Would it be fair for the IOC to toss the entire Russian team out of the games? We probably won't know for a couple of days, but would this be a step too far? The Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, a man who's name has been linked to the scandal, has stated that the decision of the tribunal absolutely violates the rights of clean athletes, creating a precedent of collective responsibility. He has a point. Should athletes who have not been linked to the issue and who have not tested positive, be rubbed out? Is that justice? The IOC have been placed in a horrible position here. All this stuff surfaced a few years ago, and it's taken until a couple of seconds before midnight to sort out the mess. The IOC has had to sit back and watch everyone else toss the grenade around, before having it dropped in their lap at the last second. Thomas Bach, IOC President, must be livid.
Good points, Cyc, but the IOC reminds me of FIFA and its smacks of political influence and intrigue.
In essence, the Olympic Games has become a bastardisation of what its founder, Baron De Coubertin, envisaged and promoted- and that categorically excluded professionalism.
The West has always been 'up in arms' about Russia, just as it was about the former Soviet Union.
If we go back to the sixties, we kept screaming about the Communist's so called 'professionalism in athletics,' even though it was a moot point, given the communists' claimed non-acceptance of the terms "amateur" and "professional."
We were very quick to highlight how "steroidal" those East German athletes appeared, so much so that it was hard to tell their sex! Perhaps the Communists' massive medal tallies instigated our response.
Yet here comes the great hypocrisy. It was the an IOC controlled by the West which sanctioned professional athletes being eligible to compete. After all, look at all the money which would be available through sponsorship, etc!
So now we want Russia thrown out of the Games. "We cannot allow drug cheats to compete."
I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment, but you cannot sit on the fence with drugs. Yet we do sit on the fence when it suits us.
Take the case of Olympic gold medallist, Christine Ohuruogu. She didn't turn up for five drug tests... and nobody screamed about that. We gave her an Olympic ban but rescinded it when she threatened to run for another country. I wonder how we would have reacted, if she'd been Russian?
It should be simple, really...anyone taking banned substances or refusing drugs tests should be banned for life. End of story.
Somehow I think this story will run and run and run!
