhstan (KAZ)	0	2	2	0
Afghanistan (AFG)	1	0	1	0
Algeria (ALG)	1	0	1	1
Australia (AUS)	1	0	1	0
Bahrain (BHR)	0	1	1	0
Belgium (BEL)	1	0	1	0
Brazil (BRA)	1	0	1	0
Bulgaria (BUL)	0	1	1	0
Cuba (CUB)	1	0	1	0
Great Britain & N.I. (GBR)	1	0	1	1
Guatemala (GUA)	1	0	1	0
Hungary (HUN)	1	0	1	0
India (IND)	0	1	1	0
Iran (IRI)	1	0	1	0
Italy (ITA)	1	0	1	0
South Korea (KOR)	1	0	1	0
Liberia (LBR)	1	0	1	0
Lithuania (LTU)	1	0	1	0
Moldova (MDA)	0	1	1	0
Malaysia (MAS)	1	1	1	0
Norway (NOR)	1	0	1	1
Portugal (POR)	0	1	1	0
Romania (ROM)	0	1	1	0
Somalia (SOM)	1	0	1	0
Soviet Union (URS)	0	1	1	0
Switzerland (SUI)	0	1	1	1
Trinidad and Tobago (TTO)	0	1	1	0
Turkmenistan (TKM)	0	1	1	0
Uzbekistan (UZB)	1	0	1	1
Venezuela (VEN)	0	1	1	0

• ^nb1 Russia's total for women's disqualifications and stripped medals includes the performances of Nailya Yulamanova, who helped Russia secure a bronze medal at the 2009 World Marathon Cup (held in conjunction with the 2009 World Championships marathon) but was later banned and had her team's performance annulled.

Disqualifications by event

This table collates the total number of disqualifications within a given event. Where the same athlete has been disqualified at multiple editions of the championships, each athlete disqualified per year is counted. Last updated 17 March 2018

Event	Male disqualifications	Female disqualifications	Total
100 metres	8	11	19
200 metres	2	10	12
400 metres	7	9	16
800 metres	0	11	11
1500 metres	4	14	18
5000 metres	6	4	10
10,000 metres	0	2	2
Sprint hurdles	1	2	3
400 metres hurdles	2	3	5
3000 metres s'chase	2	8	10
4 × 100 metres relay	7	7	14
4 × 400 metres relay	5	7	12
Marathon	9	4	13
20 km walk[nb2]	7	6	13
50 km walk	5	0	5
High jump	1	2	3
Pole vault	1	0	1
Long jump	0	3	3
Triple jump	1	2	3
Shot put	11	4	12
Discus throw	2	5	7
Javelin throw	2	1	3
Hammer throw	4	6	10
Combined events	0	1	1

• ^nb2 Includes precursor women's walk event over 10,000 m

Disqualified athletes

Athlete	Nation	Sex	Event	Year(s)	Result	Notes
Rosa Colorado	Spain (ESP)	Women	400 m hurdles	1980	1st	Ran in B-final
Ben Johnson	Canada (CAN)	Men	100 m 4 × 100 m relay	1987		4th place Canadian relay team disqualified
Sandra Gasser	Switzerland (SUI)	Women	1500 m	1987
Angella Issajenko	Canada (CAN)	Women	100 m 4 × 100 m relay	1987	5th	6th place Canadian relay team disqualified
Georg Andersen	Norway (NOR)	Men	Shot put	1991
Delisa Walton-Floyd	United States (USA)	Women	800 m	1991	8th (semis)
Irina Slyusar	Soviet Union (URS)	Women	100 m	1991	6th (semis)
Dmitriy Polyunin	Uzbekistan (UZB)	Men	Javelin throw	1993
Mike Stulce	United States (USA)	Men	Shot put	1993
Romas Ubartas	Lithuania (LTU)	Men	Discus throw	1993	4th
Liliya Nurutdinova	Russia (RUS)	Women	800 m	1993	7th
Aleksandr Bagach	Ukraine (UKR)	Men	Shot put	1997
Pascal Maran	France (FRA)	Men	400 m hurdles	1997	6th (heats)
Antonio Pettigrew	United States (USA)	Men	400 m 4 × 400 m relay	1997 1999 2001	7th (1997) 5th (1999) 4th (2001)	1997, 1999 and 2001 gold medal-winning American relay teams disqualified. Disqualified at three editions.
Daniel Plaza	Spain (ESP)	Men	20 kilometres walk	1997	10th
Olimpiada Ivanova	Russia (RUS)	Women	10,000 m walk	1997
Lyubov Tsyoma	Russia (RUS)	Women	800 m	1997	DNF (semis)
Oksana Zelinskaya	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	Women	Triple jump	1997	15th (q)
Mohamed Ibrahim Aden	Somalia (SOM)	Men	1500 m	1999	6th (semis)
Innocent Asonze	Nigeria (NGR)	Men	100 m 4 × 100 m relay	1999	4th (q-finals)	Bronze medal-winning Nigerian relay team disqualified
Davidson Ezinwa	Nigeria (NGR)	Men	100 m	1999	7th (semis)
German Skurygin	Russia (RUS)	Men	50 kilometres walk	1999
Jerome Young	United States (USA)	Men	400 m 4 × 400 m relay	1999 2001 2003	4th (1999) 4th (semis, 2001)	2001 and 2003 gold medal-winning American relay teams disqualified. Disqualified at three editions
Hannah Cooper	Liberia (LBR)	Women	4 × 400 m relay	1999	6th (h)	Liberian relay team disqualified
Roberto Barbi	Italy (ITA)	Men	Marathon	2001	60th
Christophe Cheval	France (FRA)	Men	200 m 4 × 100 m relay	2001	7th (q-finals)	French relay team disqualified
Ramon Clay	United States (USA)	Men	200 m	2001	8th (q-finals)
Andrei Mikhnevich	Belarus (BLR)	Men	Shot put	2001 2005 2007 2009 2011	10th (2001) 5th (2005) (2007) 7th (2009) (2011)	Banned for life, disqualified at five editions
Tim Montgomery	United States (USA)	Men	100 m 4 × 100 m relay	2001 2003	(2001) 5th (2003)	2001 Gold medal-winning American relay team disqualified. Disqualified at two editions
Ali Saïdi-Sief	Algeria (ALG)	Men	5000 m	2001
Javier Sotomayor	Cuba (CUB)	Men	High jump	2001	4th
Venolyn Clarke	Canada (CAN)	Women	100 m	2001	8th (q-finals)
Marion Jones	United States (USA)	Women	100 m 200 m 4 × 100 m relay	2001		2001 gold medal-winning American relay team disqualified
Svetlana Laukhova	Russia (RUS)	Women	100 m hurdles	2001	5th (heats)
Yekaterina Leshchova	Russia (RUS)	Women	200 m	2001	6th (heats)
Natalya Sadova	Russia (RUS)	Women	Discus throw	2001
Natalya Sologub	Belarus (BLR)	Women	400 m	2001	5th (semis)
Ana Mirela Termure	Romania (ROM)	Women	Javelin throw	2001	10th (q)
Kelli White	United States (USA)	Women	100 m 200 m 4 × 100 m relay	2001 2003	7th (100 m, 2001) (200 m, 2001) (100 m, 2003) (200 m, 2003)	2001 gold medal-winning American relay team disqualified. Disqualified at two editions.
Dwain Chambers	Great Britain & N.I. (GBR)	Men	100 m 4 × 100 m relay	2003	4th	Silver medal-winning British relay team disqualified
Fouad Chouki	France (FRA)	Men	1500 m	2003	8th
Calvin Harrison	United States (USA)	Men	400 m 4 × 400 m relay	2003	6th	Gold medal-winning American relay team disqualified
Chris Phillips	United States (USA)	Men	110 m hurdles	2003	5th
Kevin Toth	United States (USA)	Men	Shot put	2003	4th
Zhanna Block	Ukraine (UKR)	Women	100 m 200 m	2003 2005	(100 m, 2003) 4th (200 m, 2003), 5th (200 m semis, 2005)	Disqualified at two editions
Regina Jacobs	United States (USA)	Women	1500 m	2003	6th (semis)
Melissa Price	United States (USA)	Women	Hammer throw	2003	12th
Yuriy Belonog	Ukraine (UKR)	Men	Shot put	2005	4th
Vladyslav Piskunov	Ukraine (UKR)	Men	Hammer throw	2005	12th
Ivan Tikhon	Belarus (BLR)	Men	Hammer throw	2005
Andrei Varantsou	Belarus (BLR)	Men	Hammer throw	2005	15th (q)
Neelam Jaswant Singh	India (IND)	Women	Discus throw	2005	9th (q)
Svetlana Krivelyova	Russia (RUS)	Women	Shot put	2005	4th
Tatyana Kotova	Russia (RUS)	Women	Long jump	2005
Olga Kuzenkova	Russia (RUS)	Women	Hammer throw	2005
Nadzeya Ostapchuk	Belarus (BLR)	Women	Shot put	2005
Naman Keïta	France (FRA)	Men	400 m hurdles	2007	4th (semis)
Elvan Abeylegesse	Turkey (TUR)	Women	5000 m 10,000 m	2007 2009	5th (5000 m, 2007) (10,000 m, 2007) DQ (10,000 m, 2009)	Disqualified at two editions
Svetlana Cherkasova	Russia (RUS)	Women	800 m	2007	6th (h)
Yuliya Fomenko	Russia (RUS)	Women	1500 m	2007	7th
Hrisopiyí Devetzí	Greece (GRE)	Women	Triple jump	2007
Gulfiya Khanafeyeva	Russia (RUS)	Women	Hammer throw	2007	10th
Darya Pishchalnikova	Russia (RUS)	Women	Discus throw	2007
Yelena Soboleva	Russia (RUS)	Women	1500 m	2007
Hussain Al-Hamdah	Saudi Arabia (KSA)	Men	5000 m	2009 2011	12th (h, 2009) 13th (2001	Disqualified at two editions
Valeriy Borchin	Russia (RUS)	Men	20 kilometres walk	2009 2011	(2009) (2011)	Disqualified at two editions
Jamel Chatbi	Morocco (MAR)	Men	3000 m steeplechase	2009	DNS (final)
Leonardo dos Santos	Brazil (BRA)	Men	Triple jump	2009	20th (q)
Abderrahim Goumri	Morocco (MAR)	Men	Marathon	2009 2011	DNF DNF	Disqualified at two editions
Sergey Kirdyapkin	Russia (RUS)	Men	50 kilometres walk	2009 2011	(2009) DNF (2011)	Disqualified at two editions
Mikhail Lemayev	Russia (RUS)	Men	Marathon	2009	45th
Ildar Minshin	Russia (RUS)	Men	3000 m steeplechase	2009	7th
Kevin Rans	Belgium (BEL)	Men	Pole vault	2009	12th
Rakia Al-Gasara	Bahrain (BHR)	Women	100 m 200 m	2009	7th (q-finals) 5th (h)
Mariem Selsouli	Morocco (MAR)	Women	1500 m	2009	DNS (final)
Anna Alminova	Russia (RUS)	Women	1500 m	2009	10th (semis)
Olena Antonova	Ukraine (UKR)	Women	Discus throw	2009	17th (q)
Toyin Augustus	Nigeria (NGR)	Women	100 m hurdles 4 × 100 m relay	2009	6th (semis)	Nigerian relay team disqualified
Alemitu Bekele Degfa	Turkey (TUR)	Women	1500 m 5000 m	2009 2011	11th (1500 m heats, 2009) 13th (5000 m, 2009) 9th (5000 m heats, 2011)	Disqualified at two editions
Yuliya Chermoshanskaya	Russia (RUS)	Women	4 × 100 m relay	2009	4th	Russian relay team disqualified
Marta Domínguez	Spain (ESP)	Women	3000 m steeplechase	2009
Yelizaveta Grechishnikova	Russia (RUS)	Women	5000 m	2009 2011	10th (h) 14th	Disqualified at two editions
Olga Kaniskina	Russia (RUS)	Women	20 kilometres walk	2009 2011	(2009) (2011)	Disqualified at two editions
Anastasiya Kapachinskaya	Russia (RUS)	Women	400 m 4 × 400 m relay	2009 2011	7th (2009) (2011)	2009 and 2011 bronze medal-winning Russian relay teams disqualified. Disqualified at two editions
Svetlana Klyuka	Russia (RUS)	Women	800 m	2009	5th (semis)
Iríni Kokkinaríou	Greece (GRE)	Women	3000 m steeplechase	2009 2011	8th (q, 2009) 11th (q, 2011)	Disqualified at two editions
Mariya Konovalova	Russia (RUS)	Women	10,000 m	2009	11th
Zalina Petrivskaya	Moldova (MDA)	Women	Hammer throw	2009 2011	14th (q, 2009) 8th (2011)	Disqualified at two editions
Amaka Ogoegbunam	Nigeria (NGR)	Women	400 m 400 m hurdles	2009	DNF (semis) DQ (semis)
Hanane Ouhaddou	Morocco (MAR)	Women	3000 m steeplechase	2009 2011	5th (h) 8th	Disqualified at two editions
Vita Palamar	Ukraine (UKR)	Women	High jump	2009	8th (q)
Tatyana Petlyuk	Ukraine (UKR)	Women	800 m 4 × 400 m relay	2009 2011	6th (semis) DNF (h)	2009 Russian relay team disqualified. Disqualified at two editions
Nailya Yulamanova	Russia (RUS)	Women	Marathon	2009	8th	Bronze medal-winning Russian team for the 2009 World Marathon Cup disqualified
Denis Alekseyev	Russia (RUS)	Men	4 × 400 m relay	2011	4th	Russian relay team disqualified
Ahmed Baday	Morocco (MAR)	Men	Marathon	2011	27th
Sergey Bakulin	Russia (RUS)	Men	50 kilometres walk	2011
Abderrahime Bouramdane	Morocco (MAR)	Men	Marathon	2011	4th
Zoltán Kovágó	Hungary (HUN)	Men	Discus throw	2011	7th (q)
Lim Hee-Nam	South Korea (KOR)	Men	4 × 100 m relay	2011	5th (h)	South Korean relay team disqualified
Vladimir Kanaykin	Russia (RUS)	Men	20 kilometres walk	2011
Hadi Md Nor Imran	Malaysia (MAS)	Men	100 m	2011	7th (q-finals)
Sergey Morozov	Russia (RUS)	Men	20 kilometres walk	2011	12th
Mohamed Othman Shahween	Saudi Arabia (KSA)	Men	1500 m	2011	DNF (h)
Stanislav Yemelyanov	Russia (RUS)	Men	20 kilometres walk	2011	5th
Igor Yerokhin	Russia (RUS)	Men	50 kilometres walk	2011
Aslı Çakır Alptekin	Turkey (TUR)	Women	1500 m	2011	10th (semis)
Bahar Doğan	Turkey (TUR)	Women	Marathon	2011	36th
Inna Eftimova	Bulgaria (BUL)	Women	100 m	2011	4th (h)
Tetyana Gamera	Ukraine (UKR)	Women	Marathon	2011	15th
Semoy Hackett	Trinidad and Tobago (TTO)	Women	100 m 4 × 100 m relay	2011	4th (semis)	4th-placed Trinidad and Tobago relay team disqualified
Norjannah Hafiszah Jamaludin	Malaysia (MAS)	Women	100 m	2011	6th (q-finals)
Natallia Kareiva	Belarus (BLR)	Women	1500 m	2011	6th (h)
Yekaterina Kostetskaya	Russia (RUS)	Women	800 m	2011	5th
Olga Kucherenko	Russia (RUS)	Women	Long jump	2011 2013	5th	Disqualified at two editions
Yekaterina Sharmina	Russia (RUS)	Women	1500 m	2011 2013	9th (semis) 6th	Disqualified at two editions
Tatyana Mineyeva	Russia (RUS)	Women	20 kilometres walk	2011	17th
Sara Moreira	Portugal (POR)	Women	3000 m steeplechase	2011	12th
Semiha Mutlu	Turkey (TUR)	Women	20 kilometres walk	2011	DNF
Anna Omorova	Russia (RUS)	Women	Shot put	2011	10th
Marielys Rojas	Venezuela (VEN)	Women	High jump	2011	12th (q)
Yuliya Stepanova	Russia (RUS)	Women	800 m	2011	8th
Pınar Saka	Turkey (TUR)	Women	400 m 4 × 400 m relay	2011	6th (h)	Turkish relay team disqualified
Mariya Savinova	Russia (RUS)	Women	800 m	2011 2013		Disqualified at two editions
Anzhelika Shevchenko	Ukraine (UKR)	Women	1500 m	2011	9th (h)
Olesya Syreva	Russia (RUS)	Women	1500 m	2011	9th (semis)
Nataliya Tobias	Ukraine (UKR)	Women	1500 m	2011	9th
Binnaz Uslu	Turkey (TUR)	Women	3000 m steeplechase	2011	7th
Antonina Yefremova	Ukraine (UKR)	Women	400 m 4 × 400 m relay	2011	4th (semis)	Fifth-place Ukrainian relay team disqualified
Lyudmyla Yosypenko	Ukraine (UKR)	Women	Heptathlon	2011	10th
Yuliya Zaripova	Russia (RUS)	Women	3000 m steeplechase	2011
Roman Avramenko	Ukraine (UKR)	Men	Javelin throw	2013	5th
Massoud Azizi	Afghanistan (AFG)	Men	100 m	2013	8th (h)
Hafid Chani	Morocco (MAR)	Men	Marathon	2013	DNF
Othmane El Goumri	Morocco (MAR)	Men	5000 m	2013 2015	7th (h) 13th (h)	Disqualified at two editions
Pavel Kryvitski	Belarus (BLR)	Men	Hammer throw	2013	9th (q)
Ebrahim Rahimian	Iran (IRI)	Men	20 kilometres walk	2013	52nd
Joshua Ross	Australia (AUS)	Men	200 m 4 × 100 m relay	2013	7th (h)	Australian relay team disqualified
Jeremias Saloj	Guatemala (GUA)	Men	Marathon	2013	33rd
Sergio Sánchez	Spain (ESP)	Men	5000 m	2013	14th (h)
Soslan Tsirikhov	Russia (RUS)	Men	Shot put	2013	13th (q)
Anna Bulgakova	Russia (RUS)	Women	Hammer throw	2013	5th
Yelizaveta Bryzgina	Ukraine (UKR)	Women	200 m 4 × 100 m relay	2013	5th (semis)	Ukrainian relay team disqualified
Vera Ganeyeva	Russia (RUS)	Women	Discus throw	2013	7th (q)
Ümmü Kiraz	Turkey (TUR)	Women	Marathon	2013	DNF
Yevgeniya Kolodko	Russia (RUS)	Women	Shot put	2013	5th
Ayman Kozhakhmetova	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	Women	20 kilometres walk	2013	27th
Antonina Krivoshapka	Russia (RUS)	Women	400 m 4 × 400 m relay	2013		Gold medal-winning Russian relay team disqualified
Yelena Ryabova	Turkmenistan (TKM)	Women	200 m	2013	6th (h)
Adil Annani	Morocco (MAR)	Men	Marathon	2015	DNF
Yassine Bensghir	Morocco (MAR)	Men	1500 m	2015	9th (semis)
Tosin Adeloye	Nigeria (NGR)	Women	400 m 4 × 400 m relay	2015	5th (h)	Fourth-placed Nigerian relay team disqualified
Francisca Koki	Kenya (KEN)	Women	400 m hurdles	2015	6th (h)
Deborah Odeyemi	Nigeria (NGR)	Women	4 × 100 m relay	2015	8th (h)	Nigerian relay team disqualified
Joy Sakari	Kenya (KEN)	Women	400 m	2015	DNS (semis)

See also

• Doping at the Olympic Games
• List of doping cases in athletics

References

List of banned athletes

• 2017 World Championships in Athletics Statistics Book (pp. 82–87). IAAF (2017). Retrieved 2018-03-17.