Russia Ban
It's nearly time for the Olympic Games to kick off in Rio but many of the athletes from one big nation won't be there. A lot of the Russian team has been banned after investigators found out they'd been using performance enhancing drugs and that some Russian officials were helping them get away with it.
It's the event the world's best athletes spend their lives working towards, the Olympic Games. But while many of these guys are hoping to win gold at Rio, quite a few athletes from one country in particular have now lost their chance to compete.
Russia. It's famous for being really big, really cold, and for these doll things. It's also known as one of the big contenders at the Olympic Games. All up, it's won more medals than any other country besides the USA.
But Russia's going to have to compete at Rio without lots of their top athletes. The World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA is the group in charge of testing athletes for performance enhancing drugs. It found many Russian athletes had been cheating.
Last year, WADA released a report saying lots of Russian athletes had failed drug tests. Russia said it'd clean things up, but when WADA went back for another check, it found things hadn't changed enough. In fact, the latest WADA report found cheating in Russia was more widespread than thought, and involved government officials. It even found Russian secret service agents were helping athletes to cheat drug tests by smuggling out urine samples from labs and swapping them with clean ones that'd been frozen and stored. Gross.
WADA asked for the whole Russian team to be banned from this year's games, but the Olympic Committee decided to leave the decision up to the different sports. The International Athletics Federation has already announced that no track and field athletes from Russia will be allowed to compete. Other sports, like swimming, rowing, and modern pentathlon have gone for partial bans. But some Russian athletes say that's really unfair because they haven't done anything wrong, and they're being banned for the actions of a few.
SVETLANA ULOGA, RUSSIAN RUNNER: I think it's unfair to punish the whole country, all clean athletes. We have nothing to do with it and we are deprived of the opportunity.
But many others disagree, including Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt.
USAIN BOLT, SPRINTER: Rules are rules and doping violations in track and field are getting really bad. So if you feel like you need to make a statement, then thumbs up.
WADA says Olympics organisers needed to send a stronger message that cheating isn't OK. But while many athletes have been banned, other sporting organisations, including the ones in charge of archery, table tennis, and equestrian have given the OK for athletes to compete in those areas. So what do you think should happen?
KID 1: I think it's good that they're banning people who are doing the wrong thing and punishing them by not letting them compete.
KID 2: There are some of the Russian athletes who are honestly working hard to get in the Olympics and if they ban all the athletes it's really unfair for them, but on the other hand its going to be very hard for them to, like, theyll have to test each and every athlete to make sure who is taking drugs and who isnt.
KID 3: I dont think they should be allowed to compete but I feel sorry for them all the same because they were working hard towards the Olympics but they shouldnt have taken the drugs and theyve just set themselves back. I dont think any government should support that.
KID 4: I do think they should be banned because it's not fair them having a physical advantage over the other competitors.
KID 5: I think it's a good opportunity for Australia because now they can compete more and there's one less person to go against so now we've got a bit better of a chance at getting a better place.
- Matthew Holbrook | Reporter
- Ask A Reporter: session | aar
- Olympic ban upheld for Russian track and field team: CBBC Newsround | weblink
- Russia to teach anti-doping in schools as part of new measures to reform ahead of Rio 2016 Olympics: ABC News | weblink
- Rio Olympics 2016: Russian athletes are arriving, but how many will compete?: BBC Sport | weblink
- How are athletes tested for drugs?: CBBC Newsround | weblink
- Sport Cheating: Behind the News | history
- Russian Federation | Map
- Russia Ban | Worksheet
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