Recently, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) has announced that Russian athletes will not be able to compete at the upcoming Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, due to the doping scandal from the Sochi Olympics.

I understand not allowing the athletes who were tested positive for drugs to compete; in fact, I fully support banning those athletes. I fully support stripping them of their medals, because they broke a very serious contract they signed to. At the Olympics, every athlete is supposed to have an equal shot at winning the gold medal, and this is, in no way, fair.

But there's so much more to it than that. Sure, there were so many athletes that were caught for doping; but why take away the opportunity from athletes that were not even old enough to compete in the Sochi Olympics?

This may be the only shot they have in their entire life to win an Olympic medal. For example, in figure skating, most people peak young, and progressively lose the ability to perform at such a solid level as they get older. One Russian figure skater this impacts, in particular, is Evgenia Medvedeva. Evgenia is just 18 years old, which means she was 14 during the Sochi Olympics. At 14, an athlete is not legally allowed to compete at the Olympics. Because she is a figure skater, this may be the only chance she gets at winning an Olympic gold medal.

And yes, she is a huge contender for the gold medal. She has consistently been on top in competitions throughout the past few years, and I have no doubts that she would at least land on the podium at the upcoming Olympics. However, if she was not even old enough to be at the Olympics when the entire scandal happened, then why is she being punished?

Though I think it would be unfair to ban every Russian Olympic athlete that competed in the Sochi Olympics, that is still more fair than banning every Russian athlete in general. Everyone deserves a fair chance, but some people are being stripped of their chance because people from their country cheated in the Olympics when they were just barely a teenager.

The IOC offered an alternative that would allow Russian athletes to compete as a neutral athlete, but if they were to win, their national anthem would not be played, and there will be no Russian flags or any acknowledgement of Russia at any point of the Olympics. This is unfair, because when athletes compete, they compete partly to represent their country. If I had ever made it to the Olympic level, I would be ashamed to be considered a "neutral athlete" at the Olympics. I would want to represent my country, and take home awards for my country.

This IOC Russian ban is extremely unfair, and I think needs to be reworked. People work their entire lives and give up the majority of their time dedicating themselves to the sport, and if they are able to compete up to the level of being an Olympic athlete, then they fully deserve their once-in-a-lifetime shot of being an Olympic athlete.