Evaluation of Pre-conflict International Olympic Committee Actions against Russia for Doping Violations

Abstract

It is sadly ironic that in ancient Greece, wars were stopped for the Olympics, whereas during the period of the Olympic Truce for the 2022 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics, Russia began an armed incursion into Ukraine. For some time to come, Russia will suffer serious sanctions against competing in the Olympics and in many other international competitions. When Russia is again allowed to compete in the Olympics, there will remain the issue of insuring that the Russian athletes are no longer gaining an advantage by taking performance- enhancing drugs. Although it would seem that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been punishing Russia for its past doping transgressions, most of the IOC actions were not sanctions at all, based on the Olympic Charter. However, some previous actions were punitive and could force compliance if reinstituted and increased. The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) should be disenfranchised. Russian athletes should compete simply as Olympic Athletes with no mention of Russia and no medal table should include Russian-earned medals. The IOC should exercise its ability to screen all Russian athletes for past and present use of performance-enhancing drugs. Further, Russia should not compete in team sports until there is compliance with anti-drug standards. Keywords: anti-doping, Russian sports doping, medals stripped, IOC sanctions