photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Here's the headquarters of the Russian Olympic Committee in Moscow. It could be a very empty place soon if the World Anti-Doping Agency decides to suspend Russia over its latest misgiving with juice-pigging.
And so here we are again.
Russia has been bad boys and girls when it comes to doping. Some of you may call it shocking. I call it Monday.
Nothing shocks me when it comes to Russia and doping. Honestly, why does the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) keep giving the country chances to prove it’s clean? They obviously aren’t and never will be. In the latest issue surrounding the juice-piggery that is the world’s largest country, Russia’s athletes face an indefinite ban from all major competitions because of discrepancies in a lab database. It has until the middle of October to explain why things look out of whack or the ax will fall.
Here’s why we’re at where we’re at:
Russia had – or still has – a state-sponsored doping program. If you could see me now, you would see my totally shocked face, which resembles my resting and happy face rolled into one. One of the conditions of its reinstatement to the world community of sporting nations was for its main lab in Moscow to hand over data for a once-over by WADA. If WADA was satisfied, Russia’s three-year banishment could have come to an end.
But hold the Batphone! WADA’s executive committee was informed on Sept. 23 that an investigation had been opened after the discovery of what it’s calling “inconsistencies”, hence the deadline of mid-October for RUSADA, the Russian anti-doping agency, to explain why.
Now, like in any other case where an accusation has been leveled, RUSADA should be granted the presumption of innocence and the time to come up with an explanation but the problem is RUSADA and the Russian government has played fast and loose with its doping program so many times that whatever it says can’t even be taken with a grain of salt.
If WADA doesn’t like what it hears, it could ban the country’s athletes from competing at all major events such as the Olympic Games and the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup. WADA can do that under new rules laid out for such a punishment but there’s always the right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland and that decision is final. Both sides have agreed that if it gets that far, the court’s decision would be respected.
Track and field’s governing body, which is one of the lone groups in the world with any sort of scrotum when it comes to banishment of juice pigs, maintained its ban on Russian athletes competing at its world championships and no one from that country will be on the field of play in Qatar from the start on Sept. 27 until the final day on Oct. 6.
So if it’s proven Russia diddled with its data, the only proper punishment is one of banishment for a good length of time. Anything less than that would be a joke and only serves to show that countries can get away with it every single time. You can hope that Russia isn’t screwing around but, as I’ve already stated, it’s flaunted the game already and like that spoiled child which gets away with being naughty, they will do it again if they know they can get away with it.
And just like that spoiled child, you need to take away the toys to teach it a lesson. The International Olympic Committee needs to grow a pair and actually back WADA up this time if it imposes any sort of sanction. It proved its inconsistency by banning Russia from competing in the 2016 Summer Olympics but said its athletes were welcome to join in on the fun in 2018 at the Winter Olympics as Olympic Athletes from Russia. In essence, it was Russians competing as Russians but just not under Russia. Political correctness at work from the brains in Lausanne, Switzerland, folks.
Feel sorry for the athletes all you want if anything happens but it takes two to tango. Most athletes these days are smart enough to know what they’re putting into their bodies and you can’t fool them, much like how East Germany managed to hoodwink its athletes for years during its episodic montage of How Much Dope Can You Inject Into A Woman And Turn Them Into A Man? For the record, that’s actually happened. Read into it and you’ll be amazed.
The easiest solution in all this is just to have Russia leave for a while. If WADA doesn’t drop the hammer this time, then let everyone juice up and have a ball.