Doping fight: WADA gathers 2,500 samples from Russian lab

The World Anti-Doping Agency says it has gathered more than 2,500 samples from the Russian laboratory that can be used to potentially corroborate doping positives uncovered by an investigation into a massive government-directed program designed to win Olympic medals.

Obtaining the samples, along with data still being analyzed by WADA scientists, was a key goal for the agency as it tries to proceed with hundreds of cases from earlier in the decade.

WADA announced Tuesday that it had retrieved 2,562 samples, split them into “A” and “B” collection bottles and shipped them to a lab outside of Russia for testing.

Once the samples and underlying data behind them have been analyzed, WADA is expected to turn over evidence to international sports federations and national anti-doping agencies, which can bring forward cases.