He has implied the entire scandal is both baseless and politically motivated , set up by his international rivals. He is also deeply personally invested in the Olympics. He was photographed cavorting in Sochi with the Russian hockey team and other Russian athletes, and he has made it clear Russian presence is a point of pride for the nation. Just last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko insisted, "There has never been and will never be any state programs related to doping.
One, Vitaly Stepanov, was married to a Russian runner. In story out of a Cold War era novel, the couple fled Russia after Stepanov surreptitiously recorded evidence of efforts to protect athletes who were cheating. He gave those tapes to a German documentary journalist named Hajo Seppelt whose report triggered a wave of indignation. The decision to ban Russia also casts an international critical eye on the nation that will host the World Cup in June. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding.
Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all.
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today to help us keep our work free for all. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. August Russia remained barred from athletics but 19 Russian athletes were allowed to compete at the world championships in London as neutrals after being vetted by the IAAF.
January WADA extracted doping data from the discredited Moscow laboratory, including more than 2, samples, three weeks after the deadline it had set Russia. November A WADA compliance committee recommended that Russia receive a four-year Olympic ban as part of a sanctions package to punish Moscow for having provided the agency with doctored and incomplete laboratory data.
Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov attributed the discrepancies in the laboratory data to technical issues. The second key takeaway is that the AIU explicitly acknowledges that testing athletes rarely works in isolation. Crucially the AIU makes heavy use of the rule that three missed tests in a month period equates to a positive drugs test — even if someone has never tested positive.
It is the doping equivalent of getting Al Capone for tax evasion. But who cares if it works? Finally, the AIU conducts serious investigations. Look at what happened when the world indoor high jump champion Danil Lysenko was suspended in for missing tests. It led to a month investigation, involving 22 witness interviews and an extensive digital forensic analysis of more than six terabytes of electronic data.
The result? Not only was Lysenko banned but the board of Russian Athletics stepped down after a wider conspiracy was unearthed, that involved using fake notes from a bogus clinic in Moscow. The World Athletics president, Sebastian Coe, deserves credit here too. Certainly there were missteps early in his reign, including his reluctance to give up a consultancy role with Nike, but his decision to make the AIU independent and properly funded has been a gamechanger. True, there remains some way to go.
Many cheats still prosper. But when it comes to anti-doping, at least athletics is out of the starting blocks and into the drive phase. Most sports are not even in the race.
0コメント