Russians plan to be at the Olympics
If Russians are worried about missing the upcoming Winter Olympics, one of their key leaders certainly isn’t showing it.
Alexander Zhukov, a Russian member of the International Olympic Committee, told The Associated Press “all of them are going to PyeongChang” when asked this week if he had any concerns about how the doping investigation in his country might affect eligibility for the Olympics in February.
“Most of the Russian athletes are training in major competitions” this winter, said Zhukov, who also serves as head of Russia’s Olympic committee. “And they’re preparing. I understand all of them are going to PyeongChang.”
Zhukov’s comments come as a pair of IOC committees head into a 15th month of reviewing the findings of an investigation conducted by Richard McLaren. That probe found evidence of widespread, state-sponsored doping corruption inside Russia that affected 1,000 athletes covering 30 sports.
The IOC will receive updates on those reports, one of which was to include reanalysis of 254 urine samples, at its meetings this week. But there are no plans to decide either about individual Russian athletes or the country’s eligibility as a whole.
That feels like nothing more than a delaying tactic to some of the IOC’s members, along with a group of anti-doping leaders who called Thursday for a ban of the Russian Olympic Committee at next year’s Games.
“It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the fix is in already, just like in Rio,” said Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, who was among those calling for the ban. “We’re right back in the same situation, where even if the evidence is a slam dunk, they’re not going to have time to make it have any meaningful consequence.”
The IOC stopped short of a full ban on Russian athletes at last year’s Summer Games, instead giving international sports federations a handful of days to determine eligibility of athletes.