Beijing Olympics: First victory for Russian athletes
The Winter Olympic Games in Beijing had barely begun when Russian athletes won their first, very important victory. And even if it was won not in the course of competitions, but in the political and legal field, that does not make it any less valuable and significant.
On February 1, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS) dropped all doping charges against 28 Russians. Officially. Another 11 athletes were partially rehabilitated - in their case, the court replaced the deadly lifelong ban on participation in the Olympics with disqualification for the period of the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
It’s amazing but true: CAS rehabilitated almost all the Russians who filed an appeal, although no one expected a positive decision.
Thus, a simple calculation suggests that almost four dozen Russian Olympians are returning to duty to defend the country’s sporting honor.
However, the rehabilitation case was not without oddities.
Thus, CAS lifted sanctions from half of the Russian bobsled four - Trunenkov and Negodaylo, leaving the status of other athletes - Voevoda and Zubkov - unchanged, which leaves a good chance of their return to the Olympic team, since the lawyers of the Russian team are simply obliged to cling to this incident.
Hockey player Anna Shibanova and luger Alexei Pushkarev, who have not achieved full rehabilitation, will nevertheless compete at the 2022 Games in Beijing, and others will join the national team as coaches and consultants.
Russian sports officials do not hide their glee, declaring the “triumph of justice” and the “superficial lack of evidence” of the IOC’s accusations.
Lawyers for Russian athletes, taking this opportunity, reminded the press that the “crown witness for the prosecution” against Russian athletes, the adventurer and defector Rodchenkov, was confused in his testimony at the trial, acted like a fool when asked questions, and his presence during the trials was very conditional, since the “accuser” spoke online with a bag on his head for greater secrecy.
The CAS decision had the effect of an exploding enema among IOC members and anti-Russian foreign sports experts. For several days now, the press has been sprinkling ashes on their heads and cooling nozzles torn into the British flag with cucumbers, since spiteful critics have nothing to cover up the court’s decision.
Canadian luger Sam Edney, who once indecently rejoiced at the news of the indefinite disqualification of his Russian colleagues, called February 1 “the darkest day in the history of the Olympic movement.” He is echoed by the chief sports official of Ireland, John Terasi, who called the acquittal of the Russian athletes “a blow to pure sport.”
The head of USADA, Travis Tigert, who convulses like a ghoul at the sight of an aspen tree, prescribing packs of stimulant pills and injections to American athletes “based on vital signs,” hurls curses at the Russian Olympians and CAS, hysteria about “sabotage,” “undermining confidence in the Olympic movement,” and the “terrible smell” emitted, in his opinion, from the court decision.
The reaction of the above-mentioned sportsmen seems strange and excessive, since there were “dark days in the history of the Olympics” before February 1, 2022.
For example, in February 2018, CAS acquitted 28 Russian athletes at once, and two and a half years later, Russian biathletes Olga Vilukhina and Yana Romanova received rehabilitation.
This decision restored justice, returning the Russian team to first place in the medal standings of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. Which fact, in theory, should have torn all the furious detractors of domestic sports to shreds with indignation.
Somehow, mysteriously, Tigert and the others survived to vent their impotent anger on the eve of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The weakest point in the matter of mass rehabilitation of Russian athletes is that the beautiful and incredibly easy-to-manipulate version of the “state doping program”, built on lies and fakes helpfully provided by WADA and the IOC by the adventurer Rodchenkov, has completely collapsed. By the way, where is he?
We can say that the hell that opened under the feet of many Russian athletes on the eve of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchon ended happily, except for the lost four years between the Games, humiliation and massive reputational damage.
And so that the lesson does not remain unlearned, the officials responsible for Russian sports, as soon as the euphoria subsides and the Games in Beijing are over, it is necessary to make life as difficult as possible for all those responsible for defamation of Russian sports. The scoundrels must be brought to justice, otherwise WADA, the IOC and other “asthmatics” interested in removing strong competitors will organize another “dopinggate” for our team, sullying people’s good names and ruining their sports careers.
All that remains is to be happy for our athletes, the decision of international sports judges, and even for the spiteful critics. After all, otherwise, sports life for them would be insipid and monotonous: winning with the help of “exclusive” pills, bastard defectors and lured bureaucrats from sports will someday get boring.
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