Rio Olympics 2016: Russia Not Given Blanket Games Ban By Ioc

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/36878983

The Track and Field Team already banned....what more evidence does the
IOC want, or need ? This is a bloody farce.

[ichkeria]

It is a farce, by a bunch of cowards.
Although on the other hand it is hard to see how any Russian athlete could meet the criteria they have stipulated.
It is ironic and cruel that poor old Yulya Stepanova, who blew the gaff on some of this, has been banned from competing as a neutral. I assume that that is because she cannot prove she's clean. If for any other reason then it's pretty monstrous.

[ichkeria]

I think they are just scared to utter the words "We ban the entire Russian team from the Olympics". But are hoping the effect will be the same. Perhaps

[Togo]

Craven cowards. The whole rotten lot should have been kicked out. FIFA should ban their football team from the next World Cup as well. It is being held in ..............Russia.

[EDDIE51]

Total cop out!
The individual athletes were not given a choice, they were compelled to participate in the state sponsored doping and cheat system, it was /is run by the KGB you don't argue with them!
It is unfair on the individual athletes but we need to show the USSR that state organised cheating will not be tolerated.

[ichkeria]

Eddie, as we know of course, there is, in this case, no difference between the individual athletes and the country. In other situations a case could be made for
"the desire and need for collective responsibility versus the right to individual justice of every individual athlete. "!
But in this instance that is just poppycock (I like to get that word in every so often)
Daria Glishina is the only T and F athlete who now qualifies: not sure what is going to happen with her. And the tennis players have been let in.
For the rest, the IOC have just shamefully passed the buck to their affiliated sports committees.

[douglas9401]

What's needed is an unimpeachable person to represent the Olympic Committee, it's ideals, values and goals.

What about Sebastian Coe? I'm sure his past performances were completely legitimate and his swift rise through the ranks of international athletics points to a man held in high regard by competitors and administrators alike. There can be no-one more suited to such a role and......no, sorry, I can't go on.

[New Judge]

Unless it was demonstrated otherwise, I always assumed that all top flight athletes, from any country, benefitted from the use of one or more “performance enhancing” substances. This is not a recent phenomenon. Forty years or more ago, long before the "professional" era, East German athletes reigned supreme in many events and there was no doubt that they were at it (with the connivance of the "German Democratic Republic" State machine). It’s just unfortunate for the Russians that they have been caught out but I doubt they are alone in their cheating and I’m not too sure what the fuss is all about. If the IOC banned all drug taking competitors the number of participants would be drastically reduced.

The Olympic Games, like most major sporting events, have become somewhat of a crushing, over long bore and personally I can’t wait for jousting to become an accredited Olympic sport, closely followed by pro-celebrity cake baking.

[Cloverjo]

I've always thought that Seb Coe was a bit weaselly in his answers to questions about whether Russia should be banned - he basically said No. It makes me wonder about him.

[Khandro]

In the 1990s with the introduction of EPO, a drug that enabled an athlete’s blood to carry more oxygen and therefore produce more power for longer started the modern age, before that it was amphetamines, caffeine and brandy in various combinations.
Some form of physical enhancement is inevitable and virtually impossible to eradicate as medical science evolves.
The Tour de France is probably the most demanding sporting event on the planet, and sadly I have to view it with some scepticism. Jacques Antequil, five times winner in the 1950s and ’60s, is quoted as saying: ‘You can’t win the Tour de France on mineral water alone.’
I don't think you can keep dope out of sport any more than you can keep it off the streets.

[ichkeria]

To be fair to Coe, his organisation, the IAAF banned the track and field athletes.
I very much agree with New Judge about jousting. Great idea: bring it on!

[mikey4444]

Listening to the Russian officials this morning, they are still in denial that anything has gone amiss, at all !

[youngmafbog]

And you are surprised Mickey? What a farce it all is.

[murraymints]

disgraceful....and to coin a prase OOT OOT OOT !!

[andy-hughes]

It would be a suitable condemnation of the entire corrupt edifice, if the world media was to ignore any mention of Russia and its athletes, in its coverage of the Olympic Games.

That would be free of charge for the media to implement - it would send out a message to Russia, and it would mean that their entire drug-enhanced nonsense would be denied the publicity and vindication it craves.

So will that happen?

What do you think!

[ichkeria]

It won't happen of course (it remains to be seen how many Russian athletes across the different sports will actually be there)

But I suspect they'd quite like that: it fits nicely with the persecution mentality that the authorities feed off. The Russian were talking about boycotting the Games as a matter of fact!

[EDDIE51]

Just seen on the news that the Russian team will be one of the largest in the games even after the ban!
This has totally destroyed the entire spirit of the Olympics for me. What does a country have to do to actually get banned? It just could not have got much worse than it was !
I shall not be bothering to watch now, how many share my view?

[jourdain2]

I'll go with jousting.

[jourdain2]

I know that 99.9% (I can't guarantee, of course) of the British team will be squeaky clean. So, EDDIE, I will be rooting for them. My main interest is in Heptathlon and High Jump (which I used to coach to a high-ish level).

Root for the goodies, please. There are a lot of people slogging their guts out there and they have been coached by people like me who gave up half their lives (unpaid) to get them to the standard where they could complete for selection.