Mclaren report isn’t enough for a blanket ban
Doping is a problem, a big problem, in Russia — and even the Russians say so themselves. Does this then mean that the Mclaren report, commissioned by the International Olympic Committee to investigate the extent of doping in Russian sports, is not being used by Moscow’s rivals to single out and shame Russia on the world stage, given that many other nations have faced this problem but without such harsh penaltiesIJ The answer is best understood through George Orwell's description of international sports as “war minus the shooting”. This is especially the case in Russia, and more so President Vladimir Puttin’s Russia, where sports performance is an intrinsic part of the national discourse on patriotism and pride. A put-down of Russia on the world sports stage — which is exactly what the Mclaren report has done — is, therefore, quite a big win for Russia's adversaries, even though it may not seem so at first glance. The report, prepared by Canadian lawyer Richard Mclaren and released in Toronto last week, details not only how individual Russian sportspersons took drugs to enhance their performance but also exposed how the Russian Government supported them and actively participated in this dirty affair during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and possibly before that. The report notes that the Moscow anti-doping centre was part of the state-run mechanism that protected Russian athletes who were doping; that the anti-doping laboratory in Sochi also swapped tainted test samples with clean ones. The report also implicates the Russian sports Ministry which allegedly have its blessing for such manipulation and coordinated with other Government agencies to keep the doping mechanism on track. In fact, personnel from the Russian Federal Security Service, simply known as the FSB, were also allegedly involved with the tampering at Moscow and Sochi. Given the scale and scope of the allegations made in the Mclaren report, there was much pressure on the IOC to impose a blanket ban on Russia for the Rio Olympics.
This would have been a huge blow to Russia, and to Putin as well, but the IOC decided against it, and on Sunday announced that it was allowing the federations that govern each sport to decide on the participation of individual Russian athletes at the Rio games. Expectedly, this decision has been derided by Russia-baiters as cowardly and reflective of the Olympic authorities' inability to stand up to Putin. Yet, if one takes off their geo-politically tinted glasses, it would be clear that such a decision is actually fair and within reasonable limits. Russian athletes are already facing more severe testing than others, and those with previous records of doping have been kept out even if they are no longer under sanctions. To now impose a blanket ban on the entire Russian delegation would have been disproportionately harsh. For such an action, a far more detailed, broad-based and thorough inquiry is needed.