Russia Finds Itself Waist Deep In Doping Scandals. Again.
Well, depending on who you ask, this is either shocking or a little too believable.
On the 9th of December, 2019, the WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) officially announced that Russia would not allowed to compete in the upcoming Summer 2020 Olympics.
It is important to note something from all of this, this does not mean that athletes who fell under a clean title will not be given admission into the games.
So if a Russian athlete did not test positive for any type of doping or steroid usage, they will be able to compete in the games.
Although the title has yet to be determined.
This is, Unfortunately, a Long Practice of the Russians
This is not the first issue that has arisen with Russian athletes for doping at the Olympics.
The first major offense was discovered during the 2008 Summer games.
Wherein seven Russian Track and field athletes were discovered to have manipulated their urine samples prior to testing.
In 2010 it became a much more serious concern.
Allegations and evidence came out showing that the RUSADA (Russian Anti Doping Agency) was forging reports and allowing systemic doping among athletes trying to compete for the games.
This continued up to the 2018 Winter games. Multiple Russia athletes were again banned or removed after they had manipulated samples.
This has lead to multiple controversies, the most notable of which is that Russia is the leading country in numbers of stripped medal wins.
Russia has had a total of forty three medals stripped away.
This amounts to roughly thirty percent of the world total of stripped medals and is more than three times the amount of the runner up country.
Multiple Russian athletes were even banned from the 2018 Paralympic winter games.
Bringing even more controversy with the question; “is nothing sacred”?
The Question Arises; How Long Have Higher Ups Known About This?
As more and more information has trickled out, this has led to the inevitable question of how often and for how long this information was known and nothing was done.
When a whistle blower on the topic told a source that over 200 emails had been sent concerning evidence and cause to investigate.
These reports were consistently pushed back or been given the excuse of not having control over Russian investigations.
Clearly there was some level of authority and control that WADA had and simply did not exert until it became prudent.
All of this may also stem from the recent outcry and controversy of Larry Nassar.
A now convicted child molester and sex abuser, who spent years (decades even) abusing his authority and control over up and coming gymnasts.
As that case proceeded it led to many people questioning the legitimacy of the USA Gymnastics associations. Who claimed to have no knowledge of the horrifying events that were taking place.
The Larry Nassar case arguably opened the floodgates for public outcry to become much more noticeable.
When they did something about Russia it led to an outright ban, lending legitimacy to the whistle blower claiming foul play.
Information is More Readily Available. Less and Less Excuses Can be Made
We live in an age of information, outcry and change.
Russia being under fire for cheating and doping physically at the Olympic games is not exactly something new.
However, seeing something much more damaging and semi-permanent being done is something that most of us did not see coming.
With Russia already under scrutiny it could only be a matter of time before the ‘semi’ is dropped from the ensuing consequences.
It’s important to do whatever you can to maintain integrity.
Having people brave enough to come forward and take the blow is something to applaud.
We can only hope that Russian athletes who did nothing wrong will get their fair chance and make their country proud.
Additional Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stripped_Olympic_medals
