‘Ridiculous’ that Russia can dodge ban and hurt GB, say MPS
RUSSIA’S Olympic ban is a sham, MPS and anti-doping experts said last night after Great Britain was denied three medals in Tokyo.
The Russian team, competing under a different name while serving a ban for drug violations, yesterday denied former rowing double champion Helen Glover a bronze, who finished fourth, while the Russians took silver.
Team GB’S gymnasts also lost out on bronze and silver medals to Russians.
In 2019, the World Anti-doping Agency (Wada) banned Russia from all international sport for failures regarding the handing over of laboratory data.
However, Russian athletes not implicated in doping were cleared to compete as neutrals, and 335 of them have been sent to Tokyo, wearing the traditional red, white and blue.
To rub the salt in for Britain, the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee, as the ad
‘Russia makes a mockery of both the anti-doping system and the judicial powers in place to enforce it’
‘The Russians are competing normally to all extents and purposes’
hoc team is known) is currently two places, and three golds, ahead, in fourth place in the medal table.
While Team GB refused to be drawn on the issue yesterday, Global Athlete, a pressure group for reform, joined Conservatives in angrily attacking the decision to let Russia into the Games.
“I can understand the frustration from athletes,” said Rob Koehler, director general of the athlete-led charity, speaking to The Daily Telegraph.
“The reality is Russia continues to make a mockery of both the anti-doping system and the judicial powers in place to enforce it.”
The name Russia, the national anthem and the national flag are banned but athletes appear to have got round the ban by wearing red, white and blue kits, playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1 instead of the anthem and using the name ROC.
Russia’s Anti Doping Agency (Rusada) had been declared non-compliant for manipulating lab data handed over to investigators in January 2019.
The nation was initially given a fouryear ban by Wada, but, in December last year, it was cut down to two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Conservative MPS heaped criticism on the approach, insisting it meant Russia had ultimately evaded punishment for the doping scandal.
Tory MP Bob Seely, vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on Russia, said: “The Russians are competing normally to all extents and purposes apart from a few superficial bits and pieces. It is ridiculous that effectively you can get caught in the mother of all doping and corruption scandals and you get a slap on the wrist. It’s very poor, it’s the subversion of international institutions.”
Tobias Ellwood, Tory chairman of the Commons defence committee, said: “If you are going to punish a country for breaching rules, then the entire country has to feel it, so the punishment must be seen to work. What’s illustrated in Tokyo is Russia bypassing the punishment by having their nation represented in a different guise.”
He added that for regimes such as Moscow and Beijing, hosting and participating in the Olympics is an important tool to project soft power.
“The Games are now being utilised by superpowers to achieve international recognition and acceptability on the global stage,” he said. Yesterday, Glover, who made history as the first mother to compete in rowing for Great Britain at an Olympics, came agonisingly close to a medal in the women’s pair with partner Polly Swann, a junior doctor who will be back out on the NHS front line at Borders General Hospital in Scotland “this time next week”.
Glover sent “lots and lots of hugs and kisses” to her three children.