Potential Olympic ban for Russian athletes? (Mod warning post 30)

[Shamrock]

How would a potential doping ban impact international ice hockey? Does it extend beyond the Olympics?

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/1...orary-member-lamine-diack-amid/?intcmp=hplnws

Click to read more...

 

[JackSlater]

How would a potential doping ban impact international ice hockey? Does it extend beyond the Olympics?

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/1...orary-member-lamine-diack-amid/?intcmp=hplnws

Ah, Dick Pound and Fox News, a match made in heaven. The IOC clearly will not buy into this idiocy, both because there is no concrete evidence (which Russian hockey players failed drug tests? None) and because they would just accept a bribe before they would ban a country like Russia.

 

[Masao]

Russia is always a huge part of any international hockey tournament... you can't just ban them.

 

[1Gold Standard]

Ah, Dick Pound and Fox News, a match made in heaven. The IOC clearly will not buy into this idiocy, both because there is no concrete evidence (which Russian hockey players failed drug tests? None) and because they would just accept a bribe before they would ban a country like Russia.

I believe it is a recommendation to the IAAF (Track and field) and not any other sport governing body.

and the allegations are serious.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Ah, Dick Pound and Fox News, a match made in heaven. The IOC clearly will not buy into this idiocy, both because there is no concrete evidence (which Russian hockey players failed drug tests? None) and because they would just accept a bribe before they would ban a country like Russia.

It's not Fox News, it's all news, and there is a LOT of evidence.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/09/sport/athletics-doping-wada-coe/index.html

Travis T. Tygart, the head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency that brought down disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, applauded the report.

"The evidence released today demonstrates a shocking level of corruption, and sends a clear message to Russia that they will not be allowed to cheat the world's athletes and escape justice behind a wall of deception and lies," he said.

(....and the IAAF wants to take sanctions against Russia now.)

The IAAF swiftly released a statement saying its president, Seb Coe, has taken the urgent step of seeking approval from his organization's council members to issue sanctions on Russia.

 

[tony d]

This is going to be very interesting to see how it all pans out, might not affect hockey but it'll affect Russians in other sports.

 

[FiLe]

At the moment it affects track & field and no other sports venues. So how the absence of Russians would affect international hockey tournaments is a hypothetical topic at best. At least for now.

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

Isn't this just for athletics?

 

[TootooTrain]

The World Anti-Doping Agency has come out and made statements. I was skeptical at first but it sounds more serious than I first thought.

By the way, I'd change the title to something more telling. I was searching the whole website to see if this was being discussed until I randomly clicked on this.

 

[Fantomas]

We'll see what happens. Don't forget that Dick Pound is the same guy who claimed that there is widespread doping among NHLers. He is a **** disturber and usually nothing comes of it.

 

[Fantomas]

Dick Pound in 2005:

Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, believes as many as one-third of the NHL's 700 players may be taking some kind of performance-enhancing drug.

"I spoke with Gary [NHL commissioner Gary Bettman] and he said 'We don't have the problem in hockey,'" Pound said Thursday in an interview with the London Free Press. "I told him he does. You wouldn't be far wrong if you said a third" of hockey players are gaining some pharmaceutical assistance.

Asked if he meant performing-enhancing drugs, Pound replied: "Yes."

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly took exception to Pound's views.

"I would respectfully suggest that Mr. Pound's comments have absolutely no basis in fact," Daly told The Canadian Press. "I find it troubling, to say the least, that he would find it necessary to comment on something he has absolutely no knowledge of.

"Perhaps Mr. Pound would be better served to limit his comments to topics as to which he has knowledge, instead of speculating on matters as to which he has none."

Ted Saskin, executive director of the NHL Players' Association, echoed Daly's sentiments.

"Dick Pound's comments are incredibly irresponsible and have no basis in fact," said Saskin. "He has no knowledge of our sport and our players and frankly has no business making such comments."

Under the terms of the NHL's new collective bargaining agreement, players are subject to a minimum of two drug tests a year without warning. A first-time offender would receive a 20-game suspension. A 60-game suspension would be given to a repeat offender, with a permanent ban for a third offence.

Pound thinks those sanctions do not go far enough.

"The NHL has reached a deal with their players that looks as though they found an early copy of the baseball policy on the floor somewhere," said Pound, a former Canadian Olympic swimmer.

Vancouver Canucks forward Todd Bertuzzi also was bothered by Pound's comments.

"Who's Dick Pound?" Bertuzzi said. "Tell him to come in our dressing room with our shirts off and we'll see how performance-enhanced we are. Tell him he can come hang out with me and see my workout.

"Trust me, we're not."

 

[Frank the Tank]

We'll see what happens. Don't forget that Dick Pound is the same guy who claimed that there is widespread doping among NHLers. He is a **** disturber and usually nothing comes of it.

I believe Pound's statements are technically true if one considers the use of WADA-listed stimulants and pain killers to be doping. Moreover, if the WADA recent claims that state agents infiltrated the drug testing labs in Sochi 2014 are true, then even NHL players that failed tests may not have been reported properly.

Nonetheless, it wouldn't be too surprising that another area of Putin-run Russia has been running a play from the CCCP handbook.

 

[Fantomas]

Pound and the NHL have been at odds with each other for a while. In 2006 NHL did league-wide testing and found nothing. Pound continued to complain that they weren't doing it right.

Maybe the RCMP infiltrated those drug testing labs too.

I would take everything he says with a grain of salt.

 

[Macman]

We'll see what happens. Don't forget that Dick Pound is the same guy who claimed that there is widespread doping among NHLers. He is a **** disturber and usually nothing comes of it.

The difference here, though, is the WADA commission has a ton of evidence of wrongdoing in the Russian allegations, including the testimony of athletes and other whistleblowers as well as the deliberate destruction of 1,400 samples at the Moscow lab that WADA wanted to test. This isn't just Pound speculating like he did with the NHL. This isn't likely to go away.

 

[Fantomas]

The difference here, though, is the WADA commission has a ton of evidence of wrongdoing in the Russian allegations, including the testimony of athletes and other whistleblowers as well as the deliberate destruction of 1,400 samples at the Moscow lab that WADA wanted to test. This isn't just Pound speculating like he did with the NHL. This isn't likely to go away.

I don't doubt there is wrongdoing. I just think Pound is sensationalizing this issue, as he normally does. Doping is generally widespread in sports.

 

[Macman]

I don't doubt there is wrongdoing. I just think Pound is sensationalizing this issue, as he normally does. Doping is generally widespread in sports.

Doping is widespread. What sets this apart is the allegation of systemic doping involving bribery and coercion within sport federations, government and even the WADA-sanctioned Moscow lab charged with testing Russian athletes. It goes far beyond athletes doing it largely on their own.

 

[Fantomas]

Doping is widespread. What sets this apart is the allegation of systemic doping involving bribery and coercion within sport federations, government and even the WADA-sanction Moscow lab charged with testing Russian athletes. It goes far beyond athletes doing it largely on their own.

Athletes rarely do it on their own.

 

[Macman]

Athletes rarely do it on their own.

You know what I mean. It's much different in this case than just athletes, coaches and maybe a doctor being involved. The only other comparable is East Germany.

 

[Edmonton East]

Ah, Dick Pound and Fox News, a match made in heaven. The IOC clearly will not buy into this idiocy, both because there is no concrete evidence (which Russian hockey players failed drug tests? None) and because they would just accept a bribe before they would ban a country like Russia.

Lol, it's all news stations bud. And it is a pretty big deal as it relates to Track and Field.

 

[xxxx]

Dick Pound in 2005:

good read

 

[Hardyvan123]

Dick Pound in 2005:

In a Feb 2006 poll

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/columnist/thorne/2006-03-01-thorne-forsberg_x.htm

The other SI numbers came from the question: "What percentage of NHL players use steroids?" 343 players responded — about half the league — and 37% said none, 34% said one percent of players use them, 11% said two percent, 14% said three to nine percent and 4% said 10% or more.

My sense is that in a secret ballot, as this was, the players are petty honest about the numbers. If that is true, there should be concern. But it could have been a lot worse.

63% are saying steroids are being used in the NHL to some degree. Any level is unacceptable. If one uses a rough figure of 750 players in the NHL, that means just 7 players would be using steroids if the 1% figure is used.

If true, that is probably reason for celebration in the NHL.

Yet the steroid issue is there and cannot be ignored.

Maybe 150ish guys were just pulling a fast one here?

Or maybe NHL players know something they won't say publicly?

 

[QnebO]

That obviously can't mean hockey.


Besides, every one knows Jamaica is cheating even worse. There is no way they had all the world top runners suddenly from that country.. Jamaican Anti Doping work.. yeah very accountable. I bet all the top countries are cheating, that's why Finland isn't winning in modern era anymore

I "know" by an feeling there is something used in NHL though, something to help with fast recovery and perhaps youngsters use something to build muscle. I don't mind at all. IDK why this should even be illegal.

 

[tfong]

There are some pretty serious allegations and information coming to light that even Russia may not be able to cover up soon it seems.

If the allegations are proven true, I can't imagine IIHf letting Russia compete if they are banned from all other competitions and the Olympics. That would be a really bad image for the IIHF.

 

[Jussi]

This was an independent report by the former chief of WADA. The "recommendation" that Dick Pound made is that the IOC ban Russia from participating in Track and Field events in the Summer Olympics in Rio 2016. There is ample precedent for suspending individual athletes who have been proven to have violated doping rules, but there is absolutely no precedent for banning an entire nation, like Russia or the United States, because individual athletes have been banned. Such a proposal is so unlikely to be adopted that it is not worth discussing. Major nations have too much power and influence to be presumptively banned in the aggregate! Also, there is very little active drug testing that is going in international hockey, because the application of drugs in making a competitive advantage is more obscure than in track and field sprint, endurance and power events.

The WADA report called to ban Russian track & field athletes UNTIL they are compliant. The IAAF will discuss it after the Russian association gives their reply. They have a bad history from the past couople of years re: doping so there might be some heavy repercussions coming their way.

 

[Marshy71]

If anyone thinks its only Russian athletes who are doping you are naive.

As for the solution they suggested - you were doping so your country cannot participate at the olympics next year - there wont be many nations turning up! Same rule for all!