It’s long been publicly understood that the International Olympic Committee is a den of jobbery and payoffs. Which only raises the question, just how corrupt does an Olympic team have to be to get the IOC to sit in judgment of them?
The IOC recently took the unprecedentedly severe step of banning Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics being held in South Korea. This in response to revelations the country engaged in a systematic doping program ahead of the Russia-hosted Sochi Olympics in 2014. “The country’s government officials are forbidden to attend, its flag will not be displayed at the opening ceremony and its anthem will not sound,” notes the New York Times. Some Russian athletes who demonstrate they are clean will be allowed to ski and skate in Pyeongchang, but they will compete in neutral uniforms and any medals will not be recorded as won on behalf of Russia.
The Russian response to all this is rather predictable. “The decision comes amid a backdrop of unrelenting Russophobia fueled by Western elites who are furious Russia has thwarted their plans for regime change in Syria and is generally getting in the way of US hegemonic aspirations and the neocon/globalist agenda.” That according to RT. Do note that RT is currently fighting the U.S. government’s recent designation of the broadcaster as a foreign-controlled entity, not an independent media outlet. With such nuanced reporting, we don’t know how anyone ever got the idea they were Russian propagandists.
But setting aside the fact the Russians clearly deserve this punishment, we have to admit that the larger issue is one of don’t hate the player, hate the game. What major sports body isn’t full of cheaters and corruption? Two years ago, international soccer honcho Sepp Blatter and other FIFA authorities were brought up on racketeering, wire fraud, and money-laundering charges by U.S. authorities. Domestically, hardly a week goes by in which we’re not talking about player conduct or corporate backstabbing in the NFL. In 2007, an NBA referee was caught in a gambling scandal. MLB has kept its nose (relatively) clean in recent years, but everyone remembers all those home runs in the ’90s now tainted with dreaded asterisks and the related congressional hearings about steroid use in 2005. And college athletics? The list of scandals is too depressing to contemplate.
Still, the fact the IOC apparently turned down the usual suitcase of cash and, for once, threw the book at Russia is a development remarkable enough that it might portend a sea change. Could it be that there is a Weinstein effect that extends beyond sexual harassment? That maybe, at least for a little while, everyone will stop looking the other way when they know about wrongdoing behind closed doors?
