On Christmas Day 2024, Merab Sharikadze was riding horses outside Tbilisi, Georgia, when his world went into meltdown. A trip out to the countryside with his friends was suddenly enveloped by panic when the national rugby captain was handed a six-year ban from the sport.
Sharikadze knew he was guilty. He had volunteered to swap vials so his urine samples were used for team-mates who wished to hide non-performance enhancing drugs such as cannabis and the strong painkiller tramadol. He and five of his Georgia team-mates were caught in the biggest anti-doping investigation in World Rugby’s history.
Sharikadze was offered immunity if he agreed to help with further investigations. A player with more than 100 caps to his name could be a valuable tool in the world of anti-doping. Instead, he decided to appeal and this week his suspension was increased to 11 years.
It was a foolish and unforgivable violation – yet this story ran into far deeper and destructive channels.
‘My whole life was destroyed,’ Sharikadze, 32, tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘My mother passed away because of this situation. My sister found a note to God in her purse two months after she passed away, saying: “Bring Merab back to the field as captain.”
‘It’s not a short story. There are a lot of things to consider. How did I get involved? What was wrong with the system? Not everyone knows the full story, so I want to share it.’
Former Georgia captain Merab Sharikadze has been banned from rugby for 11 years for his part in a doping scandal that his rocked the sport. This is his story
The investigation, code-named Operation Obsidian, was launched in 2023 and uncovered evidence of the urine sample substitutions. Sharikadze’s urine samples were ‘clean’ yet he was handed the longest sentence, as the central figure in the cover-up.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found that the swaps were arranged through the Georgia team doctor Nutsa Shamatava, who was tipped off about when the tests would be by Georgia’s national testing body.
‘The doping agency would let the doctor know they are coming so they could get everyone organised and get it done quickly,’ explains Sharikadze.
‘When drug testing was taking part on game days, they were strict. They would watch you closely. When they came on the training camp, they were relaxed. I was asked by someone I trusted a lot to give my urine sample in our training camp.
‘It was stupid but, at that stage, I was thinking that the boys, my friends, are in trouble and I had to help them. It was marijuana. I know it happens. I’ve played in England, I’ve played in France and I’ve seen a lot of people in rugby smoking cannabis.
‘Obviously it was a huge mistake but I gave it to this person I trusted and it was not hard to swap. I wasn’t doing some kamikaze stuff. I was just sitting in my room, the boys came in, I peed into their small bottle and they took it away.
‘It happened three times. It was so easy to do it that, in my head, it didn’t feel like I was doing anything that bad. I knew they were using it and it was very stupid of me. I was the cleanest person in the world. Everybody knew I had never tried a cigarette. I don’t drink alcohol and I’ve never done anything that could possibly be any kind of violation. That’s the reason I got asked to do it.’
Sharikadze played 104 times for the Lelos in the most successful period of their rugby history, including leading them to a famous win over Wales in 2022 at the Principality Stadium at a time when many in the game were calling for them to be given a chance to join the Six Nations, before this scandal shredded their reputation.
Georgia’s seismic win over Wales at the Principality Stadium in 2022, with Sharikadze as captain, was a landmark moment – now it risks being tarnished
Giorgi Chkoidze (left) has also been banned for six years alongside captain Sharikadze (right)
‘I didn’t think what this could lead to,’ he says. ‘We are humans who make mistakes and I made that mistake. It came out and I was the person who got the biggest ban. I’m the most evil and cruel person in this story.
‘I made a mistake and it destroyed me. Some people on the internet seem happy my life has been destroyed. I didn’t get any benefit from doing this. I had no motive. Nobody offered me money.
‘I wasn’t using something illegal that was going to make me stronger than anybody else. If I had taken that risk and got banned for life, I would be able to accept the consequences. Naively, I had no motivation other than helping my friends.’
Sharikadze, a physical defender at centre, was a treasured figure in Georgian rugby, fronting TV campaigns and billboards around the country. Having spent some of his younger years at Gloucester’s Hartpury College, he made his Test debut as an 18-year-old.
‘They said if I spied on other players then they would let me free,’ he says. ‘I would rather not live. They call it “substantial assistance” which means I need to gather information and tell them about people doing illegal stuff. I didn’t want to destroy people’s lives. I didn’t want to do that.
‘The worst thing is how they received this information. Nobody outside of this circle is involved in this story. If you look at the case, the person who gave all the information, who used my urine sample, they let him free.
‘Everyone else got caught, including me. I understand I’m guilty. Who I helped, stabbed me in the back to save himself. He stabbed everybody else as well.’
Sharikadze has subsequently taken up a career in MMA. As a Georgian poster boy, he has not lost the support of his nation
Sharikadze has subsequently taken up a career in MMA. As a Georgian poster boy, he has not lost the support of his nation. He was saluted by his team-mates at a Test match earlier this year and sold out his first fight in Tbilisi.
He is not expecting any sympathy for his destructive decision-making, although he believes the accountability should be shared.
‘The doctor would tell us in the morning that we should be ready for 8am,’ he admits. ‘Obviously the doping agency told our doctor they were coming. Who is responsible for that? Nobody is talking about that. Nobody is talking about the fact they did not do their job. They are just pointing the finger at me.
‘They are as guilty as me because they contracted people who were not doing their jobs. They were lazy and unprofessional. If they monitored the process properly, no one would have been able to swap samples.
The World Anti-Doping Agency have been in communication with the Georgian government to make necessary changes to the country’s anti-doping programme.
As well as Sharikadze, hooker Giorgi Chkoidze (six years), fly-half Lasha Khmaladze (three years), wingers Otar Lashkhi and Miriani Modebadze (both three years) and Lasha Lomidze (nine months) have received bans.
‘At some stage, the anti-doping agency got too relaxed,’ says Sharikadze. ‘It almost feels like I’m a victim of this stupid situation. It was a terrible decision from me but 11 years… are you joking? I have never heard of anybody getting that long a ban.
‘At first I got six years and I appealed because six years would finish my career and my samples are clean.
Taking on Wales in the 2023 World Cup. Sharikadze was captain of Georgia’s greatest generation of rugby players, but there is now a tainted legacy
‘I was playing my best years. I was going towards the 2027 World Cup. Everything was great. I went to appeal and they decided I’m a crime figure and they gave me 11 years’
‘I was playing my best years. I was going towards the 2027 World Cup. Everything was great. I went to appeal and they decided I’m a crime figure and they gave me 11 years. I wanted to do the trial in person so they could remember that I’m a real person with a family. They wanted to do it on a laptop.
‘My mum died because of the stress. It’s easy to criticise me on social media but it’s much deeper for me. Her wish was to save my career. Even when she was ill, the only thing she was worrying about was my rugby and my disqualification.
‘Obviously, I’m guilty. But I’m not that guilty to destroy my whole life and my family’s life. It was a stupid thing to do, I know, but I don’t believe I am the evilest figure in this story.’
