WADA Partially Suspends Swedish Anti-Doping Lab

"It relates to the Gas chromatography combustion isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS) method. This partial suspension was imposed due to a non-conformity for this specific method with the International Standard for Laboratories (ISL)," it said in a press release on Thursday.

An independent disciplinary committee will look into the suspected violation. The lab will be allowed to carry out other doping screenings during the investigation, whereas samples requiring GC/C/IRMS analysis will be sent to another WADA lab.

In May, the Fancy Bears hacker group published a number of documents obtained from the Swedish Sports Confederation. The documents allegedly confirm that the organization which, among other things, is responsible for anti-doping control in Sweden has effectively turned a blind eye on the Swedish athletes using certain prohibited drugs.

Particularly, Swedish athletes, Bjorn Sandstrom and Maria Nilsson, were caught using terbutaline – a drug which is used to treat asthma symptoms and which also helps boost an athlete’s performance.

Swedish neighbours and constant winter sports rivals — Norwegians were also reported using asthma medication. In February, NRK broadcaster said that Norwegians brought to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea's Pyeongchang almost ten times as many medication doses as the Finnish national team, and even more than the teams from Sweden and Germany.