Column | Anti-doping rhetoric and hypocrisy ramping up with one-year countdown to Winter Olympics in South Korea
A rogues’ gallery is set to turn up the heat on a number of fronts in the never ending quest to rid the Olympics of performance-enhancing drugs
It was an Olympic celebration, of sorts. On the day of the one-year countdown to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Austrian police acting on a tip raided the Kazakhstan biathlon team’s hotel before the World Championships in search of performance -enhancing drugs.
Apparently they found a box left at a nearby gas station containing used medical equipment and handwritten notes outlining drug protocol. Police seized additional medical equipment as well as mobile phones while anti-doping authorities took blood and urine samples from the team in what was seen as a reaffirmation by both the International Biathlon Union (IBU) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to stamp out doping.
Of course, when you want to make a definitive statement on how serious you are about fighting drugs you aim high, like the Kazakhstan biathlon team. At the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, the best result Kazakhstan mustered in any of the biathlon disciplines was in the men’s relay, where they finished 18th out of 19 teams.
If anything, the Kazakhs might be looking to find the source of their supposed drugs because they clearly got ripped off. Despite the police raid, the IBU still allowed the Kazakh team to participate until an investigation was completed and one week later they were cleared of doping when all the samples came back negative. Said the Kazakh Olympic committee about the results, “It was obvious and expected.” Indeed, judging by performance alone the result was expected.
What is also obvious and expected is the upcoming outrage and rhetoric by a number of groups as we prepare for the upcoming trio of Olympic games in Asia over the next five years.
This past week, US lawmakers announced that a house subcommittee will conduct a hearing on February 28 that will focus on ways to fight doping in international sports with the 2018 Winter Olympics on the horizon. “The Olympic Games represent the greatest athletes in the world and we want to preserve the integrity of competition and ensure clean sport,” said Pennsylvania representative Tim Murphy.