The Ruskies won’t be in Rio. No, this is not a travelogue from Moscow. We’re talking Olympics here. Russia was suspended by the IAAF from all international track and field competitions last November and that ban was upheld this last weekend by the International Olympic Committee.
A whistleblower who uncovered systemic doping inside Russia’s track and field team has claimed that at least four Russian winter sports athletes won gold medals while on steroids at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Russian track and field athletes will not be sunning themselves in sunny Rio de Janeiro later this summer. Perhaps Siberia instead. BRRRR!
Russia has a checkered history with the Olympics. While competing on many occasions they’ve represented numerous nations in their history. As the Russian Empire, the nation first competed at the 1900 Games, and returned again in 1908 and 1912. After the Russian revolution in 1917, it would be thirty years until Russian athletes once more competed at the Olympics, as the Soviet Union at the 1952 Summer Olympics. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia competed as part of the Unified Team in 1992, and finally returned once again as Russia at the 1994 Olympics.
Controversy follows Russia around like hairs on a hog’s back. Remember 1980, when the United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics? President Jimmy Carter was protesting Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan. How things have changed. Now it is the United States that is involved in Afghanistan.
Who can forget the travesty of the basketball championship between Russia and the United States in 1972? A bunch of college kids from the U.S. were cheated out of the gold medal when Russia was allowed to replay the finals seconds three times before finally prevailing.
The Russians are a real presence in all sports, including track and field. The competition between the United States and Russia is always keen and an attention-getter around the world. The Russians have won nearly 400 medals at the Summer Olympics and were favored to contend for top honors again.
Russia is by far the leading country in the world with the most doping violations in all sports. They have been found guilty over 200 times! Their closest pursuer is Turkey, followed by those nasty Frenchmen. Meanwhile, the United States has been very good at not getting caught (should we say not cheating?) as they rank near the bottom.
The Russians, of course, have appealed this ruling and have developed a “Who Me?” posture. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko insists that the government played no role in this doping and that all Russian athletes should not be punished.
For years we’ve heard jokes about Russian men competing as women in track and field, using illegal drugs to do so. With the recent policies of our very own government about bathrooms for people of ever-changing sexual preferences, these Russian athletes would probably feel more at home here than in Rio!
I am not convinced that the International Olympic Committee will stay strong with this ban. There is a lot of politics involved so don’t be surprised if at least some of the Russian athletes get reinstated. Otherwise they’ve got to settle for a glass of vodka in Sunny Siberia!