Georgia players sanctioned over doping violations

Six Georgia players and a team official have been sanctioned for committing anti-doping rule violations as part of what World Rugby has described as “an orchestrated scheme”.

A joint investigation by World Rugby and the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) discovered a scheme involving alleged sample substitution and advance warnings of drug tests.

Dubbed ‘Operation Obsidian’, the investigation was launched in 2023 and found five instances where players allegedly swapped urine samples to avoid detection.

A Wada statement said that employees of Georgia’s national anti-doping agency (Gada) also tipped off players about upcoming tests and that doping control officers failed to properly observe athletes during testing and did not witness urine collection.

A World Rugby statement described it as “an orchestrated scheme involving recreational drugs and sample substitution” and said that seven people have been charged and sanctioned.

The individuals involved have not been named and World Rugby said it is “unable to make any further comment until the full disciplinary (results management) process has been completed and the outcomes and sanctions are published”.

It added that the investigation “was triggered when irregularities in urine samples were identified by World Rugby’s athlete passport management programme, covering an extended period of time prior to the men’s Rugby World Cup 2023”.

Georgia finished bottom of their pool in France, failing to win any of their four games.

Wada added that it is now reviewing samples from Georgian athletes in other sports.

“What has been happening in Georgian rugby is outrageous and will send shockwaves through Georgian sport and government, as well as the global game,” said Wada’s president Witold Banka.

“This is not the end of the story as further investigation is now going on deeper into Georgian sport,” he added.