There isn't a clean sport left. Athletic victory has become its own worst enemy.
1
They need to lose the medals they received in the last Olympics and face a lifetime ban. How is it that none of these Russian athletes failed a drug test if they were all doping? Testing must be a joke.
Cancel the Olympics this year.
Cold War playbook again. Pay someone to defect and make up a story to embarrassed the other nation. I've heard too many stories of night engagement, taking babies out of incubators and mobile weapon labs to believe this latest nonsense.
What's a defector? Someone that sold out his nation for money. Why should we believe someone that would betray his own nation for money?
What's a defector? Someone that sold out his nation for money. Why should we believe someone that would betray his own nation for money?
1
I can YouTube the USA women's freestyle relay team handing it to the East Germans and their dope in 1976, and I remember the Miracle on Ice.
Take that.
Take that.
Memo to Mr. Thomas Bach:
If the Russians are allowed into the Rio Olympics I will not be watching. I have already lost considerable interest with the ridiculous size the event has become and the new sport additions and deletions are laughable. You need to totally rethink the Summer and Winter games. Back to basics, no more judging/show-pony sports and no entry to the countries that have endemic or state-sponsored cheating (RU, CN, KE et al). Get a grip ASAP.
If the Russians are allowed into the Rio Olympics I will not be watching. I have already lost considerable interest with the ridiculous size the event has become and the new sport additions and deletions are laughable. You need to totally rethink the Summer and Winter games. Back to basics, no more judging/show-pony sports and no entry to the countries that have endemic or state-sponsored cheating (RU, CN, KE et al). Get a grip ASAP.
3
"..if allegations about a state-sponsored cover-up of doping among Russian athletes were proved true." How much proof does he need? The credibility of the Olympics in on the line.
1
There won't be any substantive outcomes that will adversely impact Russia in a material way. Russia is already demonstrating this, by giving the perception of going along with it all by suspending several weight-lifters. This is a diversion tactic to illustrate that they are playing along with the officials. As to the dead doping executives in Russia - they'll be the scapegoats. Still trying to figure out how they'll deal with Dr. Rodchenkov. I'm guessing a heavy campaign to discredit him or premature death.
At Rio, we'll see many Russian athletes. The IOC and other groups will bow to political pressures and Russia, in a selective manner, primarily a few folks here and there will get a light shoulder tap. And then we move on.
At Rio, we'll see many Russian athletes. The IOC and other groups will bow to political pressures and Russia, in a selective manner, primarily a few folks here and there will get a light shoulder tap. And then we move on.
3
I can sympathize with athletes that got bounced off a podium by a cheater, shattering their Olympic dreams, but why is the US Justice Department looking into this? To what end and at what cost? Will Congress now pass a law allowing our athletes to sue Russia? When athletes decide to compete under the auspices of organizations such as the IOC and WADA, they agree to their rules, not those falling under US law, if there even are any. Let those in charge of the competition deal with it. Why must we stick our nose into every little thing?
More to the point, do we really need these US attorneys who endlessly self-promote on our dime?
More to the point, do we really need these US attorneys who endlessly self-promote on our dime?
it is striking how often American authorities get tied up with scandals in other countries. you can imagine what would happen if ANY other country in the world started demanding American officials show up and explain anything....usa usa usa and a circling of the wagons would follow pretty quickly, i reckon.
1
This sounds encouraging but my bet is that the Russians will be invited to participate and that their case will be pressed by, e.g., the big advertisers in the US (with business in Russia) and the US State Department (furthering the mistaken belief that the Russians will become our good friends if we are only nice to them). As always, the clean athletes will be the collateral damage at the Olympics, as the dopesters mount the medals podium.
3
Let's face it: the Olympics are dead, crushed by nationalism, greed and the inevitable corruption they yield. It's too bad.
7
Comrade posters were all over the Justice Dept. yesterday; but the I.O.C. isn't as desirable a target for patriotic Russian irony. The silence speaks volumes.
1
Banning Russia from the Rio games is the least the IOC must do to regain some credibility. The Olympics have long since ceased to be inspirational. They have become an ugly, drug fuelled party for professional stunt men and women who go on stage to sell products for the world's largest corporations or to shore up dictators at home by generating synthetic patriotism.
1
Rio 2016 Olympics are the games of shame,immorality and corruption. The IOC members who awarded Brazil to host the Rio 2016 Olympics are irresponsible to say the least. The FBI should investigate them in the same way they are investigating FIFA members.
The realization of the World Cup and Olympics in an unequal, corrupt and inefficient country like Brazil is the mother of all evil that can be done against the people, especially the most humble, due to inefficiency and high rate of corruption of the controllers of such events.
The realization of the World Cup and Olympics in an unequal, corrupt and inefficient country like Brazil is the mother of all evil that can be done against the people, especially the most humble, due to inefficiency and high rate of corruption of the controllers of such events.
1
As with most businesses too-big-to-fail, we end up with the fox guarding the hen house. However, at least with banks and others, there is no pretense that, unlike the Olympics, they are public service non-profits.
What do the USOC, the Girl Scouts, the Red Cross, and your church have in common? 501 c-3 tax exempt status.
What do the USOC, the Girl Scouts, the Red Cross, and your church have in common? 501 c-3 tax exempt status.
1
I really don't see how anyone can get to the olympic level of weightligting without doping. The surprising thing is the audacity of the Russians, not the doping itself.
1
I wish to thank Dr. Rodchenkov for his having stepped forward to yank back the curtain of lies and tricks with which one of the world's most powerful nations attempted to obscure this shameful act.
In fact, it brings to mind the Army-McCarthy hearings of the early 1950s where a shameless US Senator by the name of Joe McCarthy similarly attempted to lie his way through the hearings.
When he finally over-reached and was caught shamelessly attempting to destroy the life and career of a young man assisting in the defense of the US Army against McCarthy's lies, the lawyer for whom the young man worked, Joseph Welch, famously brought the curtain down on McCarthy's own career with these words:
"Senator, may we not drop this? Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
In fact, it brings to mind the Army-McCarthy hearings of the early 1950s where a shameless US Senator by the name of Joe McCarthy similarly attempted to lie his way through the hearings.
When he finally over-reached and was caught shamelessly attempting to destroy the life and career of a young man assisting in the defense of the US Army against McCarthy's lies, the lawyer for whom the young man worked, Joseph Welch, famously brought the curtain down on McCarthy's own career with these words:
"Senator, may we not drop this? Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
3
As with most too-big-to-fail businesses, we end up with self-regulation, better known as no regulation, often known as cover-up regulation. However, at least with banks and others, there is no pretense that they are public service non-profits.
What do the Olympics, the Girl Scouts, the Red Cross, and your church have in common? 501 c-3 tax exempt status.
What do the Olympics, the Girl Scouts, the Red Cross, and your church have in common? 501 c-3 tax exempt status.
3
I'm afraid when it comes to the IOC their bark is much worse than their bite. Putin just needs to increase the number of rubles he puts in their pockets and it will soon be time to pick out a Rio Olympic Russian team uniform design
12
Except that with the current state of the Russian economy, Putin doesn't have too many rubles to give away. The big money comes from the corporate sponsors, and they don't want the Olympics to be seen as dirty. (See FIFA.)
1
It sounds very much like the IOC intends to allow the majority of Russian athletes to participate in the Games. It's not right, and this passive approach to leadership is ruining the Olympics at a time when the Games can ill afford additional problems.
11
How long before Grigory Rodchenkov starts glowing from polonium-210 tea?
16
I have a better idea. Since the Russians can't be trusted at anything, just ban them from the Olympics, the U.N., the SWIFT international banking system, any kind of market, any kind of forum, any kind of Global Advisory body, any kind of international sporting event, any humanitarian work, any treaty, anything....
They get no benefit of the doubt.
They cheat the life out of anything they're involved in.
A paranoiac nation that has never grown up. Lives in a world of make believe and has precious little compunction about throwing war and murder about. It's ruled by fear and propaganda. It's not simply culture difference at all, it's a psychologically dysfunctional country.
Russia's biggest enemy is Russia itself. Too bad
They get no benefit of the doubt.
They cheat the life out of anything they're involved in.
A paranoiac nation that has never grown up. Lives in a world of make believe and has precious little compunction about throwing war and murder about. It's ruled by fear and propaganda. It's not simply culture difference at all, it's a psychologically dysfunctional country.
Russia's biggest enemy is Russia itself. Too bad
34
I was going to comment, but you have said exactly what I was thinking. And it is what I have been thinking for several years.
2