Well, the decision's been delayed over an hour already. Plenty of debate to be had.
I find it a difficult one. Really, for the Russians some high ups in RUSADA, the SBR and their XC fed need to fall for real change to be effected. At the same time, the 'list of 31' varies wildly in its issues, from pretty cut and dried (Glazyrina has two tests positive for three different substances, for example), to unclear (none of Malyshko's samples have any results whatsoever, so likely are among those to have gone missing?) to wildly speculative (a number of people appear on the list without a positive, without any stated issue regarding the sample, and with the sample having come back negative), so even picking out which athletes to ban will vary wildly in interpretations. Do you ban an athlete who, on the face of it has done nothing wrong, but where the fed have interfered on the athlete's behalf and committed an offence? I certainly feel for a large number of athletes who may be involved in such a way (regardless of whether they may or may not have been doping). And certainly the list of 31 seems to refer to three categories:
1) Those who were part of the Olympic team. These divide quite neatly between the women's team with clear offences and the men with, Lapshin apart, more unclear status.
2) Those who were competing for a spot in the Junior team in the run-up to Sochi 2014. Of the 12 athletes in this category, all are named just once, on one specific date, and 11 of the tests came back negative, the 12th (Evsyunina) does not appear to have been tested.
3) Seeming 'lone wolf' positives or AAFs from the Russian national calendar.
I think group 1 is the only real concern really when it comes to making a decision regards whether to suspend the whole team. Group 3 types are always going to come about, and many of them are no-names competing domestically only, and the only ones that aren't also returned AAFs as part of competition for group 1 anyway (Lapshin and Glazyrina). Apart from Evsyunina's sample not being tested there is nothing immediately visible to be concerned about among the juniors. But the variations among the Olympic team are clearly where the issue lies.
Although the Ostrov Junior Worlds was decided some time ago, in fairness awarding the World Championships to Tyumen' with this hanging over the head of the SBR was just a stupid decision by the IBU.
I find it a difficult one. Really, for the Russians some high ups in RUSADA, the SBR and their XC fed need to fall for real change to be effected. At the same time, the 'list of 31' varies wildly in its issues, from pretty cut and dried (Glazyrina has two tests positive for three different substances, for example), to unclear (none of Malyshko's samples have any results whatsoever, so likely are among those to have gone missing?) to wildly speculative (a number of people appear on the list without a positive, without any stated issue regarding the sample, and with the sample having come back negative), so even picking out which athletes to ban will vary wildly in interpretations. Do you ban an athlete who, on the face of it has done nothing wrong, but where the fed have interfered on the athlete's behalf and committed an offence? I certainly feel for a large number of athletes who may be involved in such a way (regardless of whether they may or may not have been doping). And certainly the list of 31 seems to refer to three categories:
1) Those who were part of the Olympic team. These divide quite neatly between the women's team with clear offences and the men with, Lapshin apart, more unclear status.
2) Those who were competing for a spot in the Junior team in the run-up to Sochi 2014. Of the 12 athletes in this category, all are named just once, on one specific date, and 11 of the tests came back negative, the 12th (Evsyunina) does not appear to have been tested.
3) Seeming 'lone wolf' positives or AAFs from the Russian national calendar.
I think group 1 is the only real concern really when it comes to making a decision regards whether to suspend the whole team. Group 3 types are always going to come about, and many of them are no-names competing domestically only, and the only ones that aren't also returned AAFs as part of competition for group 1 anyway (Lapshin and Glazyrina). Apart from Evsyunina's sample not being tested there is nothing immediately visible to be concerned about among the juniors. But the variations among the Olympic team are clearly where the issue lies.
Although the Ostrov Junior Worlds was decided some time ago, in fairness awarding the World Championships to Tyumen' with this hanging over the head of the SBR was just a stupid decision by the IBU.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram