RUSSIAN ATHLETICS - OUT IN THE COLD UNTIL RUSSIA CLEANS UP HER ACT?

Yes; you are being watched, so do the right thing, which is the honest thing.

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 am not surprised that the IAAF has uphold its ban on Russian athletes taking part in the Rio Olympics, and, quite frankly, nobody, probably excluding the most arrogant of Russians, should have been surprised by the IAAF's action.

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rrespective of what the reality is, the overwhelming perception is that there is massive corruption in professional and non-professional sports all over the world, and that some governments and national sports bodies are involved.

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ports is extremely big business, so there are big incentives for corrupt sports men and women, the business people who support them. Some officials in some governments are dishonestly giving some of these sports people the added edge, through illegal and corrupt practices. The perception is that Russia is one of the countries which is involved in doing so, and it would appear that the problem is so big, that one wonder whether the Russians are feeling that they cannot clean up corruption in their sports arena, or that they only have to do the absolute minimum to give the perception that they are committed to effectively cleaning up their sports?

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n order to make any head way, Russia needs to unambiguously accept that she has a problem with dishonesty and corruption in her sports domain - yes, like many other countries - and take responsibility to remedy it. No equivocations about the generality of the problem, internationally.

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t is clear that some Russians are taking action to try to put their house in order, but, I suspect that this is proving difficult, as the corrupt people who are involved, fight tooth and nails to hold on to their illegal money making scams. The problem, of course, is probably endemic, with people from probably all echelon of society being involved.

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s I have said, it is not only Russia which is in the dog-house over cheating in sports; we have seen such accusations and evidence of sports people in North America, Africa and Europe, falling to the irresistible temptation of making big money from cheating.  Probably the big difference is that, in the case of Russia, it appears to have been more systematic and done on a larger scale, and Russia has a prestigious reputation to protect. 

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he Russian government ought to have been aware of what was happening and take effective action to address this appalling situation. The fact that it had initially sought to deny the problem, and then prove itself unable to take robust action to make her sports honest, which the IAAF has asked for, raises serious questions about Russia's commitment to deliver on her promises. 

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he Russian state has benefited from the national and international prestige which comes with her sports men and women doing well in international sporting events. The argument that it would be wrong to 'punish' honest Russian sports men and women, by banning Russia from participating in relevant events until she has cleaned up her act, is fallacious, since the athletes are not competing as individuals, but as representatives of their country.  It is their government's responsibility for having allowed them to be placed in this unenviable predicament; they should be able to sue their government for negligence.

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hat would give their government greater incentive to be less tolerant of such corrupt and dishonest practices, and to taking effective action to stamp them out.

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 hear what President Putin is saying about the injustice of 'punishing the innocent' for the wrongs of the guilty. Yet, that has always been the effect of 'generic banning and sanctions; that more innocent people suffer than those who are presumed or proven guilty. Take how Israel collectively punishes the Palestinian people, or how the West is currently collectively punishing the Russian people with the imposition of economic and financial sanctions over the Ukraine conflict. Should innocent Russians be able to take legal action against the EU and America? If not, why should it be different in the sports arena?

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resident Putin is considered to be a strong leader, so it is certainly not yet demonstrated that he and his Government has given a resolute message to the relevant authorities and sports bodies in Russia that they must clean up this unacceptable situation as a matter of urgency.

OWOHROD