Russian athlete Darya Klishina, 25, who is the only Russian track and field athlete to compete in Rio, has been accused of being a part of a doping scandal. The International Olympic Committee had thought about banning the entire Russian delegation from Rio but instead are leaving it up to each Olympic sport’s governing federation to decide whether to allow Russians in their respective sport to compete. Russian president Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media that Putin had discussed the doping issue with his national security council.
Some of the sports athletes have begun taking action, seven Russian swimmers have dropped out, while three archers and eight tennis players are still in. There’s a total of 22 rowers who have been banned from playing in Rio. In total, there have been 105 of 387 Russian Olympic athletes barred from competing in the Rio Olympics. One sailor was banned from participating because he was mentioned in a doping report, but the six other sailors are allowed to participate and Russia is looking to replace him. The track team already had been banned by track and field’s governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations. A ruling upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport has the final word on international sports disputes. There was a sliver of light when the judo and shooting teams - which together consist of 29 athletes – received the okay to compete in their respective sports. Klishina will compete because she showed the IAAF that she was clean of any illegal drugs and that she trained somewhere other than Russia.
The counties former anti-doping chief exposed the state-run doping program at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The thing about the Russian doping scandal has been its duration of the operation. A worker for the World Anti-Doping Agency, uncovered a state-run Russian doping program that spanned four years. At Sochi, steroids were put into Chivas for men and vermouth for women. Dirty urine samples were exchanged for clean urine samples in between the doping lab offices-- the standard approach to the Soviet-styled shenanigans and it reflected Moscow’s anything goes mindset – something not just used in sports, but in the country’s approach to everything they do.
Klishina’s long jumps will be the product of her hard work and dedication to the sport-- not steroids. She should be looked up to in Russia, but instead her own countrymen have turned their backs on her. On social media she was called a “traitor” and one person even stated she may be like Soviet soldiers who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. Also, the fact that she lives and trains in the United States doesn’t help her case.
Though, just imagine the message she will send when she wins gold in Rio. Even if she doesn’t, everyone will be cheering the honest, hard-working, driven young woman because she symbolizes what the Olympics are about – competitive and driven athletes.
