What is next for Russia and the future Olympics?

Recently, two of Russia’s “independent” athletes have been caught for doping during the PyeongChang Olympic Games. In the previous Olympic Games, the whole Russian Olympic team was caught for doping along with their program and all 41 medals that they had earned throughout the games were taken back from them and they stripped of their titles.

Much of the Russian team at the time won a series of medals, but because they were caught for doping they were banned from future games until they were tested negative for having traces of drugs in them.

Ironically, due to a deal with the Olympics committee, some of the Russians that were caught were tested and the results came back negative, which gave them the opportunity to compete independently, but under the Olympic flag.

Although these Russian competitors were allowed to compete they were not allowed to be affiliated with their flag or country in any way. This allowed for them to have the ability to compete against the rest of the countries that were playing in the Olympic Games. During the games they were represented under the Olympic flag with everything seeming to be in order for these athletes, yet no one was suspecting that they were still under the use of doping.

Their doping program has become some kind of a tradition among many Russian athletes to improve their percentage of winning. This is not the first time these programs have used athletes to have the advantage of competing against others. This drug program has been around since the 1980s in the Soviet Era.

The KGB used “anti-doping authorities” so that their athletes were able to lay low while they were competing in the 1980 Summer Olympics. This caused for other countries to not take notice of the doping programs that were provided to the Russian athletes. This carried on for years with little to no evidence that these athletes were being put through a doping program with only a few being caught.

It wasn’t until 2012, after the Summer Olympics, that the country was ousted on what they had been doing to “prepare” to win. With this scandal happening once again there is no doubt that there will be controversy to whether Russia should be allowed to play in the 2020 Olympics.

Their ban has been lifted, however there are some countries that may believe it is too soon for them, especially if they are known for doping up their athletes to get the upper hand.