Apparently having its athletes forced to compete as "OAR" in PyeongChang wasn't humiliating enough for Russia. Because it looks like they're going to subject their summer athletes to a similar fate in Tokyo. And, frankly, they deserve it. Their athletes don't, but the Russians have shown very little regard for their clean athletes throughout this entire process, so why start now?
I've tried to give the Russians the benefit of the doubt. I've felt that the country's ban from international track & field has been long enough and had long been advocating working them back into the fold. Partially because I hate the stupid "ANA" designation, but also because it's unfair to the clean Russian athletes (of which there are plenty), who can't compete under their own flag. Not to mention the Russian athletes in other sports who are booed and/or labeled as "cheaters" simply because of that flag.
The only way for that to stop, I reasoned, was to move forward. And the process of moving forward couldn't begin as long as Russia--and, by extension, all Russian athletes--was viewed as a pariah. My view has since changed, however. Because these dopes can't get out of their own way. And a message needs to be sent.
It's like the SMU football death penalty in 1987. SMU was so brazenly breaking NCAA rules...for so long...even after being sanctioned and told repeatedly to stop, that the NCAA was left with no other choice. The SMU football program was out of control, and there was no other way to stop it. Yes, the NCAA death penalty was the nuclear option. But it got the point across.
Russia appeared to be well on its way to reinstatement. They were following WADA's conditions, had handed over the long-sought-after blood samples, and even the Moscow lab had been re-accredited.
Or so we thought. As it turns out, they were spitting right in the face of both WADA and their own athletes. Because they weren't actually making any attempt to reform. It was just the opposite actually. Banned coaches were still working with athletes. Government officials were interfering with doping investigations. And, worst of all, they were manipulating the results of tests for certain athletes, even going so far as deleting files from the lab's computers. There's really no way to come up with a reasonable explanation that would prove that any of these actions were anything other than deliberate.
As a result, World Athletics (that's still going to take some getting used to) hasn't just suspended Russia's reinstatement. Now it seems more likely that Russia will be kicked out of international track & field altogether. You'd have to assume that the "ANA" athletes would still be allowed to compete, but they'd truly become men and women without a country.
That's the least of Russia's problems, though. As a result of "an extremely serious case of non-compliance with the requirement to provide an authentic copy of the Moscow data, with several aggravating features," WADA has recommended a four-year ban on Russia, which would include both the 2020 and 2022 Olympics.
This suspension wouldn't just apply to the Olympics, either. It would apply to any event in all sports that are subject to WADA code. That includes Euro 2020, for which Russia has already qualified and is supposed to be one of the hosts. And all IIHF events. Tennis, gymnastics, swimming and figure skating all fall under WADA code, too, although I'd imagine clean Russian athletes in those individual sports would be treated the same way as those in track & field, provided they pass the a similar rigorous screening process to the one that track & field utilizes to clear individual Russians.
Also included among WADA's recommendations is the requirement that Russia cannot host or even bid to host major sporting events during that four-year period, with any events that already have been awarded to Russia moved elsewhere. They'd also be prohibited from bidding for the 2032 Olympics. Seeing as this whole thing started because Russia hosted two major events in back-to-back years (2013 Track & Field World Championships in Moscow, 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi), that should've been a no-brainer already.
IOC President Thomas Bach is opposed to a blanket ban on Russia, primarily because he doesn't want clean athletes to suffer. That's why they were allowed to compete as "OAR" in PyeongChang and likely will be again in Tokyo (and possibly Beijing). And in that regard, he's right. There are clean Russian athletes who are already being deprived the honor of competing for their country. They shouldn't be deprived the opportunity to compete entirely, though, especially if they have nothing to do with this and have been doing everything the right way.
WADA's recommendations are just that. Recommendations. They won't be voted upon until a December 9 meeting in Paris, although the "OAR/ANA" thing seems to be the most likely solution. Some people will be unhappy that it isn't a blanket ban, but what would that accomplish? It would be a similar scenario to the 1980-84 boycotts, where way too many athletes had their Olympic dreams taken away because of Cold War politics.
And, I hate to break it to you, but not every Russian athlete is dirty. In fact, I think the vast majority of them are not. Which is why they shouldn't be the ones who suffer. It should be the higher-ups in the government and sports federations and Russian Olympic Committee. They're the one who are most responsible for the wrongdoing, and they're the ones who should be punished.
Besides, the athletes are being punished plenty. From the guilt by association to the generic uniforms to not being able to hear their national anthem and see their flag raised. The greatest moment in Russian hockey history, the gold medal in PyeongChang, technically never happened. Maria Lasistskene has brought immense national pride to the "Authorized Neutral Athletes" with her back-to-back World Championships.
So, yes, I feel for Lasistskene and other athletes like her. She's perhaps the biggest victim in this entire saga. By all accounts, Lasitskene has achieved all of her success legitimately. Yet she wasn't allowed to go to Rio simply because she's Russian and has been subjected to the ridiculous "ANA" designation for far too long for the same reason. Although, at least World Athletics knows it's the federation, not the athletes, that are the problem.
Which is why the IOC should follow suit. They gave Russia a chance to do everything by the book and earn its way back into good standing. Time and again, Russia failed to do that. So the time has come for the message to be sent. Let them know you're serious. Don't do that stupid, ineffective PyeongChang quasi-suspension. Make them take a four-year timeout. Hopefully that'll be enough time for them to figure things out.
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