Image: REUTERS
For some, Russia's doping ban was too long. For others she is too lax and even the start as “Russian athletes of the Olympic Committee” at the Games in Tokyo is a thorn in the side. In any case, Russia's Vladimir Putin is rubbing his hands together. The Kremlin chief and politicians send messages to Japan almost every day. Whether in a video in which a doll is beaten up, it says “Press”. Or in telegrams to medal winners, who still have a healthy dose of skepticism.
The designation as “ROC”, as a team without an anthem, was turned into another campaign that actually mocked all doping hunters. “WewillROCyou” is the new slogan of Russian sport.
335 athletes in national colors
The medal fight is on, and Russians are right in the middle of it. It doesn't matter if they are missing as an “official team”. The consequences of the sanctions for state-orchestrated doping can only be recognized to a limited extent. 335 athletes appear in tracksuits – in national colors.
The Kremlin sharply rejects persistent international criticism of the punishment for large-scale doping manipulation, which has been reduced to symbolism (as a reminder: in Sochi in 2014, the FSB secret service helped to exchange urine samples) and the permission to start the Olympic Games. The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) also counters: New doping rumors are exclusively “English-language propaganda”.
In 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency, Wada, banned Russia from all major sporting events in the world for four years. In December 2020, however, the sports judges at the CAS Sports Court in Lausanne halved the ban. And they eased the sanctions like this: in Tokyo and at the Winter Games in Beijing in February 2022, the piano concerto number 1 by Peter Tchaikovsky will be played instead of the anthem. The Olympic flag is hoisted as the flag.
Very bad loser?
The Japanese organizers sometimes struggle with the requirements for the ROC team anyway. “Russia's team” is often used during announcements in arenas. When asked whether the penalties are sufficient, US swimmer Ryan Murphy replied tellingly: “When I am asked such a thing, I have 15 different thoughts. And 13 of them would get me into pretty big problems. ”Before that, the back swimmer finished second over 200 meters behind Russian Yevgeny Rylow.
Rylow himself was not drawn from the reserve. “I am tested. I've filled out all the forms. I am in favor of clean sport, ”said the Olympic champion without allowing himself to be provoked. Russian officials recommended this behavior to the athletes in a handout before the games, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told the DPA.
“God is your judge”
IOC President Thomas Bach sees the ROC team at his appearance in Tokyo “in full respect for the sanctions imposed by the Wada,” said the 67-year-old. “They submitted to all qualifications and the corresponding tests, as did all the other athletes taking part here. That is why they have the right to be treated accordingly, ”says Bach.
For ROC President Stanislaw Posdnjakow, critics of the approval for Tokyo are completely wrong. His athletes have proven “not only with words, but also with results” that they are competitive without doping. Kremlin spokesman Peskov simply considers foreign competitors with the opposite opinion to be bad losers: “We forgive those who are weaker. God is their judge. ”And that would tell the last chapter in the history of state-sponsored doping with manipulated tests and its own laboratories.
