Olympics: Russia approves athletes competing under neutral flag, KHLers to play

[TychoFan]

I assume there is nothing the NHL players can do to benefit from this? I'm Canadian but I'd love to see Ovechkin play with these KHL stars and win gold.

 

[sandysan]

I hope Russia comes out with flags and their anthem when they win.

yeah it would be a fantastic idea to literally flip off the IOC, publically, on the worlds largest stage when they could have given russia the death penalty and chose not to. I'm sure that goes over well provided the Russians have no intent of going to china or any other winter games afterwards. i'd like it just for the lolz.

The russian athletes are not going to be hulk hogan tearing off their oar tracksuits to reveal a russian one underneath. And if the russian athletes want to bring in some contraband flags, may I suggest that they clandestinely drill a hole in the wall of the venue and pass them through that ? That seems to be quite up their alley.

what likely happens is that they accept the medals wearing oar gear then fly home and are " medalled" in some public square by putin or one of his cronies as the crowd goes crazy celebrating that their professional hockey players could beat up on a bunch of rag tag third rate players ( this again seems to be right up their alley, historically)

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Added a tweet that just confirms the KHL is releasing players from all nationalities to play, so other countries can add a few good players too.

I assume there is nothing the NHL players can do to benefit from this? I'm Canadian but I'd love to see Ovechkin play with these KHL stars and win gold.

Na that ship has sailed, but at least you can see Scrivens and Wolski now hahaha

 

[ovikovy817]

I hope Russia comes out with flags and their anthem when they win.

Or (like a comment I saw few days ago on a russian site)
Why not to have russian players bring on the podium the Soviet flag this is not forbidden by the rules

 

[Jussi]

its step 6 in the handbook of " THE western conspiracy against russia", did you lose your copy ? What was the point in initially barring professionals then admitting them with open arms ? The IOC is letting players who represent a nation that the IOC believes participated in widespread systematic doping, because without the Russian players, the men's Olympic hockey final would be worse than the spangler cup and the IOC needs the eyeballs. so the ioc gets the talent ( for free) it draws the peepers but russia cannot trumpet their success because they officially didnt win anything.

so its a mild win for everyone.

They'll get knocked out by Finland before the final, again.

 

[ovikovy817]

If you guys wan't more insight into how ****ed the Sochi games were watch the movie Icarus on Netflix. Their is no way to prove how many of the Russian Sochi athletes were doping, but its been said close to 99% were estimated. I work closely with the US olympic team in several ways and they were all surprised how much of a medal jump there was for Russia in the past 12-16 years. Its documented that some of the Russian hockey team is included.

Russia is incredibly corrupt in sports and the doping world unfortunately. In the US its not much different but its monitored much closer. The Nike/Oregon project has been rumored to have similar methods, but instead of actually doping they push the lines as close as possible.

What about the british jump in medals??

 

[tmg]

gogo Linden Vey!

I was wondering about this whole "Independent athletes" and how that would work in the context of the IIHF (who are partners in this tournament, whose annual outcomes determine eligibility and seeding...). "Team Independent" hasn't earned a berth as one of the top IIHF seeds... Team Russia had, but they were disqualified. How does Russia's Olympic berth automatically transfer to Team Independent? Does the IIHF have a special provision in place for this? Does a player competing for Team Independent affect their eligibility for future IIHF tournaments?

 

[bottomofthefoodchain]

Good

 

[Jussi]

If you guys wan't more insight into how ****ed the Sochi games were watch the movie Icarus on Netflix. Their is no way to prove how many of the Russian Sochi athletes were doping, but its been said close to 99% were estimated. I work closely with the US olympic team in several ways and they were all surprised how much of a medal jump there was for Russia in the past 12-16 years. Its documented that some of the Russian hockey team is included.

Russia is incredibly corrupt in sports and the doping world unfortunately. In the US its not much different but its monitored much closer. The Nike/Oregon project has been rumored to have similar methods, but instead of actually doping they push the lines as close as possible.

Women's team's samples were switched. Supposedly the men were offered similar but they declined.

 

[JLo217]

What about the british jump in medals??

Not as quick as the Russian one. What people don't understand is in Sochi alone the Russian state and FSB were controlling all of the intake and movement of urine samples. Allowing Russian athletes to maintain a 15-20 percent increase in performance and to continue doping through the games.

My opinion is Doping is happening almost everywhere, US, UK, etc. The difference is that the Russian state is pushing the doping, and then killing off the people who ran the programs. Doping is bad no matter how you try to sell it. The Russians just took it to a WHOLE different level and probably won the Sochi games simply because they doped up every athlete. State sponsored cheating is shameful no matter how you try to convey it.

 

[JLo217]

Womn's team's samples were switched. Supposedly the men were offered similar but they declined.

Interesting. Last I heard from talking to some folk the the USOC is that its well known several big name hockey players were doping still during the Sochi games. There was evidence of the lids being tampered with for those players.

 

[sandysan]

They'll get knocked ut by Finland before the final, again.

ooooh that would be delicious ! they go for any port in a storm ( playing outmatched countries) and still ram the boat up on the rocks.

of course that would be the fault of the western lighthouse operator, of course. or dick pound, somehow.

 

[ovikovy817]

Not as quick as the Russian one. What people don't understand is in Sochi alone the Russian state and FSB were controlling all of the intake and movement of urine samples. Allowing Russian athletes to maintain a 15-20 percent increase in performance and to continue doping through the games.

My opinion is Doping is happening almost everywhere, US, UK, etc. The difference is that the Russian state is pushing the doping, and then killing off the people who ran the programs. Doping is bad no matter how you try to sell it. The Russians just took it to a WHOLE different level and probably won the Sochi games simply because they doped up every athlete. State sponsored cheating is shameful no matter how you try to convey it.

Did you heard the Bach, Schmidt press conference? "No proof that russian government or Putin was involved"

BTW, no matter where the OG are going, it's WADA (chaired by a british) with WADA's own doping control officer who's responsible for the little bottles (not rusada, not usada, not ukad, ...) and no one have access to it.
Were the WADA's officers punished for that??? No. Is it normal? No. But nobody talks about it.

I know you live in the country of Hollywood, but c'mon man, you really believe FSB were doing wholes and changing samples?
And IIRC, the samples don't even stay in the location for the whole olympic games, but they are sent to Switzerland after 1-3 days.

 

[PK Cronin]

If you guys wan't more insight into how ****ed the Sochi games were watch the movie Icarus on Netflix. Their is no way to prove how many of the Russian Sochi athletes were doping, but its been said close to 99% were estimated. I work closely with the US olympic team in several ways and they were all surprised how much of a medal jump there was for Russia in the past 12-16 years. Its documented that some of the Russian hockey team is included.

Russia is incredibly corrupt in sports and the doping world unfortunately. In the US its not much different but its monitored much closer. The Nike/Oregon project has been rumored to have similar methods, but instead of actually doping they push the lines as close as possible.

Womn's team's samples were switched. Supposedly the men were offered similar but they declined.

It couldn't be guys in the NHL, right? I'd assume NHLers wouldn't do it simply because they'd be risking their NHL careers. Do we know if NHLers were aware of the doping?

 

[sandysan]

Thank you, I was looking for that anthem that I heard when Gatlin was on podium during IAAF worlds this year.

wasn't it drowned out by the " boos"? and if you think that twice convicted doper justin gatlin is a sympathetic figure in the us, think again. He doped in college got caught and doped again and served 4 of the initial 8 year ban. if he had been given the death sentence, no one sheds a tear. he's not a guy the general public rallies around. Lilly king who beat and then stared down fellow doper efimova ( poor poor efimova, like mongo she is but only a pawn in the game of life ) became MORE popular for calling out Gatlin , her US olympic teamate.

you see a lot of presumptively clean " snicker snicker" russian athletes calling out their fellow team members ? no ? I wonder why?

 

[JLo217]

Did you heard the Bach, Schmidt press conference? "No proof that russian government or Putin was involved"

BTW, no matter where the OG are going, it's WADA (chaired by a british) with WADA's own doping control officer who's responsible for the little bottles (not rusada, not usada, not ukad, ...) and no one have access to it.
Were the WADA's officers punished for that??? No. Is it normal? No. But nobody talks about it.

I know you live in the country of Hollywood, but c'mon man, you really believe FSB were doing wholes and changing samples?
And IIRC, the samples don't even stay in the location for the whole olympic games, but they are sent to Switzerland after 1-3 days.

No proof? When 2 of the 3 individuals single handedly involved in the process have died with no prior or family history of heart issues? Come on dude common sense.

Wada hired the Russian lab and Russian Officials to run it, and Russian officials to monitor it. It was extremely easy for them to cheat. The only bottles that were found to have damage and been tampered with were the Russians A and B samples. No other countries showed signs of tampering. They created a device to remove the lids and make it appear as if they hadn't been tampered with unless you looked closely. I'm not sure if you're Russian or what your deal is, but there is an absurd amount of public information and proof that it was state backed cheating supported by the government and the FSB.

Read my posts, I've stated that every country has ways of cheating. The Nike Oregon project in the USA is known for cheating using Thyroid injections found to boost testosterone, yet its legal still due to the drug not being banned. They also use L-carnitine infusions, while legal, not legal in the process of how it's administered.

The difference is that other countries don't back the cheating, they generally just turn a blind eye to it, and it only happens in a few specific fields. In the USA its track and field, weight lifting, baseball and long distance running. The problem is that Russia is pushing it on athletes from a governmental level to use these items. How many athletes have been stripped from games in London, the banning in Brazil... these aren't random instances. Cheating is usually caught, the reason Russia gets caught so often is because cheating is literally their brand at competitive sports and it is so wide spread. Other countries stay under the radar due to skirting the rules and playing it safer and not directly injecting themselves through the games or finding ways to swap samples.

 

[sandysan]

It couldn't be guys in the NHL, right? I'd assume NHLers wouldn't do it simply because they'd be risking their NHL careers. Do we know if NHLers were aware of the doping?

why would the nhl players be risking their careers ? the nhl isnt subject to wada and we already have a NHL olympic doper nicklas Backstrom who seems to be doing just peachy since then.

and doper isnt a perjorative, its applied to anyone who pees over the prescribed limit, which he did.

Plus the star just did a piece on smelling salts in the NHL, tons of guys love the ammonia even though it has never been shown to have any positive effect on performance. But the guys ( not all) still do it ( its not against wada as far as I know). Why ? because they think it gives them a jump and makes them more alert. thinking it is enough.

If there were a substance that they viewed the same way that was on WADA's list but not the NHL's, I suspect very strongly that they would use it. there are lots of third hand reports of players taking anti inflammatories like toradol ( a nsaid) and I'd be amazed if its not on wada's list.

 

[Doshell Propivo]

So we had "Team Europe" and "Young Guns" at the World Cup and now we'll have no NHLers and a "Neutral" team at the Olympics. International hockey has turned into a complete joke.

 

[al secord]

They should wear all white with a scarlet C in the middle

 

[sandysan]

So we had "Team Europe" and "Young Guns" at the World Cup and now we'll have no NHLers and a "Neutral" team at the Olympics. International hockey has turned into a complete joke.

and the ioc is responsible for both of the latter.

but lets face it, the " best of the rest" world championships of hockey are not without their own warts as well.

 

[PK Cronin]

why would the nhl players be risking their careers ? the nhl isnt subject to wada and we already have a NHL olympic doper nicklas Backstrom who seems to be doing just peachy since then.

and doper isnt a perjorative, its applied to anyone who pees over the prescribed limit, which he did.

Plus the star just did a piece on smelling salts in the NHL, tons of guys love the ammonia even though it has never been shown to have any positive effect on performance. But the guys ( not all) still do it ( its not against wada as far as I know). Why ? because they think it gives them a jump and makes them more alert. thinking it is enough.

If there were a substance that they viewed the same way that was on WADA's list but not the NHL's, I suspect very strongly that they would use it. there are lots of third hand reports of players taking anti inflammatories like toradol ( a nsaid) and I'd be amazed if its not on wada's list.

I naturally assumed that whatever standards were being used for the international level would likely be included in the NHL's, so most banned substances would be banned in both places. So an NHLer doping would likely be caught by the NHL before they even got to the Olympic stage.

I didn't or don't remember that Backstrom incident, I'll have to look it up. Thanks!

 

[luki here]

I naturally assumed that whatever standards were being used for the international level would likely be included in the NHL's, so most banned substances would be banned in both places. So an NHLer doping would likely be caught by the NHL before they even got to the Olympic stage.

I didn't or don't remember that Backstrom incident, I'll have to look it up. Thanks!

I am no expert (pls correct me if wrong) but my impression is that the four American professional leagues have icy relations with WADA. Perhaps this has changed in the last 10 years and my information is outdated. I always wondered if the tight schedules in North America pressure athletes to dope.

 

[JLo217]

I am no expert (pls correct me if wrong) but my impression is that the four American professional leagues have icy relations with WADA. Perhaps this has changed in the last 10 years and my information is outdated. I always wondered if the tight schedules in North America pressure athletes to dope.

It still happens, just happens with drugs not considered to be illegal. Or they play it as close to the line as possible.

 

[sandysan]

I naturally assumed that whatever standards were being used for the international level would likely be included in the NHL's, so most banned substances would be banned in both places. So an NHLer doping would likely be caught by the NHL before they even got to the Olympic stage.

I didn't or don't remember that Backstrom incident, I'll have to look it up. Thanks!

a reasonable assumption if the NHL were not a private league. but it is. Dick pound may hay a little while ago publically opining on the number of NHL athletes who doped ( without any evidence as I recall) and the NHL sent him a nice card that said " that's nice. no go pound sand".

he tried to get the NHL to adopt the WADA list and the nhl said " thanks, but no thanks"

 

[RandV]

Did you heard the Bach, Schmidt press conference? "No proof that russian government or Putin was involved"

Not sure about the sources, but since you're putting that out in quotes in the English language that can be pretty ambigious as the word 'proof' would usually suggest the accusations are undeniably proven. Getting to that level of certainty is extremely hard, so what's more relevent is the balance of evidence to the accusations. As long as the 'evidence' doesn't reach 100% certainty that above quote can be true, even if the evidence suggests it's 99% certain to be true.