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Russia Banned From 2018 Winter Olympics For Doping

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Premier Dmitry Medvedev watch the men's 4x10 km  cross-country relay at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Premier Dmitry Medvedev watch the men's 4x10 km cross-country relay at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service)

Russia has been banned from the 2018 Pyeongchang, South Korea Winter Olympics for a systematic and state-sponsored doping scheme that gave its athletes a competitive advantage.

We’re joined by a panel of sports and foreign affairs writers, plus Richard McLaren, the author of the “McLaren Report” — he helped investigate the allegations fro the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Guests:

Richard McLaren, law professor, Western University in Ontario, Canada who was one of three members of a World Anti-Doping Agency panel that looked into Russia doping allegations.

David Ignatius, foreign affairs columnist for the Washington Post. ( @IgnatiusPost)

Bonnie Ford, senior writer for ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine. ( @Bonnie_D_Ford)

From Tom’s Reading List:

USA Today:  Do You Believe In Miracles? Russia Finally Banned For PED Use — “They did it. Stunningly, the members of the International Olympic Committee’s executive board did it. They just kicked the bums out.

Russia has been suspended from the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The most diabolical state-sponsored doping machine of our time, and the worst since East Germany a generation ago, has finally received the punishment it deserves.”

ESPN: Russian Olympic Ban: How IOC Got Here, What Happens Next — “The ruling comes after months of investigations that uncovered voluminous evidence of corruption and sabotage leading up to and during the Sochi 2014 Games, implicating every segment of Russia’s Olympic sports industry: athletes, team officials, scientists, anti-doping administrators and government authorities.”

BBC: Russian Doping: IOC Bans Russia From 2018 Winter Olympics — “Russia has been banned from competing at next year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang by the International Olympic Committee.

But Russian athletes who can prove they are clean would be allowed to compete in South Korea under a neutral flag.”

Russia is formally out of the Winter Olympics in South Korea, just ten weeks away now.  No Russian national team, says the International Olympic Committee.  No Russian anthem.  No Russian flag when the athletes pour in.  The toughest penalties in the history of the Olympics, and it’s all about Russian doping.  Doping of Russian athletes on a massive scale.  The Russian government, fully in on it.  This hour, On Point:  We’ll look inside the ban on Russia and the Olympics ahead. — Tom Ashbrook

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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