There will be no Russian track and field athletes participating in the Olympics set to begin in mid-August, and there is no question as to why. Widespread doping has been facilitated by the country’s national athletic organization in at least the most recent Olympics, and after public warnings, it got even worse, not better.
After a chemist attached to the team confessed his involvement in the doping and how it went on, and at least one former Russian athlete now living outside Russia described what she had seen and heard, what was occurring was flagrant. The sources’ claims were unquestionable.
At the end of last week, track and field’s worldwide organizing body determined that the Russians should be banned from Rio de Janeiro. A day later, the International Olympic Organization, which governs all Olympic activities, agreed.
The initial firm decision and then the quick affirmation by the IOC, which could have heard an appeal, were good to see; doping will not be tolerated. To ban a team – the track and field competitors – is a decision that had not previously occurred in Olympic history.
Other athletes in other sports who were in one way or another connected to the Russian national effort have claimed that doping was, and is, a part of other sports. Whether additional Russian teams are banned remains to be seen.
We applaud track and field’s organizing body’s action and its speedy affirmation by the IOC. Well done.
How complicit each individual athlete was in this is unknown, but it is easy to imagine that participation was mandated. Or, that athletes who did not participate knew that they would be replaced by athletes who did participate and performed, doped, at a higher level. There have been a couple of reports of a few Russian track and field athletes who submitted to additional drug testing independent of the Russian-controlled lab and were found to be clean, but they, too, are included in the national ban.
Using chemical performance enhancements and applying techniques such as oxygenating the blood have tainted too many aspects of international sports in recent years, and Americans have not been immune. Occasionally it has been unintentional, when a physician or a coach has not been fully familiar with the ingredients of what was believed to be a legal drug. But, only occasionally.
Rio de Janeiro is racing to complete some of the Olympic event facilities, including a portion of a transportation system. But at-the-deadline construction completions have been commonplace every four years, whether for the summer or the winter games. Rio is not alone.
Brazil is governed by an acting president, the president having been forced from office and likely to be in court while the games take place. Many in its representative government have participated in large oil company-related corruption, while national tax revenues have fallen far short of expenses; Brazil is largely broke. And, there is the Zika mosquito.
But the games are a time to cheer the accomplishments of individual athletes, marveling at their strength and agility. We will do that, but without the Russian track and field athletes.
