There’s no way Russia should be in Rio
The scope and audacity of their cheating and lying was remarkable. Government officials literally procured performance enhancing drugs for athletes. They conspired to cheat drug testing, in some cases to near comical extremes like passing clean urine samples through a hole in a laboratory wall and switching fake clean for legitimate samples from athletes.
Dozens of Russian athletes at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi were part of a government-run doping program. Among them were 15 medal winners. The director of the antidoping laboratory at the time is on the record admitting this. The World Antidoping Association (WADA) delivered a comprehensive and damning report proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Russian Olympic sports is corrupt. Russian officials have admitted there are problems but they insist their athletes should still be allowed to compete in Rio.
That’s not surprising. The Russian sports administration is disgraced and has nothing to lose. The world body that oversees track and field sports has said the Russian team should be banned. Dozen of experts from inside sports and outside as well agree.
But the International Olympic Committee? Not so fast, says the IOC. It began deliberating what to do about the now infamous “Russian problem” this week, but is so far displaying no sense of urgency. It has appointed a disciplinary committee to investigate. No further validation should be required, and further delays only add to the growing perception that the IOC is, itself, corrupt, at least ethically.
Russia, all its teams and all its athletes, ought to be banned from the upcoming Games in Rio. Anything less will further compromise the already tattered credibility of the so-called Olympic ideal.
The IOC and its defenders will argue it’s not that easy. There will be legal action by Russia, no doubt. Vladimir Putin has warned banning his athletes will open a new “schism” in the Olympic world.
If that’s true, would it be such a terrible thing? Would it be so bad for the rest of the Olympic world to intentionally distance itself from the corruption and dishonesty of Russia? Wouldn’t it actually send a good message that the operators of the world’s most influential and affluent sports extravaganza will not tolerate such intentional and bald cheating? More to the point, what does the IOC look like if it prevaricates further, or offers up some lame half-measure in response to Russia’s outrageous wrongdoing?
It doesn’t matter what Russia does in retaliation. It doesn’t matter that other countries are rumoured to be doping. It matters that Russia gets caught more than any other country. Russians had more positive test results than any other country in 2014. Let Russia clean up its act and rebuild. Don’t let them further tarnish the Olympics’ reputation and integrity.