The International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed Russian athletes to participate in the 2018 Olympics under neutral flag... This was reported on the IOC website.
The Russians at the 2018 Olympics will be presented as "Olympic athletes from Russia" (OAR), the IOC notes. They will compete in sports uniform with this inscription and under Olympic flag... During the awards ceremony, the Olympic anthem will be played, not the Russian one. The final decision on the admission of the Russian athlete will be made by a special commission of representatives of WADA, DFSU (Doping Free Sport Unit) and the IOC.
Former Minister of Sports of Russia Vitaly Mutko and his former deputy Yuri Nagornykh are forever barred from participation in all future Olympics in any capacity, according to the IOC. Former general director of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee Dmitry Chernyshenko (aka the general director of Gazprom-Media) from the coordination commission of the 2022 Winter Olympics, the same source says. And that's not all: not a single employee of the Ministry of Sports of Russia will be able to be accredited for the 2018 Olympics, and Alexander Zhukov, President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), has been barred from participating in the IOC.
In addition, the IOC ROC donate $ 15 million to create a global anti-doping system. The ROC will have to reimburse the IOC for the costs incurred by the committee due to investigations related to the use of doping by Russian athletes.
The IOC's decision was taken by consensus, said IOC President Thomas Bach, Interfax reports.
The neutral flag (also called white) is the five-ring Olympic flag. Russian athletes have already performed under a neutral flag - as part of the joint team in 1992 at the Winter Olympics in Albertville and Summer Games in Barcelona. Then the united team included athletes from the former republics of the USSR, which disintegrated in December 1991. The team was unofficially called the “CIS national team”. On summer Olympics she took first place in the general medal standings, and at the winter - the second, winning olympic gold hockey.
Reaction
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov did not answer the question of Vedomosti whether the Kremlin will give recommendations to Russian athletes regarding their participation or non-participation in the Pyeongchang Olympics on the terms proposed by the IOC.
Earlier, the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov that the Kremlin will remain silent until the official decision of the IOC. The possibility of boycotting the Olympics is not being discussed, Peskov noted.
A representative of Channel One declined to comment on whether the channel will now broadcast the 2018 Olympics. VGTRK confirmed that it will not show the Olympics without the national team. A representative of Gazprom-Media (which manages the Match-TV sports channel) said that the Olympics without Russian athletes would not be so interesting to viewers, and declined to comment further.
Background
At the meeting on the admission of Russia to the IOC Olympics, to consider the conclusions of two commissions that were created to study the data of the independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on doping in Russian sports... One, under the leadership of Swiss lawyer Denis Oswald, is rechecking doping samples from the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The other is investigating the involvement of the Russian Ministry of Sports in the doping system in Russia.
In mid-November, WADA was in force to disqualify the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), which had its accreditation revoked in 2015. One of the main requirements for Russia is to unconditionally recognize the conclusions of the McLaren Commission on the existence of a state doping system. The Russian side did not fulfill it. Russian President Vladimir Putin blames Russia with the upcoming elections.
How it all started
Three years ago - in December 2014 - the German TV channel ARD released documentary Top Secrets of Doping: How Russia Produces Its Winners. In it, the former chief specialist of RUSADA Vitaly Stepanov and his wife Yulia Stepanova, disqualified in 2013 for doping, talked about several cases of use by athletes from Russia. Thereafter, WADA set up a commission of inquiry in early 2015. The first results of the work were published in November 2015: the commission concluded that the All-Russian federation of light Athletics, RUSADA and Russia in general do not comply with the rules of the World Anti-Doping Code. It was then that WADA revoked RUSADA's accreditation.
After this report, another investigation of the use of doping by Russian athletes began - it was conducted by a commission led by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren. The first part was published in July 2016, the second in December of the same year. Then the commission concluded that in Russia at least from 2012 to 2015 there was a state doping program. For example, on the test tubes with doping samples of Russian athletes, they found scratches, and in the biomaterial - an increased content of salt or DNA of another person. Athletes' analyzes were swapped between 2012 and 2014, including at the Sochi Olympics, according to the McLaren report. These manipulations took place under the control of the Ministry of Sports and the FSB of Russia, it is said in the same place.
WADA's chief informant in the doping case in Russian sports, whose testimony formed the basis of McLaren's report, is the former head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory. In 2016, he moved to the United States, and in May gave an interview to The New York Times: he said that he participated in the swapping of about 100 urine samples of Russian athletes during the 2014 Olympics, and also admitted that he himself had developed a cocktail of three anabolic steroids for Russian athletes, which they hosted at the Olympics.
Lifelong suspension of Russians from participation in the Olympic Games and returned the medals to Sochi. 28 athletes were acquitted fully, 11 - partially. The decision of the sports arbitration for the Russian Olympians cannot but rejoice, said President Vladimir Putin.
“In any system of law, the ultimate authority for making a decision is the court, and everyone should respect the decision of the court,” the head of state said. “Firstly, we are happy for those athletes whom CAS supported, but not all of them were 100% justified. This is the first thing. Second. We ourselves still have something to work on, this is absolutely certain, from the point of view of improving our anti-doping program and policy. We will persistently do this together with WADA, together with the IOC and others. international organizations", - he continued. At the same time, the Russian president noted that one should not demonstrate euphoria in connection with the court's decision.
Is it worth the excluded from the Games and justified athletes to count on a trip to Pyeongchang, MIR 24 TV channel told sports commentator Alexander Grishin.
- Still, this whole situation is politics or a real struggle for pure sport without doping?
After the criteria for the admission of Russian athletes were announced in Lausanne on December 5, mostly purely political decisions went on. The fight for pure sport can and did take place once upon a time, when they tried to pull out individual and specific cases of possible doping use in our country. Now these are purely political games.
- Will the athletes, who were acquitted, be able to go to the Olympics in Pyeongchang?
The IOC also suspended its membership in the organization of the President of the Russian Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov, and removed the head of the Sochi-2014 organizing committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, from the coordination commission for the preparation for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
How the decision was made
The IOC issued a verdict based on the findings of two special commissions it created - headed by Denis Oswald and Samuel Schmid. The first rechecked the facts of the use of doping by leading Russian athletes in Sochi, including Olympic champions and prize-winners, the second examined evidence of the existence in Russia of the state system of doping support for leading athletes. Both of these allegations were contained in the reports of the World Anti-Doping Agency commission led by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren.
McLaren's investigations are based on the testimony of several informants from among former Russian athletes and officials. became the ex-head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov, who left for the United States in January 2016. Rodchenkov argued that before the Olympic Games in Sochi, with the participation of officials from the Ministry of Sports and the FSB, his laboratory had prepared a mechanism for replacing samples taken from doping Russian athletes with "clean" samples.
Among the documents submitted by Rodchenkov to the McLaren Commission, the most important was the list of "duches". It included 37 athletes who took part in the Sochi Olympics. Rodchenkov reported that this list was coordinated with the Ministry of Sports and that it included athletes who took a "cocktail" prepared by him during the Games - a mixture of three steroids and alcohol.
As a result of the work of the Oswald Commission, 25 Russian athletes were banned from participating in the Olympics for life, and the Russian national team lost 11 medals in Sochi, dropping in the team competition from first to third place. The conclusions of the Samuel Schmid commission were kept secret until the meeting of the IOC Executive Committee on December 5. It was they who formed the basis of the IOC's decision.
Photo: Denis Balibouse / Reuters
Four scenarios
Four basic scenarios were discussed before the verdict was announced further development events - two radical and two compromise, wrote, in particular, "Sport Express". Radical - admission to the games of the Russian national team in full complement with the exception of athletes disqualified as a result of the work of the Oswald Commission, and, conversely, the complete removal of Russian athletes from the PyeongChang Olympics were considered unlikely.
Two intermediate options looked the most realistic. One of them was applied two years ago before the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, when the IOC delegated decision-making authority in relation to Russian athletes to the international level. sports federations... Then only the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) took advantage of the right of suspension, which did not allow Russians to participate in the Olympics. At the same time, individual Russian athletes could obtain admission to the games as a "neutral athlete" if they were able to provide evidence of their "purity". In Rio, the jumper Daria Klishina took advantage of this rule.
The second intermediate option (which was implemented) involved the suspension of the membership of the entire Russian Olympic Committee with the possibility of admitting “pure” Russian athletes to the Games in a neutral status. Before the decision of the IOC Executive Committee, many Russian politicians called such a scenario "humiliating and unacceptable for Russia" and called in this case to declare a boycott of the games in Pyeongchang at the national level.
Will the athletes go
Now the main question is whether they will go Russian athletes for the Games on the terms of the IOC.
If athletes are admitted under a neutral flag, the question of the trip of Russian athletes will most likely "be accepted by the country's leadership," Evgeny Slyusarenko, deputy editor-in-chief of Championship.com, argued in an interview with RBC a few hours before the announcement of the verdict. "The Russian Olympic Committee and all other sports people can react as they like, but they do not decide, you know who decides," added Slyusarenko.
The Russian authorities did not discuss the possibility of a boycott of the 2018 Olympics until the IOC's decision on the participation of the Russian national team, previously
In recent months, many sports fans have been interested in the question: “ will Russia participate in the 2018 Olympics?»
December 5, 2017 the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee(IOC) made a decision remove the Russian national team from the 2018 Winter Olympics years in Pyeongchang.
This means that athletes from the Russian national team will not be able to participate in the Olympics under the Russian flag. They can go to the Olympics in a special status - "Olympic athlete from Russia", ie OAR (Olympic Athlete from Russia). And, of course, only those athletes who have a pure doping history will be allowed.
Russia is the first country in more than a century of Olympic Games history to be suspended for doping... And there is clearly nothing to be proud of. By the way, the decision was made a long time ago, and on December 5, 2017, only an official confirmation took place.
The main reason was manipulation of doping samples at the Olympic Games in Russia, which took place in Sochi in 2014.
The Russian Olympic Committee was disqualified, and Vitaly Mutko was banned from attending any Olympics ... indefinitely. The ROC was also fined $ 15 million.
Alas, such a decision by the IOC is a shame for our country. Let's let you down the results of the IOC Executive Committee of December 5, 2017:
- OCD suspended from the Olympic Games.
- Russian athletes can participate in the Olympic Games, but not all of them. Those who will participate will do so in the OAR status - without a flag, without an anthem, without a Motherland.
- Officials from the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation will not be accredited for the Olympics in Pyeongchang.
- Vitaly Mutko and Nagornykh received a "life ban" to participate in the Olympic Games ... everyone that will ever take place.
- Dmitry Chernyshenko, who was supposed to become a member of the Coordinating Commission for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, will not be.
- Alexander Zhukov, head of the Russian Olympic Committee, was expelled from the IOC.
- Any facts on the same topic (doping) that come up later may also lead to sanctions.
- The Russian Olympic Committee is obliged to contribute to the creation of the "Independent Testing Authority" and to pay for the IOC investigation. All in all - 15 million US dollars.
- Any lifting of sanctions is possible only after the end of the 2018 Olympics.
Got it, ladies and gentlemen. Russia is left without the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. Now there is a very acute question of what the athletes will do - will they go in the OAR status or ignore the 2018 Olympics.
Now there is a flash mob " No Russia, no Games" v social networks with hashtag #NoRussiaNoGames. Many people really do not want to see our athletes, and consider their desire to compete without a flag as a shame. In any case, we propose not to strictly judge those who will go, because for most athletes, the peak of their form lasts only a few years, so they simply may not have another chance.
At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee, held on December 5, it was decided to suspend the Russian national team from participating in the 2018 Games. At the same time, athletes who were not noticed in the use of doping were allowed to compete under a neutral flag - in the status of “Olympians from Russia”. The IOC will also cover all costs of the participation of our athletes.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin stated that the Russian authorities will not interfere with the participation of athletes in the Olympics in a neutral status. A similar statement was made by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vitaly Mutko, against whom sanctions were imposed at the same meeting, he is banned for life from attending the Olympics as an official.
As a result, the final decision on participation must be made by each athlete himself. And opinions are divided here. Someone considers performing under a neutral flag humiliating for themselves, others are sure that they need to go to the end and show what Russian athletes are capable of. POLITSIBRU asked the experts for their opinion.
"Sport must win"
Alexander Prokopyev, Deputy of the State Duma from the Altai Territory, member of the Committee on physical culture, sports, tourism and youth affairs:
“The IOC has made a decision. Many people call it a political provocation, they even talk about a possible boycott. Emotions are off the charts, but you need to pull yourself together and make an informed decision. On Friday, the State Duma will discuss a draft response statement. Now we are preparing a translation of the IOC decision. This is a legal document, precise wording is important, every word has a meaning. I think that sport should win in any case. And if athletes want to take part in the Olympics, they need to be given such an opportunity. We will be proud of their victories. "
"Doping controllers won't let them live in peace"
Tatiana Ilyuchenko, Honored Master of Sports of Russia in cross-country skiing, medalist of the 2002 Paralympic Games, winner and medalist of the 2006 Paralympic Games, deputy of the regional Legislative Assembly, Chairman of the Committee on Social Policy:
“I believe that our athletes should participate in any case. Even if they are performing under a neutral flag, everyone knows that these are Russian athletes. The only thing is that there will be serious pressure on the guys. Doping controllers will not let them live in peace. However, we have seen on the World Cup athletics, when our federation was not allowed, and athletes, including Sergei Shubenkov, showed serious results and everyone knew that they were Russian athletes. What is happening as a whole resembles a comedy of the absurd, such a priori should not be in the Olympic movement. "
Natalia Kuvshinova, State Duma deputy from the Altai Territory, member of the Committee on Physical Culture, Sports, Tourism and Youth Affairs:
“The IOC's decision seriously undermines the authority of the Olympic Movement. On behalf of the relevant State Duma committee, we have already requested a decision of the IOC, a translation. Meetings with representatives of all factions, with the committee on international affairs will be held today and tomorrow. Then the final decision will be submitted to the plenary session of the State Duma, and it will be considered on Friday morning, each faction will be able to express its position and a corresponding appeal will be adopted based on the results. Whether or not our athletes take part in the Olympics should ask those responsible for this decision, for this it is worth waiting for the decision of the ROC on December 12 on this issue. "
"This is the business of every athlete"
Vladimir Alt, Head of the Center sports training and the head of the Olympic Council of the Altai Territory ":
“I believe that this is the business of every athlete. The problem is this: athletes can be told: “Fly as you want”, meaning the cash costs. In addition, there are a number of MPs who are in favor of not participating in the Games. But if we boycott them, then we will have to skip two Olympic cycles. So boycotting is the worst option. Athletes should be given the right to participate, especially "clean". Shubenkov's situation in London was even more complicated. Then even ringtones with the Russian anthem were banned. But he spoke, everyone remembered him, even bonuses were then given. Therefore, participation in the Games, I think, will only benefit the athletes. I don’t see such tough restrictions as they were at the World Championships in Athletics ”.