Russia ban sends powerful message, sprinter Bolt says
The banning of Russia’s track and field team from the Olympics sends a powerful message that should scare cheats, according to Usain Bolt.
Stretching out his left arm to show the small adhesive bandage covering the mark left by his latest doping test on Thursday, Bolt decried the “really bad” doping problem in his sport.
The six-time Olympic champion was speaking in London shortly after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected an appeal by 68 Russian athletes seeking to overturn a ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), after allegations of statesponsored doping.
“It’s a good message to show that if you cheat or you go against the rules, then we’re going to take serious action,” Bolt said. “This (ban on track and field athletes) will scare a lot of people or send a strong message that the sport is serious; we want a clean sport.”
Two reports from the World Anti-Doping Agency have accused Russia of orchestrating a doping program that saw drug-tainted samples disappear or manipulated.
Now the International Olympic Committee has to decide whether to go further than the IAAF’s decision and ban the entire Russian team from the Rio Olympics.
Usually so confident on the track, Bolt was initially wary about discussing the “sideshows” of Olympic bans, but the Jamaican sprinter found his stride at a news conference in London.
“If you have the proof, and you catch somebody, I definitely feel you should take action,” the 29-yearold Bolt said. “And if you feel banning the whole team is the right action, then I am all for it.”
Bolt is focused on running for the final time be- fore Rio on Friday, when he will race his first 200 meters of the season at the London Diamond League meeting. It will be Bolt’s first event since pulling out of the Jamaican Olympic trials earlier this month with a hamstring injury. “I’m good, I’m feeling good, been training good now,” Bolt said. “I went to see the doctor; he worked his magic as always.”
The World Anti-Dopn ing Agency says it is “satisfied” with the court ruling that upholds the ban on Russian track and field athletes from the Olympics. WADA had already supported the IAAF decision last month to uphold the suspension, which was first imposed in November after allegations of systematic doping in Russia.
“This is not about punishing some athletes for the actions of others,” said WADA president Craig Reedie. He said it’s about the Russian federation failing to live up to the world anti-doping code.
Russia’s ban conn tained a bitter irony for former European javelin champion Vera Rebrik, who switched allegiance from Ukraine to Russia in 2014 after her home region of Crimea was annexed by Russia. She will now miss the Olympics because of her new nation’s ban.
Leaders from 14 antin doping agencies across the globe are urging the IOC to ban the entire Russian team from the games. In a letter sent to IOC president Thomas Bach, leaders of the agencies applauded the IOC for the measures it has already taken but said they fall well short of the “toughest sanctions available” that Bach spoke of after the report into Russian doping by WADA investigator Richard McLaren.
Basketball
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