Russia has lost its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), international sports' highest tribunal, over the ban of its track and field team over doping its athletes. This paves the way for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Russian athletes from the Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro beginning on August 5, if the IOC so chooses. Even without a blanket ban on Russia for the Rio Olympics, track and field events were at the core of their Olympic hopes.
An independent report last fall by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) asserted that there was "rampant state-sponsored doping in Russian athletics." At the time, Russia pledged to clean up the problem, but in June the international federation ruled that progress had not been sufficient to lift the ban on the track and field athletes. Russia Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, a crony of Russian leader and Trump fave Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin, claimed that the ban harmed athletes that weren't doping, although the independent report was clear that the doping was supported by the Russian government itself through its Ministry of Sport and was "rampant."
Reverting to their default "slander against Russia" mode, the Sports Ministry has called CAS's ruling a "crime against sport," while Russian pole vaulter Yelena "I Can Vault Without A Pole" Isinbayeva claimed that it was a plot to keep the mighty Russkies from winning: "They have always feared (our) strength." Well, Yelena, strength through chemistry it seems. Spasibo for (not) playing.
