Russian officials ran doping programs in multiple Olympic sports, WADA investigation finds

[mahatmakanejeeves]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by NancyBlueINOklahoma (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Washington Post

Russian officials ran doping programs in multiple Olympic sports, WADA investigation finds

By Will Hobson
@TheWillHobson

July 18 at 9:13 AM

An investigation by the global agency that polices drug cheating in sports has found “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the Russian government ran a widespread doping regime for years in multiple Olympic sports, calling into question whether any Russian athletes should be permitted to compete at Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next month.

Russia’s ministry of sport covered up positive doping results by Olympic athletes for years in both Summer and Winter Olympic sports, the investigation found, and Russian intelligence agents participated in an elaborate covert scheme at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi to replace tainted urine samples of cheating Russian athletes with clean ones.

“It was a fail-safe method of permitting cheating Russian athletes to compete while using performance-enhancing substances,” said Richard McLaren, a Canadian lawyer and sports ethics expert who led the investigation, in a Monday morning news conference in Toronto.

{Graphic: What you need to know about performance enhancing drugs in the Summer Olympics}

This is the second major investigation by WADA of Russian sports doping within the past two years. A previous WADA investigation of the nation’s track and field program, released in November 2015, found endemic doping and likely government involvement. In response to that report, the International Association of Athletics Federations — the global agency that governs international track and field — imposed a ban on Russian track and field athletes competing in international events that will effectively bar the global superpower’s track team from the Rio Games.

{WADA heard of Russian doping in 2010, didn’t investigate until media reports}

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2016/07/18/russian-officials-ran-doping-programs-in-multiple-olympic-sports-wada-investigation-finds/

[groundloop]

1. With this information, yes, Russia should be banned from Olympics

I'm sure our resident Putinistas will be along any minute now to defent Russia in this conspiracy, but how the hell can you condone cheating which is this blatant?

[uawchild]

3. Why flame like that?

Won't you consider that saying stuff like you just did about "resident Putinist" could come across as a form of bullying that actually stifles open discussion here on DU?

Why ruin a good post with a needless throw away line like that?

It sounds like high school lunch table clique talk.

[snooper2]

4. LOL, bullying really? Here is a writeup on Putinistas- The term is completely mainstream now!

http://nicktyrone.com/rise-putinistas/

Snip-

"It’s the western Putinistas that interest me, and I’m specifically referring in this instance to people born and bred in the West, people with no connection whatsoever to Russia and/or the former Soviet Union, who either love Putin or at least feel the need to defend him at every turn. Their core belief seems to be that the western media are involved in a conspiracy against him, and that every news story from the region reported in the West has a built-in anti-Putin bias.

I think I’ve begun to understand what informs this group’s ideology. It is partly lazy Yankophobia; the notion that because they loathe American foreign policy, and Putin is indentified as an aggressor by the US, that therefore Putin is automatically a good guy. Now I’m as ardent a critic of American foreign policy as you’re likely to find, but the thought pattern that goes “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” is truly sad in its stupidity. It was also, ironically enough, the stated ethos of the Putinistas most hated figure, George W Bush.

The same style of thinking had Chavez lionised amongst sections of western people who should have known a lot better. Just because someone doesn’t like America, and manages to get one up on them from time to time, does not mean that their motives aren’t as questionable, or dare I say it, a whole lot worse than, what US foreign policy is attempting to achieve."

[uawchild]

7. The term is completely mainstream now! But it is still bullying.

Yeah that doesn't mean using it PRE-EMPTIVELY in a DU forum isn't bullying. It is.

[Iggo]

5. Fuck Ron Paul.

Wait a second...

[groundloop]

9. It's a known fact that Russia has infiltrated message boards - I'm referring to those folks

There have been multiple articles posted indicating that Russia has numerous people putting out thousands of posts per day on message boards all over the world in an attempt to influence public opinion. If I've insulted anyone NOT associated with the Russian government I apologize.

[cstanleytech]

11. While I am not a fan of Putin or his actions I disagree that Russia should be banned

because the whole point of the Olympics is to try to bring the world together if only for a brief moment so rather than a ban they should simply have every single award revoked.
Of course all of the athletes involved though are a different story and they should be banned from ever being in the Olympics as well as banned from coaching and or working with any Olympic team.

[uawchild]

2. Ban Russia from all Olympic Sports for 4 Years

How many more articles are needed to point out the obvious state sponsored cheating?

Ban them already. Sheessh.

If we just keep yammering about banning them, it starts to look like our real point is just to keep complaining.

Russia needs to be banned entirely from the 2016 Olympics.

[GummyBearz]

6. But the ratings will be down from Russians not watching@!

Think of the ratings!!

[uawchild]

8. Studies show...

Americans make up the most important Olympic audience in terms of revenue generated, and that Americans really mostly want to watch Americans win medals at the Olympics.

So, don't worry about ratings if we ban Russia. lol

[GummyBearz]

10. Thanks, that is an interesting stat

I was being sarcastic personally, but I have little doubt the higher ups of the olympic committee do care deeply about losing viewers. Russia is a large country after all.

[uawchild]

12. is this a DUPE thread on LBN?

This thread seems to have precedence by perhaps seconds:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141522530#post4

[OKNancy]

13. so sorry but another thread was posted seconds earlier

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141522530