Russia Sports Minister Wants Olympic Ban Dropped So Sports Can “Be Together” In Coronavirus Crisis

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Russia’s sport minister has suggested that his country’s Olympic doping ban should be dropped and the sins of the past “put on the back burner” because the global sports community needs “to be together” during the coronavirus pandemic.

Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin suggests that Russia can help bailout other nations more stricken and facing economic hardship after containment measures end by taking over the hosting of international sports events cancelled and postponed elsewhere. Under the current Olympic ban, Russia is barred from hosting certain categories of international sports events.

There is no mention from Matytsin of the challenging times Russian cheating imposed on fellow members of the sports community as a result of systematic doping of athletes. His comments come two weeks after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were postponed until 2021 because of the global health pandemic.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) barred Russia from the Olympic Games for four years after investigations revealed that doping data from the  Moscow laboratory accredited by WADA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), had been manipulated.

In October last year Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) director general Yury Ganus told  Der Spiegel that the mass manipulation included names of athletes being changed on sample results. He believed the manipulation was “deliberate”, telling the German magazine that changes to the data finally handed over to WADA in January 2019, after the original deadline for doing so had passed, were too “large and significant” to be a coincidence. Ganus told Der Spiegel:

“It’s not about deleting entire data packets, but changing or moving them in different places. Someone has tried to hush up information on a large scale. It could also be about athletes’ names. It’s not just about what was, the record of 2015, but also about how the material was changed afterwards. We’re speaking about months, the most recent changes date from December 2018 and January 2019.”

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is to rule on whether the newest Olympic ban, after the one imposed on the way to Rio 2016, is valid, but hearings have been delayed because of the global health pandemic and COVID-19 crisis.

Russia’s sports minister now says that the parties to the ban, including WADA and the IOC, should avoid a ruling against Russia because it would fracture the Olympic movement.

In comments to the AP news agency, Matytsin  said:

“The leaders of the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the judges who will decide the ruling should understand that now we’re living in completely different conditions and this crisis which has been created, including the crisis in relationships, should probably come to an end, turn a new page and understand that the main thing right now is to be together.

“When you see that everyone is isolated and everyone is at home, the consciousness changes, the mentality changes and people understand that now there are priorities and there are issues which go on the backburner. The priority is the future of the Olympic movement, it’s the consolidation of the whole international sporting community.”

One of the aspects of the ban on Russia is that the country cannot host major internationals, within certain definitions, in sport during the suspension period. Matytsin wants all that reversed. He told AP that sanctioning Russia would damage the Olympic movement and that beyond the bug being beaten, Russia would be the friend available to host the sports events that others were unable to host as a result of the coronavirus outbreak and economic fallout.

AP notes: “Matytsin took over as sports minister in January and is well connected with Olympic sports officials from his leadership of the International University Sports Federation.”

During the virus outbreak, he said that there should be “respect for the rights of the countries which are among the main actors on the international arena. Russia has always been, is and will remain that sort of partner.”

The question that will come back at Russia is summed up by a source close to WADA:

“Why was Russian not ‘that sort of partner’ in clean sport that respects the rights of fellow competitors instead of the ‘partner’ that made a mockery of fair play in sport? The virus may be invisible but the manipulation of doping data and much else was all too visible and present in the lives of athletes.”

 

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Jenia Swimming
3 years ago

Bandits and a sharpler should not be among real athletes. Boycott of Russia

Jenia Swimming
3 years ago

Russia is the country of the compressor. Russia is a KGB country and violations of international law! Russia is an outcast country!

becky rowe
becky rowe
3 years ago

Gregg ANdrew It is very boring for me, talk to me! ?? Write me. ? Maybe we will make friends ?? ==>> 2.gp/a71mk

Martin Copsey
3 years ago

It beggars belief. Have they no shame?

Ildiko Morris
3 years ago

Haha! Nice try

Patsy Patterson Martin

Do you get that feeling that the virus is China’s revenge for being banned from the Olympics??????

James Hooper
3 years ago

Patsy Patterson Martin

Martin Levine
3 years ago

It’s not the time to ask for a cop-out!

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