Russian Dopes

I have  a feeling that the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea this coming February are going to be pretty interesting.  Because the Russian team has been banned from taking part over past doping violations.

This is a compete reversal over the concern as to whether the Soviet Union would participate in the Seoul Summer Olympics in 1988, because the U.S.S.R. had no diplomatic relations with the Republic Of Korea, and Cold War tensions were still very palpable then.  The Olympic moment hung by a thread back then.  But the Soviets did attend those Games, and, ironically, so did the doped-up East Germans.  Even more ironically, both countries were gone by the time the 1992 Olympics were held, and South Korea became a full-fledged democracy as a result of its experience hosting the Summer Games.  But the focus in international athletics then turned away from Cold War tensions and even more to state-sponsored performance-enhancing drug programs, as various countries pursued athletic steroid use for national prestige and lucrative profiteering.  Soon individual athletes from sports non-powers got involved, and doping went from being a way for Communists to cheat to a way for everyone to cheat . . . even Americans.  Lance Armstrong, anyone?

We might not see any Americans cheat in Pyeongchang, though, and not because our athletes are all clean. The White House recently refused to commit to allowing a U.S. Winter Olympics team to South Korea, probably because of that nuclear-weapon thing on the other side of the DMZ.  NBC, already cheated out of broadcasting the 1980 Moscow Olympics due to geopolitical tensions, may not be happy about that, but who cares if Kim Jong Un decides to test missiles during the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony?

And the 2020 Summer Games are in Tokyo . . .

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach may not like drugs, but I can imagine him having a good stiff drink right about now.

Triple Trouble?

Jamaican Usain Bolt accomplished a major feat by winning the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter race, and the 4x100-meter relay in the Rio Games.  See, these were the third consecutive times he won each of those races in the Olympics, which is why the press is calling this feat the triple-triple. But that symmetrical record may be in jeopardy; it suddenly turns out that a fellow Jamaican on the gold-medal-winning 4x100 tram in Beijing in 2008 may have been on steroids at the time.  If it turns out to be true, Bolt, who was not on steroids and never has been, could lose that relay medal from 2008?

And this is only coming out now?  Sure took long enough . . . and the timing couldn't be more suspect.  I certainly hope it isn't true.

Incidentally, something similar happened to Michael Johnson in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics.  The esteemed American sprinter ran on the U.S. men's 4x400-meter relay team and helped the team win the gold medal. Then it came out that there was doping involved.  As far as I can make out, Johnson was the only one on that team who wasn't on steroids.  Needless to say, the team was disqualified, and Johnson had to suffer the indignity of being embarrassed because of the cheating of others.

And speaking of the 4x400, both the American men's and women's teams  - the women's team featuring Allyson Felix - won.  Felix now has six Olympic gold medals, more than any American woman in track and field history.  Congratulations also to Matthew Centrowitz for winning the men's 1500-meter race.

So I Sing a Song of Contempt For Yulia

Are you kidding me?

Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova just qualified for the final of the women's 100-meter breaststroke despite having what I would call a very serious history of steroid use.  She tested positive for a banned substance in 2014 and got stripped of her many medals and records by FINA, the international governing body of swimming.  Another ban followed when she tested positive in March 2016 for a drug developed in Soviet-era Latvia to treat irregular blood flow.  Apparently it's used as a performance enhancer (there's that phrase again!) in international competition.

Yet, somehow, the ban got overturned, and Efimova is now a finalist in Rio, a status that Olympic swimming champion and NBC commentator Rowdy Gaines has a problem with it. And I have a problem with it too.  She's been caught cheating twice, and yet she's being allowed to swim?  Gee, I guess that would explain the booing she's gotten at the Olympic aquatic center.  When she won her qualifiers, she declared herself to be number one with her finger. (Which finger?)  

The final will pit Efimova against Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania and Lilly King of the United States, among others.  I would be happy with either one of them winning over this cheater.

In the men's 100-meter breaststroke, meanwhile, Adam Peaty of Great Britain set a new world record to get the gold after having set the previous world record in the qualifiers.  Yes, he's that good.  U.S. bronze medalist Cody Miller set a new American record in that event.

And, oh yes, Katie Ledecky just broke her own world record in the women's 400-meter freestyle swim, going fast like a Porsche 356.  Her time was . . . 3.56.  Give or take a hundredth of a second.

History!