When it comes to sport, Russia does not do itself any favors it seems. While its neo-Nazi football thugs are being deported from France for violence during Euro 2016 and expulsion hangs over the Russian team if there is any further stadium violence, it appears that Moscow’s athletics officials have been obstructing an international doping investigation.
There is now a very real chance that Russia may not be able to send any teams to the 2016 Rio Olympics. The World Anti-Doping Agency was following up clear evidence of the state-sponsored use of performance-enhancing drugs by Russian competitors. Athletics officials had admitted that there had been a problem and promised to cooperate with WADA while they worked to clean up the sport. No one with a genuine interest in athletics and the magnificent spectacle of the Olympics really wanted to see the Russians kept out of the competition. But at the same time, no one wanted to allow cheats from any country - Kenya is also one of the sporting nations implicated in the use of banned substances - to take part in the Rio Games.
It was, therefore, hoped that following the suspension last November of Russian athletes from international competition, vigorous strides would be made in identifying the team managers, trainers and athletes involved in the use of performance-boosting drugs and throwing them out of the sport. WADA officials were promised full cooperation. They had six months in which to check out Russia’s drive to cleanse its athletics. It was always a big ask but WADA bosses calculated that with the promised cooperation and access, they could do the work.
This week they dropped a bombshell when they announced that far from being helped by Russian athletics authorities, they had been actively obstructed. The all-important testing of athletes, both random and during competitions had turned into a farce. Tests were refused or cancelled and in one case a competitor actually ran off the field to avoid being checked. Some specimens were tampered with and a significant proportion of those that did make it to WADA laboratories tested positive for banned substances.
Assuming the WADA report is completely accurate - there are already murmurings in Moscow that its contents are politically motivated - it is a sorry indictment of Russian sport. It demonstrates one of two things - either the Russian sports authorities hold the world’s athletics regulators in complete contempt or the doping of Russian athletes had become so prevalent and cheating had become so ingrained in athletics, that it was simply impossible to literally clean out the athletes’ systems. Either way the result is calamitous for international athletics in general and the Rio Olympics in particular.
It is almost as if Putin’s Russia is willing on itself the anger and condemnation of the international community. By abandoning free markets, murdering political opponents and challenging world peace by invading Ukraine and sponsoring the bloody Assad regime and its Iranian mentor, the Kremlin is isolating itself and its people. Faced with international sanctions, it has adopted a siege mentality. Putin argues that it is the victim merely defending itself from persistent US-led aggression. This argument would carry more weight if the Russian government nevertheless demonstrated its willingness to abide by international norms. Among these would be not sending its athletes to international competitions doped to the eyeballs with performance-enhancing substances.
