{"id":538477,"date":"2026-03-13T20:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/538477\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T20:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:26:08","slug":"georgia-rugby-caught-in-doping-scandal-as-players-allegedly-swapped-urine-samples-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/538477\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia rugby caught in doping scandal as players allegedly swapped urine samples \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Six Georgia rugby players and a team official have \u200ccommitted anti-doping rule violations, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/world-rugby\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/world-rugby\/\">World Rugby<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The claims come after \u200can investigation uncovered a scheme involving alleged sample substitution and advance warnings of drug tests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The joint probe \u200bconducted by Wada and World Rugby, dubbed Operation Obsidian, found five instances when players allegedly swapped urine samples to avoid detection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Wada said employees of Georgia\u2019s national anti-doping agency, Gada, also tipped off \u200bplayers about upcoming tests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The investigation, launched in 2023, also revealed that doping control officers \u2060failed to properly observe athletes during testing and did not witness urine \u200ccollection, in \u200bviolation of anti-doping rules.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cWhat has been happening in Georgian rugby is outrageous and will send shock waves through Georgian sport and \u2060government, as well as \u200bthe global game of rugby,\u201d Wada president \u200bWitold Banka said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI want to thank Wada\u2019s independent Intelligence &amp; Investigations \u200cteam for their diligence and expertise \u200bin relentlessly pursuing this operation with determination and professionalism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI also praise World \u2060Rugby\u2019s commitment to uncovering the \u2060facts and its \u200bwillingness to work collaboratively with Wada to deliver this strong result for rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">World Rugby said the six players and a member of team support personnel were charged and sanctioned in relation to an \u201corchestrated scheme involving recreational drugs and sample substitution\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThe investigation was triggered when irregularities in urine samples \u200cwere identified by World \u2060Rugby\u2019s athlete passport management programme, covering an extended period of time prior to the men\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2023 in France,\u201d World \u200cRugby said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The \u200bscandal has also prompted Wada to lose confidence in \u200bGada, with Banka warning that \u201cwholesale changes must now be made by the relevant authorities\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six Georgia rugby players and a team official have \u200ccommitted anti-doping rule violations, according to the World Anti-Doping&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85,12907],"class_list":["post-538477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-world-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}