Re: Russia and the Olympics, NYT had a great couple of articles abt this. Apparently in Sochi Olympics Russia built a hole into the wall of the IOC drug testing lab and smuggled in clean urine from athletes to fake the doping tests. There were really high up officials in charge of the cheating, and it was all documented by the doctor in charge, in his diary. If u have time, read the NYT articles and your upset-ness will basically evaporate because the IOC is totally justified in how pissed it is
i totally understand the full circumstances of WHY the IOC is reacting, but i disagree with how they’re punishing the athletes. i don’t like the athletes being punished when they’re innocent (or if not innocent, when they’ve been coerced into something like doping), i don’t like athletes being unable to represent their countries when they have that sense of pride, i don’t like group- and team-based sports face even more of a bias than individual athletes (IE. hockey teams, curling teams, pairs skaters being at a higher disadvantage being able to perform than individual skiers, skaters, etc.) due to logistics. also, this is going to sound EXTRA SHITTY, but having been around a number of professional athletes who have competed on a global level, doping is pretty standard, and in this case russia just did THE WORST JOB of covering it up. i know several athletes who should be pro in their respective disciplines but were so uncomfortable with doping and what it entails that they’ve had to give up their dreams. it’s like, a huge bummer mess all around, and i’m not saying i agree with doping, but i don’t think the problem is 100% with the athletes. i think the problem is with a lot of the infrastructure and that there should be measures in place, major fines, permanent bans against corrupt coaches/team staff, and that all individuals should be vetted by the IOC for each country’s team to ensure the health and safety of our athletes.
