A `CATASTROPHIC BLOW' TO CLEAN SPORTS
Russian flag won't fly in Tokyo and Beijing, but court still welcomes athletes to compete
There will be no Russian flag, no Russian anthem and no Vladimir Putin at the next two Olympic Games.
But there will most assuredly be Russian athletes. Allegedly clean Russian athletes. Those who have not, at any time we are somehow supposed to believe, participated in the shameful, state-sponsored doping scheme — exposed publicly in 2016 — that has defrauded Olympics, world championships, World Cups and all manner of sports events around the globe for at least a decade.
There is neither logical nor historical basis for such an astounding leap of faith.
On the contrary, clean sport suffered yet another setback on Thursday when the Court of Arbitration for Sport halved the World Anti-doping Agency's ban on Russian participation in international sport, down to just two years from four. The ban expires on Dec. 16, 2022, preventing an official Russian presence at Tokyo 2021 or Beijing 2022, while allowing those allegedly clean Russian athletes to compete, perhaps under the Olympic flag.
To call that a sanction is to stretch credulity to a breaking point that most clean athletes reached long ago, fed up as they are with Russia's systemic cheating and the politicized processes that prevent more meaningful punishment.
“It just shows me flatly that restricting a nation's ability to use the Olympics as a show of nationalism is more of a punishment than protecting the integrity of the actual competitions and competitors,” said Canadian race walker Evan Dunfee. “At the end of the day, the Olympics isn't about the athletes, but I fear I've always known that.”
The U.S. Anti-doping Agency channelled that level of frustration, calling the ruling a “weak, watered-down outcome.”
“To once again escape a meaningful consequence proportional to the crimes, much less a real ban, is a catastrophic blow to clean athletes, the integrity of sport, and the rule of law,” said USADA head Travis Tygart.
Elsewhere, the reaction was more tempered.
“WADA quite rightly sought to impose the maximum four-year ban. It's hard to imagine a more serious breaking of the rules in sport, so I don't understand the justification for this reduction,” said U.K. WADA chief executive Nicole Sapstead.
By way of explanation, the CAS panel said it sought a proportional penalty.
“The panel has imposed consequences to reflect the nature and seriousness of the non-compliance and to ensure that the integrity of sport against the scourge of doping is maintained. It has considered matters of proportionality and, in particular, the need to effect cultural change and encourage the next generation of Russian athletes to participate in clean international sport.
“The consequences which the panel has decided to impose are not as extensive as those sought by WADA. This should not, however, be read as any validation of the conduct of RUSADA or the Russian authorities.”
It is rightly read as little more than coddling the corrupt, leaving open the logical interpretation that political influence always holds sway at the highest levels, no matter the seriousness of the offence.
And yet, in the face of what seems an obvious defeat, WADA was still trying to claim a measure of victory on Thursday.
“The panel has clearly upheld our findings that the Russian authorities brazenly and illegally manipulated the Moscow laboratory data in an effort to cover up an institutionalized doping scheme,” WADA president Witold Banka said in a release. “In the face of continual resistance and denial from Russia, we clearly proved our case, in accordance with due process.
“We are, however, disappointed that the CAS panel did not endorse each and every one of our recommended consequences for the four-year period we requested. We believe they were proportionate and reasonable, but ultimately WADA is not the judge but the prosecutor, and we must respect the decision of the panel.”
The ruling is merely another side step in a scandal that has spanned a decade. It was broken wide open in 2016 by WADA investigator Richard Mclaren's report, which detailed an “institutional conspiracy” involving more than 1,000 Russian athletes across 30 sports who had been involved in state-sponsored doping since at least 2011 and had corrupted doping control efforts at the 2012 and 2014 Olympics. The Russian Anti-doping Agency was subsequently suspended for more than two years.
Shortly after RUSADA'S reinstatement, WADA found that the Russian lab had “intentionally altered” doping control data once again. That led to WADA'S four-year ban. Russia refused to accept the sanction, leading to a hearing before CAS and ultimately to Thursday's milquetoast ruling.
The International Olympic Committee's reaction was vague, noting it will “carefully evaluate” the CAS decision and its “consequences” for Tokyo and Beijing.