Some legal problems of countering the use of prohibited substances and prohibited methods in sport

Aim. The paper aims to assess the effectiveness of administrative and criminal law norms, which are used to qualify anti-doping rule violations by athletes or persons organizing the training process. Materials and methods include standard legal tools for assessing the effectiveness of rule-making and legal enforcement. The study of the problematic field was carried out by means of a combination of general and specific scientific methods. Results. In legislative provisions that establish the limits of administrative and criminal legal protection in sports relations, qualitative defects were identified that impeded doping testing and prosecution in persons violating the anti-doping rules. The regularities ignored by the legislator and accompanied by the use of prohibited substances in sports were investigated. Interrelations were found between the excessive politicization of sports communications and the lack of legal protection of athletes from being involved in doping scandals. Actual identity in the description of illegal behavior in administrative and criminal legislation was substantiated. Conclusion. The authors substantiated criminalization of encouragement for doping, as well as its use in athletes. As a reasonable alternative, amendments to administrative legislation are proposed, which involve the responsibility of sports organizations in cases of violation of anti-doping rules.