The Olympics show what happens when Putin’s transgressions go unchecked

Opinion | The Olympics show what happens when Putin’s transgressions go unchecked

Russia's Kamila Valieva after competing Thursday in the women's single free skate in the Beijing Winter Olympics. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)

How is this possible given that in 2019 the World Anti-Doping Agency banned Russia from international sporting competitions for four years? That was an appropriate punishment for state-sponsored Russian doping — and yet the international community has never had the nerve to truly hold Russia to account for doping its athletes, just as it never truly held Russia to account for invading Georgia and Ukraine.

The Russian doping scheme, which must have been authorized at the highest levels of government, was uncovered after the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. After allegations of misconduct emerged, Grigory Rodchenkov, a chemist who was the longtime head of Russia’s anti-doping laboratory, fled the country and told his story.

He recounted how he came up with a mixture of three anabolic steroids that wasadministered to leading Russian athletes at the 2012 London Summer Olympics and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. The drugs were dissolved in alcohol to make them harder to detect. To ensure that Russian athletes would get away with their cheating, Rodchenkov testified, Russian intelligence agents surreptitiously replaced tainted urine samples with clean specimens at international competitions in the dark of night.

After Rodchenkov came forward, Russian officials reportedly sought to discredit him by fabricating messages from him that were placed in a database turned over to the World Anti-Doping Agency. The New York Times reported that the Russians were trying “to frame the whistle-blower as the ringleader in a scheme to extort athletes and coaches by threatening to manipulate doping samples” — charges that he denied.

Russia’s dictator, Vladimir Putin, has claimed that Rodchenkov is “under the control of American special services” and described him as “an imbecile with obvious problems.” Rodchenkov has gone into hiding for fear of his life — a reasonable concern given what happens to Putin’s enemies.

Yet despite Russia’s blatant criminality, it has escaped serious punishment. Russian athletes have been allowed to compete in all the Olympics and world championships since the doping scandal was uncovered as long as they pass drug tests. They can still wear their national colors, but the Russian flag cannot be displayed, and the Russian national anthem cannot be played. In the official standings, the Russians are identified as ROC, for “Russian Olympic Committee.”

None of that prevented Putin from appearing at the Beijing Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies — and it will not stop him from reaping the propaganda rewards of all the medals Russia’s athletes win.

That’s not much of a punishment — and even the original slap on the wrist was reduced at the end of 2020 from a four-year ban to just two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. That means the ban expires in December, so next year the Russians will proudly get to march with their flag and hear their anthem played once again at international sporting events.

In the meantime, there is reason to suspect the Russians may be up to their old tricks. Fifteen-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva helped Russia win a team event in Beijing, but afterward it was revealed that she had tested positive for a banned substance. Pending further investigation, the Court of Arbitration for Sport allowed her to keep competing anyway. Facing unprecedented scrutiny and pressure, Valieva had a disastrous free skate, tumbling to fourth place in the individual competition. Afterward, she was reduced to tears.

NBC Olympics host Mike Tirico was absolutely correct in excoriating everyone involved for failing this teenager. “The adults in the room left her alone,” Tirico said on Thursday night. “Portrayed by some this week as the villain, by others as the victim, she is, in fact, the victim of the villains. The coaches and National Olympic Committee surrounding Kamila Valieva, whether they orchestrated, prescribed or enabled all of this is unclear, but what is certain: They failed to protect her.”

I would go further and say that the international community failed to protect Valieva and other athletes because it refused to deal seriously with Russia’s doping conspiracy. By not cracking down, the world allows Putin to carry on.

This is the same signal the world sent Putin by refusing to deal seriously with his invasion of Georgia in 2008 and of Ukraine in 2014. The message that the Russian tyrant receives is that the international community is weak and feckless and he can do what he wants. Hence he is now mobilizing as many as 190,000 troops on the borders of Ukraine. An invasion could come any day. If the world does not respond more strongly to Russian transgressions in the future than it has in the past, Putin will be emboldened to commit even worse crimes — and so will other dictators.