No Rio for the Russians

The Game Room
1

Great news, the IAAF has upheld the ban on Russian track and field athletes.

No official Russian team will go. There may be a possibility of some going as independents if they can prove they have been sufficiently tested by independent labs. Good luck with that but fair play if they can pass that test.

Overall this is an excellent decision. They were given ample opportunity to put their house in order and yet it seems likenothing much has changed.

I suspect there will be other countries having sleepless nights about this.
I’m sure other drug cheats will be there, possibly even some with an equivalent system of state collusion but at least one of the major culprits has been taken out of the equation. More Athletes that really deserve the medals will be awarded them at the games rather than years later.

Personally I’d go even further. Anyone found guilty of doping should be banned for life, and all their medals and records expunged.

2

I wonder if Russia will boycott the Games in toto over this.

3

I wonder if McDonald’s will bring back the “If the U.S. wins, you win!” promotion…?
If they do, I’d hate to be the guy carrying all that food back to the office…

4

Their non track and field athletes would be ultra-pissed if they did so.

5

What a great way to prevent the Zika virus from spreading to Russia!

6

One of the horrible, brutal truths of the Olympiad for many decades has been the very real possibility that you will train your heart out for years, get your one chance at glory, genuinely be the best (or 2nd or 3rd best), and then get flat-out robbed, after which you will NEVER get justice. (Followed, of course, by the absolutely obligatory BS about how you should “stop whining” and “move on”.) Now, with the well no longer being poisoned by the Cold War, this just adds another blow: others will get justice, but you won’t.

This ban isn’t locking the barn door after the horse has bolted, it’s locking the barn door after the horse, cows, and sheep have all bolted, the barn got burned to the ground by a knocked-over lantern, a new barn was built in its place and restocked, the new horse, cows, and sheep all bolted, and a third horse was put in, bolted, and knocked the door off its hinges. About a century late and a lottery win short to do any real good.

Nonetheless, while I’m not exactly elated at this, I can at least acknowledge it as a step forward. Let’s be honest, Russia (along with its 68-year experiment) has gotten away with murder in this event. No one, no one at all, seems willing to say no to it. And once the Cold War was over and there wasn’t even any reason to suck up to it anymore? Oh, hey, let’s give them a Winter Olympiad and give its blowhard jerk leader all the air time he wants! Now, for the first time in its history, at least one of its teams…possibly more to come…has been given the same playing field as anyone else, and just like those Southern dead-enders being told they can’t fly the Confederate flag in public buildings anymore, it’s come as a hideous shock. Well, shock away, I say. Let them feel a small measure of the responsibility the rest of the world has always had to. The party’s over. Let’s start acting like it.

Oh, and if this does lead to a boycott, I have one thing to say: Don’t let the door hit your butt on the way out. Better give it a wide berth; that new horse is looking rather skittish. :slight_smile:

7

Rio, by Toto.

8

“Rio”, “drugs test”… I can’t think where I’ve heard that connection before.

9

Duran Duran.

10

Further potential problems for the Russians, seems like theirweightlifting team may run the risk of a Rio ban.

One wonders if there are any Russian national sports teams that aren’t riddled with dopers?

11

I miss the rains down in South America…

12

It’s actually “blessed” not “miss”.

13

It’s “really” not “actually”.

14

It’s becoming harder and harder to get a little head.

15

Either is appropriate for the situation.

The only time actually and really are not synonyms is when you are using “really” for emphasis (i.e. very). Otherwise, they are interchangeable.

16

bumping this seeing as the WADA report has just been released looking at the Sochi games and the wider spread of doping in Russian sport.

In short…they are fucked. It clearly isn’t just track and field and it was state-sponsored and overseen. The report is just about as bad as you can possibly imagine.

It may be that all of Russian sports may have to be banned in order for that to represent a suitable punishment.

It is harsh on clean athletes I suppose but then no point in blaming WADA, the IAAF, IOC. Blame your own country, your own administrations and the likely thousands of doping athletes in your country that colluded with the authorities to cheat. They are the ones who bear responsibility.

17

I am honestly shocked the IAAF actually showed some cojones and did this.

18

Have you not been following the political developments over the last couple of years?

19

The Russia line is that it is political, Looks very simply like outright cheating to me. Any other country would get booted out as well were shown to be complicit to this degree.

20

The real world is much more complicated than a simple this or that possibility. Just because it is political, does not mean that there was also not outright cheating. If you think that European, N American and Chinese athletes are not doped to the nines and the sports federations are not at least negligent in stopping them than you are naive.

The problem with doping is manifold, not least the heavy emphasis on getting positive tests results to trigger suspensions; see Lance Armstrong. All you have to do is ensure you don’t get a positive result and you are home free. :mad:

Bit like FIFA scandal last year, when initially everyone was stating how much FIFA corruption was caused by Africans and S Americans, ooopps turned out that UEFA and Europeans were also as corrupt.