Olympics: Russia possibly disqualified from Pyeongchang (UPD: IOC Suspends Team Russia)

[Xokkeu]

Weirdly I think if the KHL is oí the USA team has a much better shot. Some quality Americans in Switzerland and of course the NCAA and AHL guys.

 

[kp61c]

Yea that's pretty much the opposite of reality.

that's what will happen, sadly.

 

[Kairi Zaide]

Hopefully the figure skating team can compete under the neutral flag.

Medvedeva is a marvel on ice.

 

[Crede777]

Russian cheating is unacceptable. I would have gone one step further and banned all Russian athletes from competing at all. That’s the best deterrent to stop Russia from treating fair play as a joke.

The point is to punish the state agencies which promoted cheating, not individual athletes who basically have spent their lives preparing for this event and haven't broken any rules.

 

[Tomas W]

Weirdly I think if the KHL is oí the USA team has a much better shot. Some quality Americans in Switzerland and of course the NCAA and AHL guys.

If KHL boycott the Olympics there will be some Swedes that wont be able to participate. I assume you got some names too?

 

[Master P]

 

[Hennessy]

They've got to replace Russia with another country, no? Can they just pick the nearest-qualifying nation?
Even if the KHL releases players and enough of them pass screening to play as a neutral team, the IOC can't wait on something that's not certain, and that's even if Russians are allowed to form teams under the special dispensation.

 

[BayStreetBully]

The point is to punish the state agencies which promoted cheating, not individual athletes who basically have spent their lives preparing for this event and haven't broken any rules.

I wouldn’t even give the Russian state the opportunity to save face with this half measure. A total ban was the only way to fairly punish the Russian state. The individual athletes are incidental to something bigger than themselves.

 

[Tomas W]

In a way yeah, they should have tossed out Russia all together and not thus neutral flag thing. Russia need to learn the hard way. [MOD]

 

[Dr Pepper]

The point is to punish the state agencies which promoted cheating, not individual athletes who basically have spent their lives preparing for this event and haven't broken any rules.

That's my issue with this; many athletes are being unfairly sandbagged by the IOC.

Why not mete out punishment on a per-case basis, as in how they've always done it? This pre-emptive strike is unfair and unbecoming of a governing body that prides itself on competition.

And yes I realize the many clean athletes can still compete, but.....not for the country in which they were raised? That's just dumb.

 

[v-man]

I would think there would be a quick qualifying game between the 10th and 11th place finishers in the original cycle (Belarus and Latvia I believe) to replace Russia. The IIHF has already said that unlike the NHL, the KHL is goverened under the national federation, and thus must follow IIHF demands to release their players. They can symbolically ban their players from going, but cannot fine or release them if they choose to go. The KHL schedule already has a built in Olympic break. It would look foolish for them to all go on vacation instead of going to Korea.

 

[mouser]

Notice the wording for this: "Russian athletes who can prove they are clean."

In other words the onus will be on the athletes to prove they are clean as opposed to governing bodies to prove that they are not. In other words the Russian athletes are screwed.

That's not the actual wording from the IOC, and is a misleading paraphrase by the Times. From the official IOC announcement: IOC suspends Russian NOC and creates a path for clean individual athletes to compete in PyeongChang 2018 under the Olympic Flag


How the athletes will be chosen:

To invite individual Russian athletes to the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 according to the following guidelines:

• The invitation list will be determined, at its absolute discretion, by a panel chaired by Valerie Fourneyron, Chair of the ITA. The panel will include members of the Pre-Games Testing Task Force: one appointed by WADA, one by the DFSU and one by the IOC, Dr Richard Budgett.

• This panel will be guided in its decisions by the following principles:

• Athletes must not have been disqualified or declared ineligible for any Anti-Doping Rule Violation.
• Athletes must have undergone all the pre-Games targeted tests recommended by the Pre-Games Testing Task Force.
• Athletes must have undergone any other testing requirements specified by the panel to ensure a level playing field.

The IOC, at its absolute discretion, will ultimately determine the athletes to be invited from the list.​

​

 

[BalticWarrior]

That's my issue with this; many athletes are being unfairly sandbagged by the IOC.

Why not mete out punishment on a per-case basis, as in how they've always done it? This pre-emptive strike is unfair and unbecoming of a governing body that prides itself on competition.

And yes I realize the many clean athletes can still compete, but.....not for the country in which they were raised? That's just dumb.

Because state sanctioned doping is something else entirely. Russia as a country has to be punished to set an example and that includes their athletes.

 

[ovikovy817]

What? Why?

For once they did the right thing. Investigations revealed state sponsored doping across the board.

No
Even in those fakes investigations sponsored by the Western world, they had 0, ZERO, nothing
they just say in that investigations, Rodchenkov said that, and maybe there is a chance that they.
ZERO real accusations.

btw
If russian athletes are not clean, why you allow them to go?? WTF??? But if you allow them to go, let them their national pride. Their flag and anthem

and
Why USA wasn't banned from Olympics in 90's and early 2000? after big doping scandals??

--------

The problem is not doping, the problem is the russian flag.

 

[Xokkeu]

If KHL boycott the Olympics there will be some Swedes that wont be able to participate. I assume you got some names too?

Some but we'd be hurt probably the least of any big nation if they lose th eKHL players Dan Sexton probably the biggest loss.

 

[BayStreetBully]

That's my issue with this; many athletes are being unfairly sandbagged by the IOC.

Why not mete out punishment on a per-case basis, as in how they've always done it? This pre-emptive strike is unfair and unbecoming of a governing body that prides itself on competition.

And yes I realize the many clean athletes can still compete, but.....not for the country in which they were raised? That's just dumb.

That’s exactly what Russia wants. They crave the national glory that comes from having their anthem played, their flag raised, and their medal count upped in the standings and in the history books. That’s why they cheated in the first place.

The IOC’s decision to at least ban Russian symbols from 2018 is the least they could do, even if they didn’t ban the individuals themselves from competition.

 

[kunekune]

With Russia out from tournament only Finland and Sweden got even half decent teams.

 

[SCT]

The documentary "Icarus" on netflix is a good one to watch for this subject.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

That's my issue with this; many athletes are being unfairly sandbagged by the IOC.

Why not mete out punishment on a per-case basis, as in how they've always done it? This pre-emptive strike is unfair and unbecoming of a governing body that prides itself on competition.

And yes I realize the many clean athletes can still compete, but.....not for the country in which they were raised? That's just dumb.

I really feel like you don't really understand what happened here. This obviously sucks for the athletes in Russia that were actually clean. This has been ingrained and state run and is deep in the culture....what else can they do but punish the entirety of the sports organization in Russia. If you just go after athletes on a case by case basis you are telling people that what the Russian federations did is completely fine...but the athletes take the brunt of the punishment in the present. In the future? Absolutely nothing happens systemically in Russia. Thinking this is the wrong move just makes absolutely no sense.

 

[beowulf]

No
Even in those fakes investigations sponsored by the Western world, they had 0, ZERO, nothing
they just say in that investigations, Rodchenkov said that, and maybe there is a chance that they.
ZERO real accusations.

btw
If russian athletes are not clean, why you allow them to go?? WTF??? But if you allow them to go, let them their national pride. Their flag and anthem

and
Why USA wasn't banned from Olympics in 90's and early 2000? after big doping scandals??

--------

The problem is not doping, the problem is the russian flag.

Are you joking?

 

[Qurpiz]

With Russia out from tournament only Finland and Sweden got even half decent teams.

Finland gets decimated too if KHL players are out

 

[BalticWarrior]

Are you joking?

Russian propoganda has been on this narrative for quite some time, even though evidence for state-sponsored doping is massive. Just like Goebells said "Great masses of people are more likely to believe in a big lie, rather than a small one"

 

[Your old Jofa helmet]

and
Why USA wasn't banned from Olympics in 90's and early 2000? after big doping scandals??

Because those were just the athletes trying to cheat, there was no FBI replacing their urine samples. The whole point is to punish the state- organized and sponsored doping system

 

[varsaku]

The documentary "Icarus" on netflix is a good one to watch for this subject.

That was such a good documentary and really brought out how deep the scandal went.

With Russia out from tournament only Finland and Sweden got even half decent teams.

I am expecting a Sweden and Finland final at this point.

 

[kunekune]

Finland gets decimated too if KHL players are out

They do to a point. They still got decent player pool in their own league.