Will Russian Athletes Participate in winter games?

Will Russian Athletes Participate in winter games? 

An answer to the question of whether Russia will accept the exemption by the Winter Olympic Committee to allow its clean athletes compete in the 2018 games

The issue of doping in sports and the rules around it has been very confusing for some people. It is a sport regulation angle that has a lot of unclear rules surrounding it, and which many people have failed to get a full grasp of. The 2018 winter olympic will happen in south Korea and Russia has been banned as a federation because of what the body that is in charge of doping termed “systemic manipulation”.

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The meaning of this is that the sports federation of Russia will not be presenting olympics athletes in official capacity to the winter Olympic games. However, just like it has been pointed out earlier, the doping law in sports has more twists and turns than people can grab. Because of this, the news making the rounds is that the International Olympic Committee has agreed to allow individual athletes from Russia to participate in the games in Pyeongchang. But this is if they can prove that they have been clean.

Now, it would be good to note that Russia as a country is among the major stakeholders or powerhouses of the Olympic movement. However, when the ban on the federation came, the punishment went round. The Russia’s Olympic Committee got a penalty of $15 million fine in what the investigating committee termed a reimbursement of what they spent in carrying out the investigation. The money will also be used to establish what they named the Independent Testing Authority (ITA).

Part of the punishment is that the chairman of the organizing committee for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, who doubles as the deputy prime minister is banned. He is also the former minister of sports and he is now prohibited from taking part in any future Olympic Games. Because of this, Vitaly Mutko had to be replaced by his former deputy, Yuri Nagornykh.

About The Exemptions

The information that came out from the Olympic organizing committee on Tuesday the 5th of December may be the result of a decision that took many deliberations to make. It considered the fact that Russia has been a very huge name in this Olympic competition and its games.  Before any of the intending Olympic athletes from Russia would be certified clean and allowed to compete in the games in Korea, they have to go through very strict guidelines. Again, the platform they would be competing on or with will differ, as they will now come in under the “Olympic Athlete from Russia” (OAR). All their uniforms in the games will have that inscribed on it. Also, when it is time for the national anthems to be played on any Olympic medal ceremonies involving them, the Olympic anthem will be played instead of the Russian anthem. So, they are more like independent Olympic athletes and not Russian athletes. They are more like Olympic Games athletes from Russia and not Russian athletes coming to the Olympic games.

For the IOC President, Thomas Bach, who is a very good friend of Russian President, Vladimir Putin’s, the integrity of the Olympic games and sport as whole has been attacked. This is so because of the action of the athletes and federation. He posited further that the IOC is handing out sanctions that are commensurate with the enormity of the crime committed, while making sincere efforts to see that clean athletes are protected. For him, it will open up a new chapter in anti-doping, as spearheaded by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and will make the war more effective.

He posited that it pains him more because he is also an athlete, and that he understands the pains of the clean Olympic athletes whose winter Olympic federation is embroiled in this mess. That is why they will work with the IOC Athletes’ Commission to find a way of compensating for what they are losing because of this manipulation.

However, the federation from Russia was expected to reply to the new exemptions. It would be noted that they have vehemently denied the allegation against them. So, they were left with two options. The first is to reject the waiver or exemptions and make a total boycott of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic games or to accept it and allow their clean athletes to take part in the winter Olympic.

For the head of Russia’s Olympic Committee, up to 200 athletes may participate in the games through invitation. But he left the final decision in the hands of the IOC. Meanwhile the president of the country has accepted the Russian Olympic Committee’s decision.