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THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC Committee has upheld the ban of Russia from the Pyeongchang Winter Games because of doping, denying the 168 athletes competing here as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” the right to march in the closing ceremony under their country’s flag.
The IOC’s full membership unanimously approved the recommendation of the executive board just hours before the final competition and the closing ceremony. Fifty-two of the IOC’s 100 members were present for the vote on the fallout from the massive Russian doping scandal, which has tarnished the IOC and raised doubts about its ability to protect clean athletes.
The IOC repeatedly said going into the Olympics that Russian athletes had been “rigorously tested,” implying they were unlikely to fail drug tests.
IOC President Thomas Bach said a condition for Russia’s reinstatement was no further positive drug tests at these Olympics. Two of the four athletes who tested positive in Pyeongchang were Russian, including a curler who had to return his bronze medal.
“The IOC executive board decided first not to lift the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee for the closing ceremony,” Bach said, “therefore, no delegation of the Russian Olympic Committee will have taken part in these Olympic Winter Games.”
The IOC holds testing samples for 10 years, often uncovering positive cases years after medals had been awarded. The IOC did not bring up this contingency in considering Russia’s possible reinstatement.
Russia was banned from the Olympics in December because of widespread doping at the 2014 Sochi Games. The IOC left open the possibility of reinstatement ahead of the closing ceremony if the Russians met a series of criteria, and Russian athletes were allowed to participate under the Olympic flag.
IOC member Nicole Hoevertsz from Aruba and head of the Russia implementation group said the Russian delegation met many of the criteria required for reinstatement during the Olympics.
The two failed drug tests, however, were too much.
“Despite a good collaboration from the OAR delegation to respond to these (doping) cases in a prompt and transparent way, the implementation group was convinced that these cases caused significant concern,” Hoevertsz said.
The Russia ban and the positive doping results have been a distraction during the entire Pyeongchang Olympics. They also disrupted the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics.
Bach has defended the right of individual athletes to be judged separately and shied away from collective punishment. His stand has been seen as “soft on Russia” by many who called for an outright ban.
“We have to draw a line and look toward the future,” Hoevertsz said. “It is never going to be business as usual any more in the world of sport and in Russia. Many changes have been made and many changes still have to be made.”
Shamil Tarpischev, an IOC member from Russia, blamed the positive test on “the lack of cultural education. These cases are isolated and we are running our own investigation.”
He also tried to draw a line under the scandal.
“We believe this should be the end of this big problem,” Tarpischev added.
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Shouldn’t headline not be ‘Russian athletes cannot march…’ as opposed to ‘won’t’ which suggests they are refusing to do so.
@The Irish Pain: cannot match suggests they have no legs :)
@Joey Navinski: *cannot march
@The Irish Pain: Won’t doesn’t suggest they are refusing to do so. It means it they will not do it. The title doesn’t indicate if the reason is voluntary or involuntary.
They are not Russian they are just in a hurry
Shouldn’t the headline read can’t instead of won’t? Saying the Russian’s won’t march under their own flag is very misleading.
With Russia all news has been bad news. But maybe they are following the policy of “all news is good news” to somehow stay relevant.
@Mark Fields: The Russian hockey league if of the highest level so no surprise. My wife’s nephee played hockey in Latvia Canada Kazakstan and Russia. He said RU is the toughest. Now he is the star player for a club in France. He said much easier than Russia, but much better sport and living facilities than RU and an amazing team bus so he’s quite chuffed. In RU he said they’d be stuck in an old bus for 12 hours to matches and you’d be wrecked when you got there.
Their still steaming over all their coke getting busted in the Embassy other day.
Backward Russians scientists, still producing detectable drugs, ( probably trained by V.W. ).
Bloody eejits… But no one talks about Norway getting the most TUE’s before the Olympics and now having the most metals? Are TUE’s not doping, they are in my book, so if a country wants to win medals then give a donation to WADA and they give you TUE’s in return?
https://www.wada-ama.org/en/what-we-do/science-medical/therapeutic-use-exemptions
So sick and ill athletes are winning medals over healthy athletes???
@Alois Irlmaier: What’a a TUE?
@gregory: therapeutic use exemption
@Alois Irlmaier: TUES are legal performance enhancing drugs. To get a TUE(or seven as in the Williams tennis sisters case), you need to represent the right nation. Or else it’s just a hell of a coincidence that every American Olympian for the last few games has a chronic asthma condition.
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: Why do ones taking TUE’s always win gold medals then?
Well done you guys a very tough game! Fair play to these Russian ice hockey players.
I feel like the whole OAR thing is bulshit. If they are clean let them compete in there countries jersey, flag and national anthem. If they test positive, band them individually from competition.
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