Russia's out of Olympic Games

The meeting of the Executive Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in Lausanne ended extremely sadly for Russia. Officials who confidently stated that nothing threatens Russian sport and that everything will work out were wrong, as Russia is now banned for four years. For those four years, during which two Olympics - winter and summer - will be held, there will also be many major international competitions. This does not mean that Russian sport is strictly banned for this period. Athletes who are not stained by doping allegations will be able to compete, but without the flag and anthem of the state which they respresent.

This is nothing new; similar situation already happened with Olympic Games in Pyongyang. It has repeated because while smart people learn from mistakes of others, Russian functionaries made their choice not in favor of cooperation, but in favor of continuation of very doubtful old line: changes to the doping data of various samples were made “remotely” by notorious former director of the Anti-Doping Center Grigory Rodchenkov and his colleagues.

By the way, similar statements were made by experts. According to the head of a group of independent experts, Viktor Blazheev, who is widely quoted by sports publications, about 400 cases of entering the sample database were recorded in six months. “From November 2015 to June 2016, you could easily enter the system from abroad and do whatever you want with it. Moreover, the administratorof database, Oleg Migachev, who also fled to the United States, knew all the keys,” a number of media reports.

Representatives of winter sports, in which Russia's positions are traditionally strong, triumph. On the one hand, athletes can really be understood. To train, to spend health, time, strength, and then someone appears, pumped up with drugs, and all the trouble in vain. Though finish with sports. Therefore, the legendary Frenchman Martin Fourcade, a five-time Olympic biathlon champion, who, commenting on the situation, said that Russia should be punished for cheating, but stay in sports, was right a hundred times. "I lost several medals because of Russian athletes who did not play according to the rules. The punishment should be serious, but Russia should remain in biathlon and in sports in general. Russia is an important country for biathlon. Like Germany, Norway and France," Fourcade said. That is, the great biathlete for a differentiated attitude to Russian athletes: clean - perhaps for the competition, ate enough drugs - out!

In this light, the position of some Russian athletes convicted of using prohibited means does not stand up to criticism: I did not know, this is all a doctor (administrator, coach, etc.). Here is what another famous athlete, world and Olympic champion in cross-country skiing, Diderik Tonset, said on this occasion: “If my Norwegian government would manipulate my doping tests, without my knowledge would inject illegal drugs into my body, then I, as at least I’d be furious. I’d probably take some concrete steps against those who did this. " In unison, Tonset and other eminent athletes are wondering: why do Russian athletes who are victims of the Russian doping system not call anyone to account? Mark Kramer, a well-known German skiing specialist, who has worked in Russia for several years, believes that the whole thing is in the mentality: "Russians often consider the optimal position in scandalous situations - silence and waiting for a decision on their fate."

But on the other hand, how can one do, for example, with compatriots and compatriots Diderik Tonset, all over the place decorated as asthmatics, which greatly expands the possibilities for the use of some prohibited substances that are part of anti-asthma drugs with impunity? However, in the situation in which Russia found itself, it is better to deal with the sins of "their own aunts."

In addition to the removal of fined athletes and the performance of a clean athlete without a flag or anthem, the sanctions are about preventing international competitions in Russia. From the top tournaments, not counting skiing and biathlon, it seems here for years to come that there will be no world or continental level stages on Russian snows and tracks. These are several matches of the 2020 European Football Championship, as well as the Champions League final, scheduled for May 29, 2021. All these matches had to take St. Petersburg.

At the moment, the football battles, which even before Russia was removed from the competition, it was decided to hold in the northern capital, it seems that nothing is in danger. UEFA, under whose auspices European football tournaments are held, did not sign the global anti-doping code. But Russian football functionaries should not relax.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is very serious, and the new president Vitold Banka has repeatedly said that bringing all kinds of sports along the doping line to a common denominator is one of its main goals.