Update: It’s past 10 pm in Moscow, and while many didn’t expect a response from the Russian government to the news of its Winter Olympics ban, a representative from Russian state television said it will not broadcast the Winter Olympics unless its national team is allowed to compete, according to Interfax.
Meanwhile, the president of the Russian skating union says the IOC decision to ban Russia from the Olympics is offensive and insulting, and will ultimately harm the Olympic movement.
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In an unprecedented move, the International Olympic Committee has banned the Russian Olympic team from participating in the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. While individual atheltes with rigorous histories of anti-doping testing will be allowed to petition to compete as neutral athletes, Russian government officials will be forbidden to attend the games, the country’s flag will not fly and its anthem will not be played, the New York Times reported.
If any Russian athletes win metals as individual competitors, the Russian anthem won’t be played during the medals ceremony – instead, the Olympic anthem will sound. The record books from the games will officially record that Russia won zero metals at the 2018 games.
The punishment was issued Tuesday following years of deliberations after a rogue doctor blew the whistle on the program in a wide-ranging expose published in the New York Times back in 2016. That story explained how Russian officials set up a clandestine laboratory to intercept official drug tests. Russian testers also developed a method to infiltrated the supposedly tamper-proof containers used by the Olympics anti-doping officials.
As the Times explained, the punishment was decided after the IOC finished its investigation. It’s a major blow to Russia’s national pride: The country has often used the Olympics as a display of global voice.
His spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, has said no boycott was under discussion before the announcement, however, and the news broke late in the evening in Moscow when an immediate official reaction was unlikely.
Thomas Bach, president of I.O.C., has said he was perturbed not only by Russia’s widespread cheating but by how it had been accomplished: by corrupting the Olympic laboratory that handled drug testing at the Games, and on orders from Russia’s own Olympic officials.
Russia was allowed to compete at the 2016 summer games in Rio de Janeiro, but its athletes were subjected to rigorous anti-doping testing.
The official statement on the decision from the IOC is available here.
As the NYT recalls, a team assembled by Russia’s sports ministry tampered with more than 100 urine samples to conceal evidence of top athletes’ steroid use during an elaborate overnight operation at the 2014 Sochi Games. More than two dozen Russian athletes have been disqualified from the Sochi standings as a result, and Olympic officials are still sorting through the tainted results and rescinding medals.
Is there a country that doesn’t cheat?
Like Paul Craig Roberts, I can’t believe we insist on f—ing with Russia. Even if we have a military technological advantage (which I don’t believe we do), their military stresses the warrior ethos while ours is bogged down in diversity training and “inclusion”. Keep it up neocons. You’re going to have all of us wearing our collective asses for a hat. If we have a head left to wear it.
Agreed that this is sheer politics.
While I’ll acknowledge that there may well have been illegal drug use amongst Russian athletes, to discount the incontestable tradition of Russian athletic excellence in various Olympic sports is ridiculous. Soviet-era gymnasts did not get all those gold medals because they were all flooding their veins with anabolic substances.
However heartbreaking it was for athletes on both sides of the Cold War to see years of preparation wasted through political decisions in Washington and Moscow, at least those boycotts had a real geopolitical reason behind them. It made perfect sense, for example, for North Korea to sit out the 1984 Los Angeles games and the 1988 Seoul games. For the comrades to see the beauty, wealth, and joy in California and then to see their ethnic brethren well-dressed, well-fed, robust, plump, driving modern cars and living in a skyscraper-dotted city would have been anathema to the NorKs.
But this?
One of the saddest things I saw in 2016 was Yelena Isinbayeva addressing her colleagues who did make their way to the Rio Olympics. Before departing Moscow, with Vladimir Putin a few feet away from her, Isinbayeva broke down in tears and exhorted the Russian delegation, many if not most her juniors, to make Russia proud. Whatever one may say about her several public appearances by Putin’s side (there’s never been any claims or rumors of Putin being indecent towards her, and Russia does well to use a multi-champion like her as one of her sports icons), her tears and please that Putin protect her and her fellow athletes was more than heartfelt.
Additionally, let us consider the defending champions in certain disciplines from Sochi. If they are barred from going, 4 or more years of hard work have now been nullified thanks to some suit-wearing old men’s proclivities – and they are losing an irrecoverable chance at a back-t0-back streak, which is incredibly difficult at the Olympic level. And for those who are going, that they will be prohibited from seeing their flag and hearing their anthem should they win gold is preposterous. All of us, from childhood, have seen athletes in both Summer and Winter Olympics shed tears as they were overcome with joy and pride as their flags were lifted and as their anthems were played – there are few such sheer demonstrations of patriotism and nationalism outside of war or military parades or historical commemorations.
And these potential champions will have to see the Olympic flag, a flag which not a single person on Earth views as his national flag, fly instead?
Not to mention the colossal loss of caliber that the deprivation of the Olympics of the Russians, one of the world’s perennial winter sports powerhouses, will cause. Olympians from other countries may well win more medals, but perhaps it’d be more satisfying to do so by beating Russian competitors (and perhaps even dethroning Russian champions).
Disgusting.
If the Russians won’t be there, I’ll have no one to cheer for.
More Propaganda Emerges of Houthi Missile With Zero Evidence and From Anonymous Sources – Andrea Iravani
It Is Time to Crash the Surveillance State That Has Destroyed America and Increased Crime – Andrea Iravani
Hey Andrea – go fuck yourself and stop the self-promotion.
You sound like a complete bitch. You must be on the rag.
You don’t have to read it. Apparently it threatens you,
based on your rage.
If it was self promotion, I would be writing about myself. That is not the case. I am writing about things that people need to know. I guess that you must work for the Surveillance state or MIC.
The U.S. Enrichriches and Empowers Homicidal Maniacs, Deviant Psychopaths, and Sadistic Monsters – Andrea Iravani
And another go fuck yourself you self-serving cunt. How about you add something to this site, you stupid bitch, before you start advertising with every post.
Yeah, you sound like you work for the MIC or surveillance state. How bout you add something to America other than TnT- terrorism and tyrrany.
Anybody stupid/foolish enough to participate in said deserves to be “lit-up”.
With The media and the US government the Olympics have become political. This whole thing smells of US meddling. Watching the Olympics for many years one can see the hypocrisy of the American media in full view. From the constant sniping when the games were in China and Russia. To the complaints of cheating when an athlete from one of these countries won an event. The Olympics are to showcase the worlds best athletes,no matter who wins the event. However to listen to the US media.There has to be wrong doing if The US does not win every medal in every event. Will this ever stop!!!!
The Cheese Stands Alone – Andrea Iravani
Andrea, while I disagree with Llpoh’s aggressive rebuke, I agree with his sentiment. Contributing here would be a better idea. Over time, if you became a regular and added value, then people would be interested in what you have to say.
Other posters maintain blogs as well, but they don’t plug their sites here. They have a history of making TBP better.
And yes, I down-voted you.
The “rogue doctor” has an agenda: his wife was arrested in Russia for smuggling illegal steroids…from the US.
He had been going around in Russia trying to get people in trouble, in anger over his wife’s situation, for some time now. He himself is an ex-skating athlete.
With Russiagate and neocon + Dem idiocy, he found his audience.