Don’t you hate being right sometimes? A few days ago (Thursday), I talked about drugs and the Olympics. I said that we suspected that there would be a lot more talk about the connections between both subjects.
Sadly, I was right. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) recently extended the ban on Russia’s track and field team from competing internationally. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) upheld this ban, which makes it unlikely that Russia’s track and field team will compete in the Summer Olympic games in Rio in August.
The IAAF first issued this ban in 2015. The organization cited a report from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which said that Russian armed government agents intimidated officials to stop drug testing.
Is doping that common among some athletes? Among some countries? The fact that Russia allegedly threatened officials who were conducting drug tests certainly looks bad. But is that the true story? Is doping that much a part of Olympic athletics?
Maybe I’m naive, but I can’t imagine all Olympic athletes are using banned substances to enhance their performances. It appears that international organizations are also willing to give some individual Russian athletes the benefit of the doubt. The IOC said that individual Russian track and field athletes who can prove that they’re clean and are committed to antidoping are welcome to apply to compete as part of the Russian Olympic Committee.
Will that be the case? Will we be able to prove if Russia’s guilty or innocent? Time will tell.
The fact that we keep on talking about performance-enhancing substances, the Olympics, and other sports bugs me. I don’t think we’ll be able to stop any time soon.
The Olympic motto is “faster—higher—stronger.” Because of all the real and suspected Olympic drug use, do we need to start using an asterisk after this motto?
