This month, the long-awaited decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport was finally made and Russia received a two-year ban for state-sanctioned doping. Well, kind of. On one hand, it does not seem like much of a ban if Russian athletes will be allowed to compete at international competitions including the Olympics and even have the word “Russia” on their uniforms. They just won’t be allowed to use the Russian flag and anthem. On the other hand, Russian athletes will not automatically be considered clean from doping and will have to apply for a permission to compete at the Olympics. The IOC might not grant that permission without any explanation – this is exactly what happened in 2018, when figure skaters Ivan Bukin and Aleksandra Stepanova were not allowed to compete. The skaters had clean records and no doping violations in the past. They did not receive an explanation for their individual ban from the Olympics. In normal situations, athletes accused of doping violations can defend themselves. The lack of transparency and due process in IOC’s decisions regarding individual Russian athletes in 2018 shows that no one is completely safe, even the athletes that have clean records.
Artur Dalaloyan for whom the Tokyo Olympics will be his first Games was nevertheless happy with the new decision:
“Yesterday, the whole team learned about this decision and I can say that our emotions were positive, we were happy with this decision because the CAS made concessions in many areas. We thought that the word “Russia” [on the uniforms] would be prohibited, that everything would be neutral, like at the Pyeongchang Olympics. The emotions are positive because there will be the word “Russia” on the uniforms, even though it will be together with the words about neutrality. Of course, it’s somewhat upsetting that [we] will be without the flag and the anthem but it still feels better than what we expected.”
Valentina Rodionenko was less positive:
“This decision was to be expected and everyone was talking about it. We felt like they wouldn’t change their decision, like it was pointless to talk to them. In any case, we’ll compete, people have been preparing and they will compete. When athletes stand on the medal podium, everyone knows which country they are from even without the anthem and the flag. We just need to perform well at the Olympics and prove once again that these political games are organized by certain people. They still cannot accept that Russia is a great power.”
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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The figure skaters who were banned from the 2018 Olympics with no explanation were Ivan Bukin and Ksenia Stolbova. Aleksandra Stepanova and Fyodor Klimov – their respective partners – were free to go (which is moot since they couldn’t compete alone).