Should Russia be banned from the Rio Olympcis?

Yes. Didn't two officials commit "suicide" recently in that uniquely Russian way? If that isn't further proof of state involvement in their doping activities nothing is.

Is Turkey banned? Because they should be too.

No. East block countries are no more corrupt than the west. The IAAF balance of power has switched and they are ganging up on Russia.

doot doot wrote:

Yes. Didn't two officials commit "suicide" recently in that uniquely Russian way? If that isn't further proof of state involvement in their doping activities nothing is.

Is Turkey banned? Because they should be too.

a) going along those same lines, if you are insinuating the media is lying and officials were murdered, then the media is lying about 9-11. Right? Or are we going to pick and choose what we "know" they're lying about?

b) No, they should not be banned. It will not only perpetuate politically-motivated bullshit, and greatly lessen the prestige of these Olympics (since Russia is an Olympic power), but also show what a farce this is since Russia is most definitely not the only country with a lot of doping going on.

I will start this off by going on the record saying I would like to see the Russians in Rio. Obviously, only the 'clean' Russians.

The west has pointed at the Russians to distract from its own doping since the 1970's.

I don't believe Coe was clean, nor any other world record holder from 1985 or before, except maybe high jump or some shit. And I don't care who thinks he should be given a pass until proven dirty. No, he shouldn't. The whole reason there's testing is the burden of proof is on the athlete.

I'm sick of Coe and I piss on the olympics and IAAF until he's gone. Track should learn from real pro sports and put a non-athlete in charge.

Bad Wigins wrote:

The west has pointed at the Russians to distract from its own doping since the 1970's.

I don't believe Coe was clean, nor any other world record holder from 1985 or before, except maybe high jump or some shit. And I don't care who thinks he should be given a pass until proven dirty. No, he shouldn't. The whole reason there's testing is the burden of proof is on the athlete.

I'm sick of Coe and I piss on the olympics and IAAF until he's gone. Track should learn from real pro sports and put a non-athlete in charge.

I didn't think Coe was the best choice to head the IAAF either; however, I didn't feel as strong about it as you obviously do. In term of Coe's athletic career, I agree that the British middle distance miracle of the late 70s to late 80s stands out almost as a statistical anomaly. However, Coe has a lot of things in his favor that suggest he was most likely clean.

1. There is absolutely nothing substantial in terms of real evidence which suggest he doped.

2. With out a doubt he was extremely talented and trained like a champion.

3. Coe was good at a young age and had a long career.

4. The steroids of that day weren't very good for endurance athletes. It was the same stuff they gave to race horses and caused you to bulk up. And, EPO did not come on the scene until the end of Coe's career.

5, Coe was not the only athlete running extremely fast in his era and to think Coe doped means you have to be suspicious of quite a few other athletes as we.

With all of that said, he gets the benefit of doubt in my mind.

Also, what doping is going on in the U.S.? It is not impossible to dope, but our top athletes are tested randomly and frequently, which does not mean people won't get caught, but chances are we should be seeing some positives as well. This is not to say everyone in the West is clean, but it is highly unlikely mass doping is going and btw, if you think everyone is dirty, why do you still follow the sport?

Only if Kenya and Ethiopia are banned as well.

TrackCoach wrote:

There have been a lot of threads on the Russian doping scandal, but I have not seem too many posts that flat out ask the question if they should be banned on not.

I actually couldn't care less, because I have no idea who is clean and who isn't these days.

100M used to be my fave event because that was what I ran. Now I watch the Olympic 100m final and its sorta: "In Lane 1: a convicted doper; in Lane 2: a suspected doper; In Lane 3: a convicted doper" etc. all the way up to Lane 8.

Hell, even the commentators these days are at the centre of doping scandals (cf. Radcliffe).

If I could just train myself to be naive again, then I could probably enjoy it all more, pleased that each winner's hard work has paid off.

I think the worst of the Russian doping is over. The medal count for Russia at Worlds dropped like a stone. You no longer hear about Russian championships where everyone is running 3:30 flat for 1500 and other outrageous times. They are not clean, but they have definitely been taken down a notch. If anything, we should keep them in the Olympics to see how badly they will do knowing that their old doping protocols will not get them past the testing.

It would also overly politicize the games and send us back to the 1980s. Russia would claim that they are being persecuted because of politics and get aligned countries to boycott.

Holymotherofgod wrote:

doot doot wrote:

Yes. Didn't two officials commit "suicide" recently in that uniquely Russian way? If that isn't further proof of state involvement in their doping activities nothing is.

Is Turkey banned? Because they should be too.

a) going along those same lines, if you are insinuating the media is lying and officials were murdered, then the media is lying about 9-11. Right? Or are we going to pick and choose what we "know" they're lying about?

What does 9/11 have to do with anything? Lotta projection. You must be a closet Truther..

Nevermind the anomalous number and frequency of suicide by Russian officials in general... And billionaire expats. Boy those billionaires that fled to London who pissed of Putin sure must feel so terrible that they have to take their lives. Please. Staged suicides are the Russian MO for political assassinations.

The burden of proof is NOT on the athlete.

Holymotherofgod wrote:

doot doot wrote:

Yes. Didn't two officials commit "suicide" recently in that uniquely Russian way? If that isn't further proof of state involvement in their doping activities nothing is.

Is Turkey banned? Because they should be too.

a) going along those same lines, if you are insinuating the media is lying and officials were murdered, then the media is lying about 9-11. Right? Or are we going to pick and choose what we "know" they're lying about?

b) No, they should not be banned. It will not only perpetuate politically-motivated bullshit, and greatly lessen the prestige of these Olympics (since Russia is an Olympic power), but also show what a farce this is since Russia is most definitely not the only country with a lot of doping going on.

lol

Precious Roy wrote:

Russia would claim that they are being persecuted because of politics and get aligned countries to boycott.

How would anyone believe that with a straight face? The rest of the world doesn't have to play along with their delusions.

What Conceivable wrote:

The burden of proof is NOT on the athlete.

Yes, it is. Professional track is a business, not a courtroom. Pro athletes are vendors selling a product, and the onus is on them to prove its quality to the customer.

If the customer thinks they may have doped, the product becomes nearly worthless and the sport becomes marginalized as it is now. The only way out is to prove athletes clean as much as possible. You can't do that under the leadership of a guy from a dirty era.

cleans wrote:

100M used to be my fave event because that was what I ran. Now I watch the Olympic 100m final and its sorta: "In Lane 1: a convicted doper; in Lane 2: a suspected doper; In Lane 3: a convicted doper" etc. all the way up to Lane 8.

...

If I could just train myself to be naive again, then I could probably enjoy it all more, pleased that each winner's hard work has paid off.

Same here. I came up on Houston McTear, Harvey, Glance, Steve Riddick, et al, but It's tough to follow and watch now. It's a crucial time for the sport to try and recapture the trust of the public. Unfortunately, I fear that means the reaction from the sport won't necessarily be to do the right things as much as the expedient thing that protects its image from further damage. I'm just not convinced that there isn't some looking the other way going on in order to protect what are considered 'valuable properties'.

No way should they be banned. The whole systemic doping accusation is a fabrication. The proof is simple:

If they doped an entire cohort of runners throughout the country, why could none of them touch Radcliffe's marathon record, even though she has been proclaimed clean by Coe and the IAAF?

Why is that? Huh? Anyone want to guess?

Obviously it's because THEY WEREN'T DOPING!!!

There's simply no other explanation.

the big dopers like bannister, ryun, salazar, prefontaine, etc. competed so why not the doped russians, americans, kenyans, etc.

YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!

if you are gonna ban russia

you need to ban the guys from the former oregon project.

you are going to have to ban the IOC brass.

need to ban IAAF

need to ban USTAF

ethopia and kenya

entire caribbean.

athletics canada, new zealand.

a ton of brits.

end of story.