As a depleted Team Russia prepared to depart for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, President Vladimir Putin was in Moscow to cheer them on and suggest the ban on athletes was based on discrimination. He was referring to the recent controversy surrounding allegations that all Russian athletes are under suspicion for using banned performance-enhancing substances backed by government permission and assistance.
Putin stated that banning Russian athletes from competing was based on a campaign to present Russian sports in a bad light, reports USA Today . Most of the track and field team and various other competitors have been barred from competing in Rio. Altogether, there are more than 100 athletes banned. Putin called the action a form of collective punishment. The Russian minister for sports has also been banned from attending the event.
There was a subtle suggestion that the ban was based on Western pressure. Putin is popular in Russia and has been rated highly in recent polls despite a slumping economy. Part of the reason seems to be his frequent criticism of Western countries and contrasting them with Russia, states Reuters .
However, it was not all bad news for Putin and the beleaguered Russian team. Fencers who were also under suspicion were cleared to compete in Brazil. They have 16 members. The men’s and women’s volleyball and beach volleyball squads are allowed to go. Triathlon competitors are also heading to Brazil.
Still, Putin said that the Olympics without the banned athletes will be much diminished in stature. As one of the largest competitors in the world, winning medals at these games will have less meaning, warned Putin.
Putin claimed that there was a deliberate campaign targeting Russian athletes based on double standards, according to BBC News . However, the Russian president also agreed that deliberate cheaters should be punished.
The bans follow a harsh report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). It suggested an outright ban of all Russian competitors. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided against a complete ban. However, the track and field team as a whole was barred and lost an appeal . It has become the largest action taken against performance-enhancing drug users in Olympic history.
The departing ceremony was a somber event. One of the athletes not allowed to go to Brazil was Yelena Isinbayeva. She has won two previous Olympic gold medals for pole vaulting in track and field. She was tearful as she helped to send off her teammates.
The Russian Olympic Committee had planned to send 370 athletes to compete in Rio. Instead, they are down to just over 250 competitors. Typically, Russia is among the top five in total medals during Olympic events.
The IOC had been struggling for weeks on whether to ban all athletes from competing. The doping scandal erupted only two years after Russia hosted the last Olympic winter games in Sochi. The IOC was a big beneficiary of that tournament. Critics say it influenced the decision against an outright ban. According to the McLaren report that documented the extent of the cheating, most of it occurred during the Sochi games. This has been a particularly difficult revelation for Putin, who put much effort into bringing the event to Russia, using it in an effort to promote the country to the rest of the world.
The IOC is essentially leaving it to individual world athletic federations to decide on the extent of suspensions. But many federations are worried about potential legal challenges to bans on competing.
The Russian athletic scandal adds another layer to the growing concerns over the upcoming event in Brazil. The country is facing an economic and political crisis, as well as problems with crime, security, and pollution. The Olympics are scheduled to begin on August 5.
[Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Images]
