Russia will ban athletes from drinking beer on doping tests

MOSCOW – A beer with your urine sample? No more in Russian sport.

Citing "aggressive" athletes and interference with the results of drug testing, Russia has banned athletes from consuming alcohol when they are tested for banned substances.

An after-race beer could help a dehydrated sportsman produce a urine sample, but now it will be necessary for them to stick to "large amounts of water." "provided by the drug controllers, said Margarita Pakhnotskaya, deputy director general of the Russian anti-doping agency.

She told The Associated Press that alcohol consumption was a particular problem in athletics and that they "would be rude, a bit aggressive". It was even found that beer interfered with the results of the "biological passport" program, which checked athletes for signs of drug use. Pakhnotskaya says that "the beer has a lot influenced it, it could cause or hide some changes".