Russia banned for four years to include Olympics and World Cup

[alexora]

Hi Guys,

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has laid down their sentence on the state sponsored cheaters:

Russia banned for four years to include 2020 Olympics and 2022 World Cup

Russia has been handed a four-year ban from all major sporting events by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).

It means the Russia flag and anthem will not be allowed at events such as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics and football's 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

But athletes who can prove they are untainted by the doping scandal will be able to compete under a neutral flag.

Read the full report, analysis, and reactions here:

http://bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/50710598

[dodona]

that's cool. They deserve it.

[fbplanet]

With all respect for each individual Russian...
BUT
Why do we all bother to ask the Russians if they know something, have done something, have seen and/or heard anything... cause we always get a general and invasive answer: "We aren't involved".
.

[allworkboy]

Didn't they get banned before at another Olympic or big sport thingy?

[perubu]

Yes, at the latest winter olympics in South Korea they were banned.
Although some individual athletes were allowed to compete under
a neutral flag. Much due to the prior olympics in Sotji.

Lucky for me my interest in most kinds of sports is next to zero.

[allworkboy]

I don't care for the Olympics. Never watch it. I only know when it's on, there is nothing new on the other channels. That was before when everything can be found on the net and we are no longer at the mercy of the TV programmers.

[HaPPy-STRiNG]

Not tough enough.
Russia had exactly the same action taken against them before, but they carried on.
I understand WADA or the athletics federation may fear that banning Russian athletes full stop might lay themselves open to human rights or restriction of trade court cases against them, but unfortunately the Russians and history could still claim victories by Russians as Russian without the flag and the national anthem being played, which helps Russian spin machine institutional "Us against them" paranoia. A journalist was once asked by Russian journalists what he thought about the west trying to suppress the Russian birthrate by criticising its stance on homosexuality. Pravda pushes conspiracy-theory paranoia and you can bet they're not reporting the current situation objectively either.
I would recommend Russian athletes for the time being should be banned under any flag for a couple of years. Not so long that they lose an entire generation of athletes, but that they have a complete time-out sin bin for long enough to disrupt their training... which was state-sponsored doping in so many cases. Be a good period to get that doped training out of their system rather than let them carry on benefiting from it.

[JustKelli]

There should be a "Steroid Olympics" where anything goes. I would love to see someone high jump 40 feet high, run the 100 in 5 seconds, swimming a length as fast as a speedboat watch some guy rip his arms out of the sockets while attempting 1000 pounds...

Russia is still scheduled to compete in the World Junior Hockey Championships starting Dec 26th. Canafa opens the tournament against the USA.

[HaPPy-STRiNG]

Originally Posted by JustKelli

There should be a "Steroid Olympics" where anything goes. I would love to see someone high jump 40 feet high, run the 100 in 5 seconds, swimming a length as fast as a speedboat watch some guy rip his arms out of the sockets while attempting 1000 pounds... :rolleyes

I'd be interested too.
Steroids are genuinely useful for building up people and preventing atrophy in those who can't exercise, for example. If we're going to go to Mars, we'll need steroids to keep us strong. They do this by shifting the anabolic:catabolic balance in our tissues, so that we don't just waste away due to the lack of resistance. Without steroids they could exercise 4 hours a day and still lose mass. If they take enough of the right steroid, they might not waste away even without exercise. Experiments have already been conducted on other animals.

[alexora]

Latest news in:

Lamine Diack found guilty of corruption
and sentenced to two years in prison

Former IAAF chief bribed to aid Russians, French court finds
Other senior athletics figures also convicted by Paris court

The former head of global athletics, Lamine Diack, has been found guilty of corruption for covering up Russian doping cases in exchange for bribes and sentenced to four years in prison – two of which have been suspended – and fined €500,000 (£455,000).

Several other senior figures in track and field, including the president’s son Papa Massata Diack and the sport’s former head of anti-doping Gabriel Dolle, were also given jail sentences for their part in a scheme in which 23 Russian athletes had their doping sanctions waived so they could compete at the London 2012 Olympics and 2013 world championships in Moscow.

The scheme, which was called “full protection”, was said by prosecutors to have been first suggested by Lamine Diack at a meeting with the then Russian sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, in November 2011. Diack Sr, president of what was then the International Association of Athletics Federations, then directly or indirectly solicited £3.1m from athletes to conceal their offences so they could continue competing.

It was also alleged that Diack Sr was involved in a $1.5m (£1.15m) payment from Russia to finance election campaigns in Senegal in 2012, in exchange for slowing down doping cases targeting Russian athletes.

The Paris court also awarded what is now World Athletics €16m in damages, one of the largest awards to a sports federation. However, the presiding judge in the court in Paris, Rose-Marie Hunault, said Diack was unlikely to go to jail. “Given your age you can expect conditional release,” she added. Diack said he would immediately lodge an appeal.

Papa Massata Diack, who was tried in absentia because Senegal refuses to extradite him, was sentenced to five years in prison and fined €1m.

The Diacks are also being investigated on suspicions of corruption in the awarding of the 2016 Olympic Games to Rio de Janeiro and the postponed 2020 Games to Tokyo. Formerly Habib Cissé, a senior IAAF lawyer, was given a three-year sentence and fined €100,000 while Dolle was sent to prison for two years and fined €144,000.

The two others involved in the scheme, the Russian coach Alexei Melnikov and Valentin Balakhnichev, a former IAAF treasurer, were also found guilty and sentenced to three years and two years respectively. Balakhnichev also has to pay a £1.8m fine.

Massata Diack, Cissé, Melnikov and Balakhnichev have already been banned from athletics for life for causing “unprecedented damage” to the sport after being found guilty of corruption, blackmail and extortion.

Source:

http://theguardian.com/sport/2020/sep/16/lamine-diack-former-world-athletics-president-found-guilty-of-corruption-and-sentenced-to-two-years-in-prison