Russia should be IN the Olympics (T&F).....The world needs unity

Then you don't understand the deeper seeded reasoning behind such a decision. These decisions aren't nearly as surface as being just about track & field. Banning an entire country becomes plausible because they are engaging openly in deceit, fraud, medical malpractice, conspiracy, character assassination, threats, bribery. Meanwhile athlete's themselves are defrauded out of money, medals, victories, championships, potential endorsement deals, bonuses. The Russian government has engaged in a conspiracy to defraud many sports out of fair play, and run a systematic doping program. They corrupt the very goal and reason for the Olympics to exist. Competition, not conquest is the reason for the Olympics. An answer to war. Countries at odds lay down their battles to engage in honorable and fair competition. So it

I feel sorry for the lower level clean athletes in Russia who had to compete against all of that shit and never stood a chance of making a national team.

i agree with you.there has to be hundreds,if not thousands of clean russians who have been cheated out of representing their country,because of drug cheats,and systematic doping.im sure theyd be just as crapped off as everyone else.

The Olympics are a joke, an event that wastes boatloads of money.

In a few months, ask the residents of Rio if it was worth hosting the Olympics.

Time to end the Olympics.

If you ban Russia, then you have to ban the UK, Kenya, and Ethiopia. If you don't want to ban the UK, Kenya, and Ethiopia then you cannot ban Russia.

The rules have not being equally applied. If the decision stands then I will not be watching one second of the Olympics. They need to be boycotted if they behave in such a way as it is no example to set to anybody.

A reset with Russia is in order. All corruption should be forgiven.

Russia has been banned by the IAAF as some sort of warning to others. Some would call this an example of exemplary justice. But in a situation where it is quite feasible that the 100 could be won by Gatlin and the 200 & 400 by Merritt should not the USA be banned in a similar fashion? Of course not - because the very phrase "exemplary justice" is an oxymoron.

Every athlete is entitled to be presumed innocent of any doping offence until it is proven that they have broken the rules. It is against any principle of natural justice to ban someone merely on the basis of their nationality. Otherwise ban all American (and Jamaican?) sprinters!

saddened1234 wrote:

If an athlete is clean, no matter where he/she is from, should be allowed to participate. I will be cheering for American but it won't be the same. Please let the world unite.

Yes. I agree with you. If an athlete is clean, they should be in the Olympics. HOwever, we don't know if the athletes in Russia are clean as there was state sponsored drug coverups. Hence, the innocent should have been punished.

That being said, I can see why they wimped out and let the other sports decide. For the team sports like soccer, volleyball, etc, the draws are presumably already set up and tickets sold for individual matchups. It very much screws up things if there are forfeits.

Trouble is, it's already screwed up. If a team loses against a Russian team, or an individual loses against a Russian individual, you know that the Russians will be called drugs cheats. Every time a Russian appears on the TV, people are going to think "drug cheat".