IOC's banning of Russia from 2018 Olympics

[Mawwerg]

I think Rodchenkov aims to destroy current sport system entirely. So it's not the end of the story. His lawyer Walden has already made a hazy statement.

"But he knows the Russians are not alone and there are other state-sponsored systems. His only hope is that this is the first step in a long journey towards vindicating clean sports forever."

https://www.afp.com/en/news/722/fearful-doping-whistleblower-praises-ioc-russia-ban-doc-uw5yb1

 

[rosy14]

Wonna play ? Pay 15 million dollars. Won't you ? No money, no Games.
That's all, folks !

 

[yoloaxel]

Ive been speaking to some Russian friends of mine and they all seem to be very against the athletes competing for OAR unfortunately, it seems to be perceived as selfish and anti-patriotic

 

[pearly]

Well, I personally would encourage anyone to participate as a neutral athlete if given the chance and would cheer for them if they were from my country.

It's always very easy to talk but when you have trained your whole life for something like this that you might only have a single shot at winning while in your prime, it'd be much too much to give up for. I'd go as far as to say that it's not the athlete betraying their country but their country betraying the athlete.

Yes!!

Wonna play ? Pay 15 million dollars. Won't you ? No money, no Games.

Are you sure the two are correlated? If Russia doesn't pay the athletes can't go as OAR? I didn't get that from the decision.

 

[coldblueeyes]

Are you sure the two are correlated? If Russia doesn't pay the athletes can't go as OAR? I didn't get that from the decision.

They can compete, but it doesn't mean the ban will be lifted at the end of the games.

 

[pearly]

Ive been speaking to some Russian friends of mine and they all seem to be very against the athletes competing for OAR unfortunately, it seems to be perceived as selfish and anti-patriotic

It's also very unpatriotic to sponsor a system and then let clean athletes who have given up a lot in their lives pay for it. But that's just me and I truly don't think our society has ever benefitted from anyone having strong patriotic sentiment.

 

[moriel]

Ive been speaking to some Russian friends of mine and they all seem to be very against the athletes competing for OAR unfortunately, it seems to be perceived as selfish and anti-patriotic

Well, the feeling in russia is that the decision is highly political, so actually competing under the olympic flag means bending to this decision.

While Tuktik is inflamed ofc, what she said translates well what most of my russian things think: the decision is political, the responsibility is on the IOC and whoever else is in the game - all that means that russian athletes are very good and the western folks are coming up with new "rules" as usual to have their own way.

 

[Sjs5572]

They can compete, but it doesn't mean the ban will be lifted at the end of the games.

Putin can pay it out of his 50 Billion dollar Sochi slush fund.

 

[moriel]

It's also very unpatriotic to sponsor a system and then let clean athletes who have given up a lot in their lives pay for it. But that's just me and I truly don't think our society has ever benefitted from anyone having strong patriotic sentiment.

Well, again, proof? Most russian people seem to believe that there was no state sponsored doping, but rather a conspiracy to punish russia even more, which goes together with all the other sanctions applied during recent years.

 

[pearly]

I am swayed to believe, based on what I have seen and read over the years, that there was major tampering with samples. To me that's enough to want to put an end to it. It may not have come from the very top levels of the government, but to me it doesn't really matter. I would of course hope the IOC would be consistent and rule the same way for any other country at any other time based on the same testimonies and evidence they had in this case.

 

[cathlen]

:curse:

So when excatly will we know the decision regarding who or if any Russian Figure Skaters will compete?

I'm a little bit dying inside thinking I might not see Ksenia and Fedor competing at Olympics... If the athletes themselves don't want to go, that's okay. I won't be happy, but I will respect that. But I'm not really okay with people forcefully pushing their opinions on athletes and limiting their Olympic experience. After all, it's not every year you get to compete.

 

[draqq]

I can understand being slighted by having to compete under a neutral name and flag, though I would still want the Russian skaters to compete. I mean, we all know where you're really from regardless of what the IOC requires you to wear and compete under. And we can all hum or overlay the Russian national anthem when a Russian athlete wins gold.

A boycott, ironically, would undermine Russia's desire not to deprive their clean athletes from competing at the Olympics.

 

[coldblueeyes]

I am swayed to believe, based on what I have seen and read over the years, that there was major tampering with samples. To me that's enough to want to put an end to it. It may not have come from the very top levels of the government, but to me it doesn't really matter. I would of course hope the IOC would be consistent and rule the same way for any other country at any other time based on the same testimonies and evidence they had in this case.

The thing is, if WADA hadn't lost time with the meldonium ordeal, perhaps they'd have a tighter case by now. I still think it's all a bit up in the air regarding the evidence that has come forward.

 

[skatingfan200]

First reaction from the Kremlin

http://tass.com/sport/979315

Now emotions should be kept down and the decisions taken by the IOC on our country should be thoroughly analyzed before making any accusations on this account," Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters

 

[GGFan]

Just to clarify a couple misconceptions:

1. Rodchenkov, Rodchenkov, Rodchenkov. First of all Vitaly Stepanov got this ball rolling as whistleblower--with evidence.. Second, no one would have listened to Rodchenkov without being able to independently verify his evidence. The evidence was extensive.

2. American America America. It was a German documentary that exposed Russia. One of my favorite parts of this was that it was a Swiss led process. University of Lausanne did a lot of the work reviewing the evidence independently. Schmid has a reputation that he put on the line--he's not just signing on to innuendo. There was hard evidence.

3. There was no process. Actually there was substantial process. This was deliberated on for years with ample opportunities for the Russian government to present evidence. Athletes still have the right to appeal to CAS and the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland. But as we've seen from previous appeals surrounding Rio no athlete has prevailed in questioning the IOC's jurisdiction in the matter or in rebutting the very strong evidence of state sponsored doping.

None of that takes away from the sadness of this and seeing clean athletes affected, but this strategy of beating up on the referees and making this a conspiracy theory is not plausible. With its actions the Russian government put the world of sports in a very bad position and basically dared the IOC to act. It surprisingly did.

 

[Kara]

Waking up almost everyday to horrible news has done absolute ~~wonders~~ for my health. Korea should demand a refund on their Games because at this rate, all these outside forces are gonna ruin it. I'm just so disappointed in the decision and heartbroken for all the clean athletes. To think I was so full of hopes during the JGP series.

 

[geiger]

They will sacrifice this cohort of clean athletes but it doesn't matter for them anyway.

The way Russian sports are structured, the athletes are state employees, just like the officials, coaches, clerks in Ministry of Sports, or even FSB and Army officers. Therefore, state logic applies. And since the Olympics today is a form of unarmed conflict between the states anyway, and not a competition between individual athletes, state and political logic applies even more so. Therefore, a state, whether in form of legislature or at a government level, has all the rights to make the appropriate decisions for all its employees. For example, since Rodchenkov was a state employee at the time he ran away, he really should be apprehended by whatever means necessary and tried for high treason. Also, retaliatory actions of some sort could be considered as well. At this level, a nation wide ban is a hostile political action against a nation as a whole, and Russia as a state by no means should bow to such treatment.
Whether or not our sports officials really screwed up and on which level, does matter, but this issue should be treated separately. I think we should reconsider how we treat international sports entirely. The current situation is not healthy for the country - we should not be in a situation where we must make political decisions because of a sports competition. I'd probably feel different in case Russian sports were governed by some sort of national NGO and sponsored entirely from private funds, and the government would concern itself with sports as a way to advance public health.

 

[pearly]

Waking up almost everyday to horrible news has done absolute ~~wonders~~ for my health. Korea should demand a refund on their Games because at this rate, all these outside forces are gonna ruin it. I'm just so disappointed in the decision and heartbroken for all the clean athletes. To think I was so full of hopes during the JGP series.

I hope all this doesn't mess too much with Alina and Maria's minds and they can go out and perform flawlessly this week in Japan.

 

[coldblueeyes]

I hope all this doesn't mess too much with Alina and Maria's minds and they can go out and perform flawlessly this week in Japan.

Tomorrow, you mean. I really hope the guys at the GPF manage to tap into their best competitive mentality, because I'm not sure how the atmosphere around the athletes will be.

 

[Mista Ekko]

Sounds like a lot of ranting and raving.

If Google Translate is correct she's saying something like:
"We're invincible, We will not surrender, We're above it"

Which is... the kind of approach that creates a problem like this