Why Russia’s ‘ban’ from all major sport is anything but

When is a ban not a ban? When does “a cover-up that operated on an unprecedented scale” go unpunished? When will sport finally take doping seriously?

Russia’s four-year ban from all major sport, this time due to tampering with anti-doping data and attempting to cover it up with fake, inaccurate and missing drugs tests, prompts all the familiar questions. If you have a sense of deja vu right now, you’re not the only one.

Why is it no surprise? Because the punishment does not fit the crime, truth be told. Russia will not be at the 2020 Olympics, nor the 2022 World Cup, unless they win an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport next year – only they will be. While the name “Russia” will not be allowed in Tokyo, nor the national flag or anthem, Russian athletes will be allowed to compete as long as they can prove they are clean and remain untarnished from the largest doping scandal sport has ever seen.

They will compete as neutrals, the “Olympic athletes from Russia” as they were known at the 2018 Winter Olympics. But if it looks like a Russian and sounds like a Russian, then no one will be in any doubt over where the medals will be heading back to.

This is the problem. In normal circumstances, it would be hugely unfair to banish clean and rule-abiding athletes from the Games or World Cup. But there is nothing normal about the Russian doping scandal – it has been extraordinary on every level.

So-called “tamper-proof” bottles were broken into in order for the dirty urine sample inside to be replaced with a clean one in order to manipulate retrospective tests, a process that was still happening this year despite the four years of shame brought on the country.

But because Russia has still found a way to compete – and you can guarantee that Fifa will find a way to welcome the “Definitely Not From Russia” side to Qatar 2022 if they qualify – there has never been any remorse from those responsible beyond the whistleblowers.

If elite sport wants to be taken seriously, the blanket ban needs to be implemented until Russia gets its drug-laden house in order.

Yours,

Jack de Menezes

Deputy sports editor