Last year during the Olympic games, Russian secret service impersonated drug testing laboratory engineers, Russian athletes adopted fake identities, bribed anti-doping authorities, and top sports officials took bogus urine samples all in order to cover up the drugs being taken by the Russian Olympic athletes. These allegations were among hundreds found in a report by the World Anti-Doping Agency. 323 pages lay out what could be the most extensive state-sponsored doping program since the East German Regime of the 1970's.
It was stated by Dick Pound, founding president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, "It's worse than we thought...This is an old attitude from Cold War days." Russia has responded to these allegations saying, "Whatever we do, everything is bad....if this whole system needs to shut down, we will shut it down gladly. We will stop paying fees, stop funding the Russian anti-doping agency, the Moscow anti-doping laboratory. We will only save money."
Through the report they are recommending a lifetime ban on 5 coaches and 5 athletes. In 2013 Russia had 225 or 12 percent of all violations globally, a fifth of these from track and field athletes, and this number only continues to rise.
The WADA foundation is the one investigating and facilitating these reports and will meet next week to discuss these punishments and the possible implementation of them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/10/sports/russian-athletes-part-of-state-sponsored-doping-program-report-finds.html?hp&clickSource=story-heading&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Sports&action=keypress®ion=FixedLeft&pgtype=article
5 comments:
I am interested to see how this impacts historical records. Will Russian medal winners be stripped? What about Russian athletes who were clean?
Going off of Tyler's point, I do think medals will be stripped. That has been the typical response of the Olympic Committee whenever something like this happened. It's unfortunate for the athletes who haven't doped, but I do think there will be sanctions against all Russian athletes.
I also wonder if any other Olympic sports will be investigated, because it seems like there are violations all over the place.
I agree with both comments above. Why is doping such a hard thing to stay away from it takes away from the hard work that you can achieve all by yourself and also the hard work that others put into training as well. Those who dope should be stripped of their medals and honors because they cheated.
The fact that so many people helped these athletes cheat too is flabbergasting as well. doping is spreading like a disease, and the rules and regulations against doping are just now being rectified, hopefully it can be caught earlier in the future as well. Perhaps officials will pay closer attention.
I think this goes to show just how ingrained in some societies corruption truly is. I think various actions like this that occur go much deeper than just the Olympic games and the athletes and coaches that do whatever it takes to win. Even if that means sacrificing morality for a prized accomplishment. Instances like this help us to see just how hard it is to address these issues because of the sheer magnitude of these actions. I think it will be interesting to see how this inevitably is dealt with, however I think this will be more than just the Olympic games, but also a potential beginning of a cultural shift with no corruption.
I agree with Ashely in the fact that I think it goes to show just how ingrained corruption is in these societies. These athletes truly do whatever it takes to get the gold, sacrificing their morals and dreams along the way, just to prove they are the "best". I think with this concept, these actions also leave a lasting reflection on their native country. There are many instances in which close relationships and business dealings lead to a corrupt government that can only be sustained through the further development of these relationships which leads to a never ending cycle of corruption and shady business dealings.
I also agree Montana's comment that these athletes should be stripped of their medals due to the disgrace they have placed upon themselves, their families, and their countries. Not only do I think there should be sanctions from the committee, but I also think Russia should do something about these athletes. This situation not only puts a bad light on Russian athletes, but ultimately, on the country as a whole. I will be intrigued to see the outcome of these events in the coming weeks.
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