Russian team banned from Tokyo games, but Russians still win

TOKYO – There is a Russian elephant in the Tokyo Olympics hall.

Technically, Russia is officially banned from participating in international sporting events until next year for running a state-sponsored doping program. And yet, there are 334 Russian gymnasts, sprinters and other athletes competing in open competition in Tokyo.

With them is a small army of coaches, assistants and others who didn’t hesitate to cheer on their team even though the Japanese – before declaring a state of emergency and banning all fans from the forums – have explicitly forbidden to encourage lest it spread. Covid19.

In fact, as of Wednesday, Russian athletes had won 52 medals, placing them in third place after China and the United States, according to the latest Olympic medal tally.

The fact that they are able to keep adding the Moscow medal crop despite not being an official Russian team is due to a huge loophole that allows them to compete as members of an invented entity called ROC, which stands for Russian Olympic Committee.

And that infuriates critics who say the Russians got a slap on the wrist from an International Olympic Committee that is too afraid to administer a punishment that matches their crime.

“In the days of East Germany, they doped their athletes in every sport except sailing, then known as yachting,” David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Historians, told NBC News. Olympic. “The Russians have gone further: they have doped sailors and curlers, with all things.”

“It was so vast, it was outrageous,” he said. “When the story came out it was a huge scandal and I personally felt that they should have banned Russia from the Olympics for four years – period.”

Instead, the IOC imposed a penalty that was “so weak and limp it was painful”.

“Now you have a situation here right now where the Russians are feeling, ‘Okay, we got away with it. Yes, some of our athletes fell but we got a lot more, ”Wallechinsky said. “And frankly, we could do it again and sacrifice more athletes.”

Travis Tygart, Director General of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) called the IOC’s sanctions against the Russians a “farce”.

“Sadly, we’ve seen this horror film before – where the Russian state-sponsored doping program is free and Russia wins as IOC and WADA leaders try to pull the dust out of the world claiming that Russia is ‘banned’, “Tygart said in an email to Reuters that was released on Saturday. “This is hardly a ‘rebranding’ and will do nothing to stop corruption in Russia and likely embolden those who are prepared to win by any means.”

NBC News has contacted ROC spokesperson Konstantin Vybornov. So far there has been no response.

The IOC responded with a statement which did not specify whether the Russians were allowed to escape severe sanctions and insisted that “the fight against doping and the protection of clean athletes are top priorities for the IOC”.

IOC spokesperson Mark Adams has already received questions from journalists about why ROC athletes are routinely referred to as “Russians” by Olympic officials (they are not supposed to be) and whether the IOC will take steps to -Russian references to ROC ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics in February.

ROC athletes will compete because Russia’s ban is until December 16, 2022.

“In some circumstances we can say ‘Russian Olympic Committee’,” Adams insisted at a press conference last week.

Russia was officially banned in 2019 from participating in international sporting events for four years after being caught running a state-sponsored doping program designed to increase its medal harvest at international sporting events. The ban was then reduced to two years.

In Moscow, the exploits of their athletes have been in the headlines for weeks and they are portrayed as Russian athletes, not ROC athletes.

“Russian boxer Gadzhimagomedov reaches Olympic final, secures silver medal,” read the headline of the article in Kommersant, a major Moscow daily on Tuesday.

Written as a standard Olympic story, it ended with: “In the Tokyo Olympics team standings, Russia ranks fifth after China, the United States, Japan and Australia.”

No mention of ROC.

So what is it like to be banned from the Olympics? For starters, ROC athletes cannot wave the Russian flag or sing their national anthem.

The opening bars of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 have been played the dozen times a Russian has won a gold medal in these games. And the flag they waved is not the Russian flag, but there is an Olympic flame in the colors of white, blue and red of Russia, with the Olympic rings underneath.

ROC athletes are not permitted to wear the word Russia on their uniforms, unless it is accompanied by the words “neutral athlete”.

And that’s about it.

Wallechinsky said there is a reason Russia is being treated with children’s gloves by the IOC.

“The IOC has just taken a stand, I believe, that there are certain countries which are just too important for the Olympic movement to be eliminated, Russia being one of them, the United States being one. , China being another, I guess some of the western European nations would qualify as well, ”he said.

Tygart insisted that he did not paint all ROC athletes with a wide brush.

“Of course, it is not fair to question an athlete’s performance, and all are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty,” he said.

But the circumstances in which ROC athletes compete have raised suspicion among some competitors.

After American swimmer Ryan Murphy finished second behind ROC swimmer Evgeny Rylov in the 200 backstroke on Friday, he said: “It’s a huge mental shock to me… that I’m swimming in a race that probably isn’t clean.

“It frustrates me, but I have to swim in the field next to me,” he said.

Murphy did not give names and Rylov, who was sitting next to him during the press conference, tried to cover up the remark.

“I have always been for clean competition,” he said. “From the bottom of my heart, I am for clean sport. I have devoted my whole life to this sport. Ryan hasn’t accused me of anything, so I’d rather not comment.

The ROC, however, was furious and blasted Murphy over his official Twitter account.

“You have to know how to lose,” he said in Russian.

“But not everyone can. And here we go again – the same old Russian doping song is played by the old music box. Someone diligently turns the handle. English propaganda oozes verbal sweat about the Tokyo Games. From the mouths of athletes offended by defeats. We will not console you. We will forgive those who are weaker. God is their judge. He is our assistant.

Corky Siemaszko reported from Tokyo and Patrick Smith from London.