Russia’s Olympic Ban and Its Importance for the Rio Olympics

Russia have failed to overturn the ban on 68 athletes who would have traveled to Rio for the Summer Olympics after a publication by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in a report that showed contents of the State sponsoring doping.

This comes some two weeks to the Rio Olympics and this is important because the Olympic Games is the biggest Sporting event in the world and therefore athletes need to compete fair and square to earn the medals they win for their respective countries.

In the past, many athletes like Marion Jones and Lans Armstrong have fallen short to doping tests. The medals they won caused genuine athletes and cyclists the fame, prize money and sponsorship deals they could have gotten, but they did not because other athletes had performance add-ons that urged them on.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and IAAF have done a great job creating an atmosphere where real talent would be showcased to the world this summer.

Would More Bans Follow After Russia?

Many athletes pulled out of the Rio Olympics because of stress and fatigue. Lebron James pulled out of Team USA at the back of a lengthy NBA season that saw him finally bring a championship to Cleveland. Imagine athletes training in odd weather conditions and being overshadowed by other athletes that used performance enhancement drugs.

Doping has been there for a long time but modern sports comes with great technology that sends messages to dopers that cheating is no way accepted in any sport.

Cheating in every aspect of life creates inconsistencies and this has rightly by affirmed by Usain Bolt in his interview with the BBC. The multiple Olympic gold winner said, “It’s sad but rules are rules”. The World Record Holder went on to add that “Doping Violations in track and field is getting really bad.”

Russia’s ban is making all the headlines with regards to news on the Rio Olympics and the International Olympic Committee and IAAFshould do more to fish out dopers prior to the start of the Games so that the best talents in track and field would be seen and new heroes would be born.