Boston Marathon bans runners from Russia, Belarus

Example of the ignorance NYTimes opinion piece comments. These idiots have no clue how things work in Russia. Like absolute morons they think that the same political pressures work in Russia that work in America. And they're clearly not thinking of the catastrophes that would result if Russians ever tried to violently overthrow Putin. Talk about a power vacuum existing in a country with the biggest nuclear arsenal. Morons.

Sandy
Milwaukee36m ago
Mr. Stephens is incorrect. One thing that marathon running/training teaches you is that life’s not fair, a lot can go wrong as you pursue your individual goals, and you deal with it. More broadly, shame serves a purpose. If we are ever to evolve, the civilized world needs to shame the uncivilized and criminal countries of the world, especially when the crime involves rolling tanks across a border, and the indiscriminate targeting and execution of civilian men and women. If a majority of Russians act to depose Putin—rather than 80% of Russians expressing their support for Putin—Putin would be deposed (and God willing be tried for his war crimes). Maybe this loss of qualification will cause these runners to act in a courageous way. If they do, we’ll all be more than willing, more than happy, to shower them with honor at next year’s race. Running Boston is an honor. Was it fair that the Chinese government’s incompetence led to a worldwide pandemic, that killed millions and (on a much more minor scale of unfairness) deprived me of the joy and honor of running my third Boston Marathon in Boston (as opposed to virtually, in Milwaukee) in 2020? Sure. But remember, life’s not fair.

Just put the Russian runners on Double Secret Probation and be done with it:

The exclusion of runners from Belarus reveals the true childish nature of the BAA.

'We don't like him and you're friends with him so we don't like you too. You can't play with us'

Immaturity is not unusual among sports organizations, but the BAA board of directors is suffering from an exceptionally severe case of arrested development. The legacy of Jock Semple, I guess.

pretty funny to call people as stupid when you don't know what bigotry is. The right wing defense of Putin now includes language he uses and incorrect usage of word. Genuinely suprised you didn't throw a "woke" or "cancelled" in there.

Sports organization world-wide are banning Russia and Belarus. and it's because the organizations are "mean" (cry more) or "stupid" or "childish" (another winner). It's because these countries are killing Ukraine civilians on a scale not seen since ww2.

Spare the whining. We KNOW who you support, we know WHAT you support. You guys are disturbed

If Boston was genuine, they'd ban Ethiopian and Saudi runners as well given their countries' bullying wars. This is pointless virtue signalling.

But of course they won't ban Ethiopian runners because they're the class of the elite field...and they won't ban Saudi runners...well, for obvious reasons.

The comments on this particular tweet shows how many "Leftist" types support bigotry.

Go ahead BAA. Take a stand.

You won't.

It should push them to remove the warlord from power. It could be with a vote or a coup but not removing him is the same as endorsing him.

I'm 100% for punishing the entire country for the actions of their leaders which is what sanctions do.

Iraq was no comparison. That whole part of the world is in a perpetamual game of risk, Europe is settled. War there is unacceptable.

I live in Boston and have some Russian friends here, who have for the most part been in the US since they were kids but a couple still have Russian citizenship (not that they’re planning to run the marathon, to my knowledge). Now, it seems those people would still be allowed to compete, but if for example they had family planning to come over to join them in the marathon, it seems xenophobic to prevent them from competing. I know I wouldn’t want to be punished for Trump or any other US president’s horrible decisions that I disagree with.

Very selective how leftists chose these things. Didn't see Boston banning any Ethiopian runners when the Ethiopian government was persecuting minority groups. But we should ban Russians and Belarusian who have nothing to do with Putin invading Ukraine. And segregate Americans who won't get the experimental medicine even if they are already immune.

At this point you can get the leftists to target pretty much any group with a few well edited clips and an angry bureaucrat spewing nonsense on segments for a couple days straight on the Lester Holt propaganda hour.

Funny that you post this. I was reading one of the NYTimes comments and someone asked about China and the Uyghur situation and why the Chinese runners aren't banned. The Leftist replied by saying it's different than Ukraine because China is oppressing those within it's country, not in a separate country. The mental gymnastics they go through to justify their selective bigotry is comical.

wow someone's triggered

I don't think BAA needed to do this and generally disagree with them. But not going off the deep end per bartmax and his cronies here. laugh.

worldathletics.org

Sergey SUSHCHIKH | Profile | World Athletics

Link:www.worldathletics.org/athletes/russia...

Ready for this... Sergey finished 39th in Boston. GASP!!

I knew I felt unsafe on Monday. Shame on the BAA for being so careless with it's security.

Times are tough, and I'm seriously considering taking a second job at a Uighur death camp. Will I still be able to run?