IOC's banning of Russia from 2018 Olympics

[Symmetry]

This is the best decision from the IOC. Russia is paying the price for their cheating in sports but the clean athletes can still pursue their Olympic dreams.

 

[asp11]

This is the best decision from the IOC. Russia is paying the price for their cheating in sports but the clean athletes can still pursue their Olympic dreams.

That's a great way to look at it!

 

[Yatagarasu]

Okay so I don't know Russian but according to this: https://t.co/cyBHTZdApH
Putin will not stand in the way of Atheletes competing under the neutral status?

The final decision is going to be during that meeting of everyone but I would say, especially considering that he has actually added that the athletes have been preparing for this their whole careers and that it is very important to them, that this is a major positive sign. I'd wait for that official decision but right now, I'd say it looks like they're going to go. Knock on wood!

 

[[email protected]]

Putin said there won't be state promoted Olympic boycott. He says he feels for clean Russian athletes who are under big pressure now, who will be tested much harder than athletes from other countries. He also wants to understand how team competitions will be organized.

I think, that's the words of a leader.

...I might go to Korea after all.

 

[yoloaxel]

The final decision is going to be during that meeting of everyone but I would say, especially considering that he has actually added that the athletes have been preparing for this their whole careers and that it is very important to them, as a major positive sign. I'd wait for that official decision but right now, I'd say it looks like they're going to go. Knock on wood!

Fingers crossed!!!!

 

[gmyers]

Oh please, every single television announcer, analyst, print reporter, etc is going to mention where they are from and talk about the decision. It's Big News. So if people don't know where they're from it won't be the media's fault.

Maybe this year but in the future people will see Olympic flag by a medalist and have no idea

 

[Shandy]

I have very little nationalistic sentiment and don't think they brought us much good as a civilization regardless of whether it (sentiment and patriotism) is Russian, American, Canadian, Chinese etc . If I had Evgenia's track record, I would compete without a second thought.

This! I think the only time overt nationalism does anybody any good is during times of brutal oppression/invasion from outsiders, or civil war, neither of which is happening right now. In a situation like this, a refusal to compete out of excessive national pride only makes the country look guilty and deprives athletes of their Olympic dreams.

It's of course another matter entirely if the requirements to compete as OARs are so stringent that no one is able to satisfy them in time. I hope very much that that's not the case, and that everyone from Russia who wants to compete will be able to do so. I do also worry that the appeals process for which the Russians have (rightly, IMO) announced a desire won't delay the athletes' approval to compete. Gahh, the timing for this is just so awful!

 

[madison]

Good discourse from Putin, moderate and wise. I have to say I expected the worst.

 

[starla16]

Maybe this year but in the future people will see Olympic flag by a medalist and have no idea

competing all under olympics flag isnt a bad future idea, you rid of unnecessary nationalism and make a unifier athlete (the media can always mention where he/she is from).

 

[Yatagarasu]

Fingers crossed!!!!

I've been crossing everything since yesterday, heck I started braiding my hair

 

[Corwin]

Vladimir Putin also noted it was important that the International Olympic Committee did not have any conclusions in its recent findings and reports regarding earlier allegations about state-supported doping scheme in the country.
"It is important that the commission’s findings state that there was never a state support system of doping in Russia," Putin said.
"This was a very important conclusion."
However, Putin added, "we are facing a question here why the Olympians were barred from participating [in the Games] under the Russian national flag and displaying the state official symbols, if there never was a state sponsored doping system."


"All those guilty should be punished," he stressed. "Secondly, why they [Russian athletes] cannot compete in the Olympics brandishing our state symbols, if there was never a state sponsored doping program? This is a big question."


http://tass.com/sport/979423

 

[Yatagarasu]

competing all under olympics flag isnt a bad future idea, you rid of unnecessary nationalism and make a unifier athlete (the media can always mention where he/she is from).

Someone with a better memory should correct me but I am pretty sure we have had these motions before and though I agree it's a great idea, they never went anywhere. I don't think they'd get anywhere now either, as I just don't believe most people are ready.

Maybe, one day. Hopefully!

 

[starla16]

Someone with a better memory should correct me but I am pretty sure we have had these motions before and though I agree it's a great idea, they never went anywhere. I don't think they'd get anywhere now either, as I just don't believe most people are ready.

Maybe, one day. Hopefully!

that happened in 1992, The Soviet Union Collapsed and they competed as Unified Team under Olympic Flag

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Team_at_the_Olympics

here is one bio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Timoshenko

 

[Yatagarasu]

that happened in 1992, The Soviet Union Collapsed and they competed as Unified Team under Olympic Flag

Oh yes, I know that, thank you, sorry I wasn't clear. I meant, I am pretty sure there were official suggestions before to have everyone with no flags but that never worked out. Maybe one day!

 

[Anyasnake]

competing all under olympics flag isnt a bad future idea, you rid of unnecessary nationalism and make a unifier athlete (the media can always mention where he/she is from).

Now that is something I'd really like ! It's not the football World Cup, why bother too much ? I understand patriotism very much but I don't want it to be forced. Also I just don't care for the skaters nationality for example. AT ALL.

 

[starla16]

Now that is something I'd really like ! It's not the football World Cup, why bother too much ? I understand patriotism very much but I don't want it to be forced. Also I just don't care for the skaters nationality for example. AT ALL.

I think because skating is perceived as more individualist sport, we don't care much about their nationalities.
This will be tricky with Team sports like basketball, volleyball etc. Maybe Name It Olympic Team A, Team B etc.

 

[Osmond4gold]

This is the best decision from the IOC. Russia is paying the price for their cheating in sports but the clean athletes can still pursue their Olympic dreams.

Lets look at the facts. Given the history of abuses, I think it was the best possible solution. As CSG had pointed out in a previous post;

Stripped Olympic Medals to-date by country:

1. Soviet Union/Unified Team/Russia: 10 Gold, 22 Silver, 13 Bronze: 45 total
2. Belarus: 2 Gold, 3 Silver, 6 Bronze: 11 total
3. Ukraine: 1 Gold, 4 Silver, 5 Bronze: 10 total
4. Kazakhstan: 5 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze: 9 total
5. United States: 6 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze: 9 total
19. Canada: 1 Gold, 0 Silver, 0 Bronze: 1 total

The Soviet Union/Russia has long been about coming in first, and this persistent problem has come back to bite. Hopefully these Olympics will be a moment of reckoning.

 

[mrrice]

Lets look at the facts. Given the history of abuses, I think it was the best possible solution. As CSG had pointed out in a previous post;

Stripped Olympic Medals to-date by country:

1. Soviet Union/Unified Team/Russia: 10 Gold, 22 Silver, 13 Bronze: 45 total
2. Belarus: 2 Gold, 3 Silver, 6 Bronze: 11 total
3. Ukraine: 1 Gold, 4 Silver, 5 Bronze: 10 total
4. Kazakhstan: 5 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze: 9 total
5. United States: 6 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze: 9 total
19. Canada: 1 Gold, 0 Silver, 0 Bronze: 1 total

The Soviet Union/Russia has long been about coming in first, and this persistent problem has come back to bite. Hopefully these Olympics will be a moment of reckoning.

I hope the athlete's that end up going to the games do well. That way, all the athlete's know that they can be successful without the need for PED's. They can also help to lift the cloud that now sits over the Russian Team. It has literally been on every news channel today and if it's the same in Russia, it must have an effect on the athlete's.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

It sounds like clean Russian athletes will not be barred from competing. Whether they are perceived as traitors in Russia is another thing. But at least they can fulfill their Olympic experience.

At any rate, it's semantics to call them a Neutral Athlete or an Olympic Athlete From Russia. The good news is, clean athletes can still compete, but Russia remains under scrutiny and no medals will be awarded to that country.

I wonder what happens then when an Independent Olympian wins a gold medal? Is the Olympic anthem played then? What happened with the Kuwaiti gold medallist from Rio?
edit: It seems that the Olympic Hymn (and not the Kuwait/Russian/etc. anthem) is played during the victory ceremony.

It'd be kinda hilarious if the Independent Olympians were at the top of the medal count (thanks to the inclusion of OARs). That was the plan all along, right, IOC?

 

[beachmouse]

I do like national teams for team sports with robust professional leagues like you get with ice hockey, basketball, volleyball, team handball, etc. because so many of the athletes seem to genuinely enjoy getting to play on the same team with athletes who are normally part of rival teams.

I do think Russia's tendency to refused to say 'we messed up' also plays heavily into the ban. I would argue that what was going on with the DDR in the 1970s and 1980s was far more organized state-sponsored doping, and yet many tainted athletes were able to keep medals and awards from that era because a reunified Germany stood up, fully investigated, and took responsibility for the crimes of the DDR era. And from what I know from a friend of a friend who is heavily involved in the anti-doping effort in Germany, the country now has very strong anti-doping protocols in place to prevent such things from happening again.