More than 50 Island athletes are headed to Brazil to compete in the Rio Summer Olympics in August and the Paralympics in September. They are undeterred by the threat of the Zika virus, so it would be a travesty if their medal hopes were dashed by athletes who cheat.
That鈥檚 why the International Olympic Committee must do the right thing as it wrestles with the report that details widespread, state-sponsored doping of athletes in Russia.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has asked the IOC to ban all Russian teams from the Rio Olympics. This followed Monday鈥檚 release of the report from an independent inquiry, led by Richard McLaren, that alleges a plan to hide positive drug tests affecting about 30 sports. The tampering involved government officials at several levels, including Russia鈥檚 security agency, says the report.
The report is not mere speculation. McLaren, a law professor at Western University in London, Ont., has an international reputation as an expert in sports-ethics issues. He investigated claims of steroid use and coverups among U.S. track athletes at the Sydney Olympics in 2000; in 2007, he was a key figure in the landmark investigation into doping in Major League Baseball.
McLaren says strong evidence shows Russia hid hundreds of positive drug tests among its athletes in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympics, the World Athletics Championships in Moscow in 2013 and the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.
Even before McLaren鈥檚 report was released, Canadian and U.S. anti-doping leaders were circulating a letter to the IOC asking that Russian teams and officials be banned from Rio. Officials said the letter was to be sent only if the report revealed extensive doping in Russia.
In Olympic competition, the gap between those who win medals and those who don鈥檛 is seldom large. The difference between gold-medal winners and the athletes who place fourth is often measured in fractions of a second or mere millimetres. An extremely slight advantage can propel an athlete from obscurity to a place on the podium.
Beyond intense personal satisfaction, fame and fortune await gold-medal winners; their countries reap praise and prestige. With those high stakes, the temptation to increase the competitive edge with performance-enhancing drugs is strong.
An Olympic team comprises a country鈥檚 best athletes, so merely qualifying to participate in the Games is a praiseworthy achievement. But it鈥檚 hard to imagine any athlete being satisfied with participation 鈥� each one cherishes that dream of mounting the podium to receive a medal. An incredible amount of focus, hard work and sacrifice is expended in pursuit of that dream.
If someone better wins the medal, good sportsmanship demands that others accept the results with dignity and grace. However, if victory is achieved through cheating, there鈥檚 bitterness in being robbed of a dream.
One of the challenges of the Rio Olympics is the presence there of the mosquito-borne Zika virus. It usually causes mild symptoms or none at all, but if it infects a pregnant woman, it can result in crippling birth defects. This has caused some athletes, including Canadian tennis star Milos Raonic, to withdraw from the Games.
But not the Island鈥檚 athletes, including Victoria swimmer Ryan Cochrane of Victoria, a two-time Olympic medallist.
鈥淭here is a chance to win an Olympic medal and I am excited to share that with the country,鈥� he says.
The IOC executive, awaiting legal advice, has reserved its decision on whether to ban all Russian teams from Rio, but it has already instituted some interim measures in an effort to keep competition clean.
And so it should. It鈥檚 drugs, not bugs, that our athletes should be concerned about.
