Olympic committee risks trust of athletes and the public over Russian involvement in Winter Games
An Olympic ban, by any other name, could still let Russia cheat.
That's what's on the minds of athletes and anti-doping advocates this week, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced more details of their 2017 ban against the Russian team.
Th original ruling came in December, after accusations of a state-sponsored doping program.
Some Russian athletes will compete, by invitation of the IOC, but exactly who is going to the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month has not been revealed.
Those who do show up will wear "neutral" uniforms, with a logo identifying them as an "athlete from Russia." If they win a medal, the Olympic anthem will be played.
This neutral logo has Canadian Olympian Beckie Scott stumped.
"The word 'Russia' is on the uniform ... it's not entirely neutral," she said, adding that the "Russian team will most likely be allowed to participate in the closing ceremonies under their flag."
Scott is a three-time Olympian, and the first North American woman to win an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing. She's also the chair of the Athletes' Committee for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
In Salt Lake City in 2002, Scott won a bronze medal in Women's Pursuit. When receiving her medal at the podium, she said, "this one is for clean athletes."
"Doping in our sport was quite an open secret. It was certainly something that everyone, or most athletes, were aware of," she told The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti.
On the day of closing ceremonies, Scott received a call to say that the two women who had finished in front of her — the gold and silver medallists — had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. She expected the medals would be reallocated right away but in fact, it took two years before she received her gold medal.
"I will never know what it was like to have a gold medal placed around my neck at the Olympic Games. And that's a loss."
"Any athlete who comes home from the Olympics with a bronze medal will tell that there is a loss in terms of endorsements and opportunities as well. A bronze is not the same as a gold."
Russia has been running a doping program for many years now, so we'll remove the presumption of innocence.- Paul Melia
However, Scott said, her experience soon became about justice and the fight for clean sport.
"It really internalized how important it is to continue to stand up for clean, fair sport because it was certainly something that even at that time, so many years ago, appeared to be under threat."
From the CBC Archives: Beckie Scott finally gets her gold
Paul Melia, president and CEO of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, was part of a team making recommendations to the IOC on how to deal with Russian athletes and doping.
Melia suggests Russian athletes should be assessed with stricter criteria and held to a higher standard.
"Russia has been running a doping program for many years now, so we'll remove the presumption of innocence," he told Tremonti.
Melia said it's important for the IOC to be transparent if they are going to allow certain athletes from Russia to compete.
"Those athletes should be named, the criteria used to determine their eligibility should be published, and the test histories of those athletes should be published so clean athletes around the world can gain some confidence that they've been subject to the same robust anti-doping program that these athletes have been subject to," he said.
Melia said that somewhere in the region of 400 athletes have been cleared by the IOC, but their names and histories have not been released.
"We think that it's important — if they're going to allow certain athletes to participate from Russia — that those athletes should be named," he said. "And the test histories of those athletes should be published, so clean athletes around the world can gain some confidence that they've been subject to the same robust anti-doping program that these athletes have been subject to."
- The Current: North Korea's 'real motives': Olympic unity may mask hostile plan, experts warn
- CBC Radio: Stay up to date with the Winter Olympics podcast
A lack of transparency could harm the IOC's credibility, according to Melia.
"The IOC is really underestimating how the public is watching and going to react to how they've handled this situation and I think they have to be careful," he said.
"They have been challenged to demonstrate some moral and ethical leadership here and to stand up for clean athletes around the world and they've failed to do so, so far."
Listen to the full audio — which includes a conversation with Helen Lenskyj, professor emeritus at University of Toronto — near the top of this page. You can share this article across email, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms.
This segment was produced by The Current's Samira Mohyeddin, Ines Colabrese and Lara O'Brien.