This is not enough – nation’s innocent should be barred too
Russian athletes must not be allowed to compete as neutrals given the country’s past
For the greater good of sportsmen and women worldwide, there needs to be a blanket ban on Russian athletes in international sport. Without doubt, yesterday’s decision to ban the country from the Winter Olympics was a big step in the right decision, but it was only that – a step in the right direction. Half a job.
I do not believe there should be individuals from Russia allowed to compete in Pyeongchang in any capacity, whether “neutral” or not.
It is a strong stance to take, but a necessary one. My heart goes out to the clean Russian athletes because there will be people who have done nothing wrong. But you have to protect the majority – it is a case of sacrificing the few to save the many.
Put simply, Russia has not learnt its lessons from the Rio 2016 Olympics and they are still not compliant with the regulations, so they have to pay the ultimate penalty. They refuse to acknowledge that they have done anything wrong and there is a complete lack of remorse.
If somebody commits a crime and they show no remorse then their sentence is harsher. If they show remorse, are apologetic and they take steps to clean up their act then their sentence is lighter. In the Russians’ case they deserve the harshest sentence they can possibly receive because otherwise you are condoning their behaviour.
As I know all too well, the ripple effect of doping is too great. Only this week I found out that I should finally receive heptathlon bronze from the 2008 Olympics after Russia’s Tatyana Chernova lost her appeal against her doping suspension at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
That has taken nine years and three months to find out but, finally, I feel vindicated. It’s my medal, just like it should have been almost a decade ago.
Obviously I am happy because it’s confirmed what I suspected all along and it makes it real. But I am not dancing around ecstatically and equally I am not crying with sadness because, to be honest, I am a bit numb to it all now. I am just a bit indifferent – that is what happens when you have been cheated out of something for almost a decade. Every single medal that a drugs cheat such as Chernova wins affects so many people along the way, and that is totally unforgivable.
The trouble we now have for the Winter Olympics next year is that some Russian athletes will be allowed to compete as neutrals, under the Olympic flag with the Olympic anthem. That is nonsense.
How can you be neutral? These sportsmen and women are still
Russian. It’s not like they were brought up in America, Australia or somewhere else. They have been through the same regime as everyone else in the country, so why should they be treated any differently? Imagine you are a British athlete competing in Pyeongchang and you finish second, third or fourth behind a Russian who is competing as a neutral. You will always have that element of doubt about what might have been. And it’s so important not to go into an Olympics with any element of doubt because it means you’re not 100 per cent focused on what you need to do. You shouldn’t be thinking about another competitor or another country. Regardless of whether an athlete says ‘I won’t be thinking about them’, it will still be at the back of their mind and it will raise its head when you least want it to – whether that’s the final bobsleigh run or the final curling shot.
You will always have that element of doubt if you are up against a Russian.