Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

**Lamplighter** Thu Jun 16, 2016 11:01 am

If the Russian track team is barred from the Olympics, the man who leads the World Anti-Doping Agency's day-to-day operation won't have much sympathy for athletes who miss their chance to compete. Russians have made numerous pleas to the sports authorities in charge of the decisions, which will come down over the next week. In a letter sent to the International Olympic Committee this week, the Russian Olympic Committee's athletes' commission asked officials to take a "humanitarian attitude" and not punish all the country's athletes for what they say are the misdeeds of a minority. Full story at link,

https://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/4416862-anti-doping-leader-sympathy-unhelpful-russians.html#.1272-stage-hero1-11

Russian Official Expresses What Putin Won’t In Doping Scheme: Remorse

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/06/russian-official-expresses-what-putin-wont-in-doping-scheme-remorse/

With the suspended expulsion of the Russian football team now in place over the hooligan fights at the World Cup this must be worrying to put it mildly. Mind you, it was common prctice in the USSR to dope the athletes non stop; one might be tempted to ask whether a leopard can change its spots? LL

**bb1** Thu Jun 16, 2016 11:05 am

I will be honest, LL, one of the reasons for my lack of interest in sport is that they are almost ALL doing it - the Russians just get caught more often. There's too much money involved these days for them not to.

**Pedro Silva** Thu Jun 16, 2016 11:09 am

football championship stinks.

**Lamplighter** Fri Jun 17, 2016 4:43 pm

RT News, 15:36 GMT, Jun 17, 2016

Report and video from RT News on link below.

https://www.rt.com/sport/347108-russian-athletes-olympics-ban/

**bb1** Fri Jun 17, 2016 4:47 pm

Judging from the current state of Rio, LL, they may well look back on this as a lucky escape. Like I said, I just assume they're all doing it (except for cute little Mo Farrah) but have managed to avoid detection so far.

The funniest bit of doping I ever read about was some snowboarder who was disqualified from a contest when cannabis was found in his system; it didn't seem to occur to anyone that that would make his performance worse, not better......

**Lamplighter** Fri Jun 17, 2016 5:47 pm

Russian athletes Olympics ban remains after Vienna talks

Published: 17 Jun 2016 12:44 GMT+02:00
http://www.thelocal.at/20160617/decision-on-russian-doping-scandal-expected-today-in-vienna
The international athletics body IAAF have decided to uphold the ban on Russian athletes competing in the upcoming Olympic games.

**Lamplighter** Mon Jul 18, 2016 2:25 pm

New Russian doping report confirms evidence of state-sponsored cheating
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/russia-doping-mclaren-report-1.3683450

No change then from Soviet times? LL

**Lamplighter** Tue Jul 19, 2016 8:37 pm

UK court orders Russia runner to repay London Marathon cash

LONDON (AP) — A British court has ordered Russian marathon runner Liliya Shobukhova to repay prize and appearance money from the London race after being banned for doping, event organizers said on Tuesday.

The High Court judgment mandates Shobukhova to repay 377,961.62 pounds ($498,000) plus costs relating to her 2010 London Marathon victory and second-place finish the following year in the British capital.

"The next step is to get the judgment enforced in Russia," London Marathon chief executive Nick Bitel said. "It will be a long and difficult process but we will pursue it, as we are determined that cheats should not benefit.

"Any money we get back will be redistributed to the athletes that Shobukhova cheated out of their rightful dues. Shobukhova was stripped of her 2009-2011 results when the Russian federation initially banned her for two years for blood doping, and she was ordered to forfeit her prize money.

The IAAF appealed for a four-year ban from the Court of Arbitration for Sport. A settlement was reached in June for Shobukhova to serve a three-year, two-month ban through March 2016.

**bb1** Tue Jul 19, 2016 9:12 pm

That sounds fair, I really don't like any thought of punishing the innocent along with the guilty.

**Lamplighter** Thu Jul 21, 2016 10:39 am

Rio Olympics 2016: Russia athlete ban upheld by CAS

Russian athletes will not be able to compete at Rio 2016 after the Court of Arbitration for Sport backed a decision to ban them over the country's alleged state-sponsored doping regime.

Russia's athletics federation was suspended by the sport's world governing body, the IAAF, after an independent report found evidence of widespread doping.

The Russian Olympic Committee and 68 athletes appealed against that decision but after hearing evidence from both sides, Cas has ruled the ban can stand.

Separately, the International Olympic Committee is considering calls to ban all Russian competitors from the Olympic Games following a second report into state-sponsored doping.

**bb1** Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:23 am

Thanks, LL.

As I've said before, I don't 'do' sports, but the Olympics are so big, they impinge on even me.

And here's the thing. I couldn't name a single Russian athlete, but I can think of some high-profile sports stars who even to me look less than clean.

There's that Irish swimmer from a few years back, who was good, but nothing brilliant, who seemed to turn into a mermaid overnight. Then there's that very high profile Jamaican sprinter....just for starters.

Are the superstars fireproof, or are they so rich, they can pay for performance enhancers that are undetectable - so far?

**bb1** Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:46 am

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/21/english-heritage-bid-jousting-olympics-international-olympic-committee-petition-2020?CMP=share_btn_tw

English Heritage 'deadly serious' about bid to get jousting into Olympics
Organisation lobbies International Olympic Committee and starts petition to get sport played by Henry VIII into games by 2020

There is far more to it than two armoured horse riders hurtling towards each other with 12ft lances. Jousting demands levels of athleticism, agility and equestrianism that make it an ideal candidate for the Olympics, English Heritage argues.

The organisation has launched a campaign to get jousting recognised as an Olympic sport in time for Tokyo 2020.

“We are being deadly serious,” said Lucy Hutchings, English Heritage’s head of projects. “It is an incredible spectator sport, a really fascinating thing to watch. The skill of the knight and the horses make it a great thing to witness … we absolutely believe it deserves its place at the Olympic table.”

English Heritage has held preliminary talks with the International Olympic Committee and the Fédération Equestre Internationale, and on Thursday it launches an online petition.

Hutchings said the IOC was in the process of making the Olympic programme more flexible and bringing in a rule that allowed the host nation to make its own proposals for additional events.....etc.

Jousting! Now there's a spectacle I wouldn't miss!

**Lamplighter** Thu Jul 21, 2016 12:47 pm

Re the Russian ban, karma really does bite deep, doesn't it? No chance the Russkies will return all the medals and cash from the Games since 1952, cos this isn't a new phenomenom, it was a wide-open secret they cheated lock stock and barrel. LL

Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians 32efb51a48cc47f3d3dc8e778fe488fa

Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians 32efb51a48cc47f3d3dc8e778fe488fa

**lily** Thu Jul 21, 2016 3:12 pm

Love that saying LL. It is so true......... biggrin

Now about jousting, I do hope they wear a lady's silk handkerchief on display?

**Lamplighter** Sun Jul 24, 2016 3:29 pm

No blanket ban on Russian athletes for Olympics, rules IOC

http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0724/804431-ioc-russia/

**bb1** Sun Jul 24, 2016 3:40 pm

Oh, that's good, LL. A blanket ban would have smacked of collective punishment, ironically - and would be no incentive to play fair.

**Lamplighter** Mon Jul 25, 2016 6:26 am

Russia stays, and clean athletes scratch heads
If this turns out to be Thomas Bach's defining moment, here's what the leader of the International Olympic Committee will be remembered for: keeping Russia as part of the club, but losing the trust of thousands of athletes who thought that, maybe this year, they'd get the answers they've been looking for.
http://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/4500056-analysis-russia-stays-clean-athletes-scratch-heads.html#.1258-stage-hero1-6

IOC bows to Putin and Russian dopers
Once again, the people who run the Olympics just can't say no to Vladimir Putin. Not when he spends more than $50 billion to host a winter Olympics to show off a resurgent Russia. Not when he talks darkly about returning to the days of Olympic boycotts in 1980 and 1984.
http://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/4500488-column-ioc-bows-to-putin-russian-dopers.html#.1258-stage-hero1-10

**bb1** Mon Sep 26, 2016 10:40 am

Rather a lot of athletes now appear to be being hoist by their own petard over doping:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2016/09/25/sir-bradley-wiggins-tue-furore-team-sky-come-under-pressure-to-e/

Chris Froome was unaware that Sir Bradley Wiggins had official permission to receive injections of a powerful steroid prior to three of the biggest races of his career, including the 2012 Tour de France where they famously fell out as team-mates en route to Wiggins’s win.

It remains unclear, however, how many others at Team Sky had knowledge of Wiggins’s therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs), with the British team coming under increasing pressure to explain why and how Wiggins was prescribed the drug triamcinolone, particularly after Wiggins appeared to suggest on The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that the team proactively encouraged him to take something prior to the 2012 Tour.

Speaking for the first time since the furore erupted 10 days ago following the hacking of his medical data by Fancy Bears, Wiggins told Marr he was approached by Team Sky staff in the build-up to the race who said, “Bradley you’re on track here, you’re – you’re the favourite to win this race, now we need to make sure the next three weeks is – is there anything we can help with at the moment?”...etc.

Of course steroids only helped his asthma, perish the thought they could have any other effect!

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2016/09/doper-s-dupe

SIMONE Biles, the American gymnast who won four gold medals at this summer’s Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, had little time to celebrate before receiving some upsetting news. On September 13th a group of hackers calling themselves the Fancy Bears leaked Ms Biles’s drug-testing records, which had been stolen from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The files showed that the gymnast has been taking medication to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for at least four years, and that the pills she has been consuming contain stimulants that are prohibited by WADA.

Ms Biles was not the Fancy Bears’ only target. She is one of 66 athletes to have drug-testing documents posted on the internet. Law-enforcement officials have told WADA that they believe the hackers are Russian. If so, the leaks could be a retaliation for the exclusion of the Russian track-and-field team from the Rio Olympics, which was imposed after WADA discovered a state-sponsored doping programme in Moscow last year. Yuliya Stepanova, a whistleblower involved in that investigation, was the victim of a similar leak in August. Vitaly Mutko, the Russian sports minister—whom WADA has identified as one of the architects of the doping regime—has denied that the cyber-criminals are Russian. There is no mention of their nationality on the Fancy Bears’ website, and one of the highlighted athletes is Russian. Regardless of the identity of the hackers, the world now knows that several top athletes—including tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams and Rafael Nadal, decorated distance runner Mo Farah and former Tour de France champions Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome—have been taking banned substances.

Nothing to see here, folks, they all had sick lines from their doctors. Pcorneater

**bb1** Mon Sep 26, 2016 10:41 am

Though professional athletes ought to be healthier than your average Joe, they are using some substances more frequently than the general population. The most striking example is in baseball, a sport beset by doping scandals: the proportion of Major League Baseball players taking medication for ADHD is reportedly three times the national average. Irregularities exist among Olympians too. The global proportion of adults aged 18 to 45 suffering from asthma was 4.3% in 2002. Yet 5.2% of participants at the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City were allowed to use Beta-2 agonists, which are typically prescribed for asthma but can also enhance muscle growth in high doses. That figure was 5.7% at both the 2000 summer games in Sydney and the 1998 winter games in Nagano. It fell to 4.2% at the 2004 summer games in Athens, once an Independent Asthma Panel had been set up to review submissions.

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Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

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Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

IAAF maintains Russia suspension, athletes likely to miss Rio Olympics

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Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians

Re: Anti-doping leader has no sympathy for unhelpful Russians