According to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), India has the most suspended athletes from doping for the third consecutive year. While Russia historically is the most doped in athletics, the world’s largest nation continues to serve a ban. Kenya has the most suspended athletes in the sport of athletics.
WADA released its annual document, “Anti-Doping Testing Figures,” detailing the organization’s findings regarding testing and doping.
In its executive summary, WADA explains its subreports by laboratory, sport, testing authority (TA) and Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) Blood Analysis. These include in- and out-of-competition urine samples, blood, dried blood spot (DBS) and ABP blood data; and the resulting Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs) and Atypical Findings (ATFs).
There was a 3.2 per cent increase in the number of samples during 2024 over 2023.
Athletics
Athletics had the highest number of positive cases in 2024, with 76. Second was weightlifting with 43, and wrestling had 29. India is ahead of France, which is the second country with the most positive test results, with 91 cases, followed by Italy with 85. Russia and the United States are tied at 76 each, ahead of Germany with 54 and China with 43.
Going back to 2021 and 2022, Russia was at the top of the list of doping positives for 2021, but not 2022. The totals are for all sports tested by WADA and its associated agencies, not just Olympic program sports. Of particular concern would be Kenya in 2022 (and beyond), as the country is ranked fourth, but is primarily a one-sport country: athletics. Kenya has had between 400 and 500 athletes suspended since 2016.
2021 anti-doping violations:
● 1. 96: Russia
● 2. 62: Italy
● 3. 52: Brazil
● 4. 47: India
● 4. 47: Ukraine
The U.S. ranked ninth at 30; China was 15th with 21; Canada ranked 33rd (10).
2022 anti-doping violations:
● 1. 124: India (48 in athletics!)
● 2. 87: Russia
● 3. 71: Italy
● 4. 54: Kenya
● 5. 49: South Africa
Some of the increased results in positive tests in 2024 have more to do with better testing protocols, the increase in testing and targeting where there is a higher chance of doping.
India’s doping problem
While India’s media and national anti-doping agency defend the results due to higher and more focused testing, this does not indicate that increased and more focused testing will necessarily result in increased positives elsewhere.
It is interesting that India’s top javelin thrower, Neeraj Chopra, said, “Doping is a big problem in India.”
India recorded the highest number of doping offenders globally among countries that conducted 5,000 or more tests. And, 260 athletes tested positive for banned substances in 2024, the highest number recorded by any country.
The positive rate was 3.6 per cent, which is more than double any other nation’s rate, as no other country exceeded 1.75 per cent.
The problem is attributed to several complex factors, including a culture of shortcuts and a desire for quick success and the greater career potential, post-sports career.
Many athletes, particularly at the junior and grassroots levels, are reportedly victims of ignorance, consuming banned substances through contaminated supplements or medication, often on the advice of misinformed coaches or physiotherapists.
There have been systemic failures, for example, WADA’s “Operation Carousel” found that India’s National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) faced resource limitations, which affected testing and athlete monitoring. There have also been concerns raised about the reliability of the National Doping-Testing Laboratory and procedural fairness in domestic tribunals. There is a culture of dishonesty in the country.
This persistent issue is a major concern for India’s international sporting ambitions, particularly as the country bids to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games and the 2036 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has flagged India’s poor record and urged comprehensive reforms to ensure the integrity of its sports system.
Based on WADA’s findings in the Anti-Doping Testing Figures, India is not in a position to bid on the Commonwealth Games, Olympics or any other global competitions.
Other sports
Recent doping cases have involved major names across various sports. Significant attention is given to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games anti-doping efforts and controversial cases in tennis and swimming.
Anti-doping authorities like the International Testing Agency (ITA), the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), and national bodies regularly publish sanctions. And, the anti-doping program for the Games identified 45 cases of rule violations in total, five during the Games themselves and over 40 in the pre-Games testing phase for athletes expected to compete. The five positive cases during the Olympics were in judo, athletics, aquatics, and boxing.
Chinese swimmers were part of a major story ahead of and during the Paris Olympics, involving 23 athletes who tested positive for a banned heart medication (trimetazidine) in 2021. The athletes and China were cleared by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which accepted the defence of accidental food contamination. This decision sparked outrage from other nations and athletes, and the US Anti-Doping Agency.
In tennis, the top-ranked male player Jannik Sinner and female player Iga Świątek both received brief suspensions (three months and one month, respectively) after testing positive for banned substances, which authorities determined were accidentally ingested through contaminated products or physiotherapy cream.
The lenient bans prompted significant debate and criticism within the tennis community over fairness and consistency.
Kenya’s doping problem
The Kenyan athletics crisis rages on as the country has faced an ongoing doping crisis, with numerous athletes receiving bans. In late 2025, women’s marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich was banned for three years after failing a doping test. Other Kenyan runners have faced long bans for using substances like EPO and hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ). Chepngetich ran the 2024 Chicago Marathon in 2:09:56, which immediately faced backlash. She had a purported 190 times the allowable amount of a masking agent in her blood. The masking agent of record was hydrochlorothiazide.
Swimmer, Penny Oleksiak, Canada’s most decorated Olympian, accepted a two-year suspension in November 2025 for committing three “whereabouts failures” (failing to be available for out-of-competition testing) within 12 months.
Whereabouts failures typically indicate that an athlete is gaming the system, attempting to dope during two missed tests and making themselves available as a clean athlete for the third test. Sometimes this backfires, as doping control officers can show up over a range of time. If the athlete does not feel comfortable, missing a third test is appealable and can be shorter than a ban for testing positive. Also, the public perception is tempered a little due to not officially testing positive.
Currently, a trend is to blame for contaminated food sources. The challenge for WADA and other authorities will be to find a way to make sure that the burden of proof is on the athlete more robustly.
