On Russia's expulsion from the Olympics

A commentary on the expulsion of Russia from the Olympics

The Saker

Vineyard f the Saker,

5 December, 2017

So finally, the suspense is over and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) from 2018 Olympics, ruling that “clean” Russian athletes can only compete under a neutral flag in South Korea in February.  Since I am going to be asked about this I might as well give you my reaction to this latest development.

First, I really don’t care about sports or the Olympics.  Let me rephrase that: I like sports, but not the mega-business around watching sports.  Second, I don’t really see why athletes should represent countries, that kind of cheapo feel-like-a-victor pseudo-patriotism is not my cup of tea.  Third, I am not naive to the point of thinking the all-prevailing corruption in Russia would not affect any Russian athlete and that it is unthinkable that any of them might have used banned substances.  However, it is also equally obvious to me that

1. The IOC is a tool in the hands of the AngloZionist Empire which uses it to humiliate Russia
2. That there is no evidence whatsoever that doping in Russia is any worse than in any other country or that the ROC or the authorities somehow organized and managed the doping of Russian athletes.
3. By not singling out any convicted athlete but by slamming a collective punishment on all Russian athletes the IOC and its bosses are really trying to stigmatize Russia as a whole and everything Russian

Next, I think that the Kremlin’s reaction only makes things worse: Peskov has just announced that Putin personally has decided not to boycott the Olympics.   That is an extremely unwise decision not only because it makes Russia look guilty and weak, but because it now places the burden of responsibility on deciding whether to be an active participant in the humiliation of Russia upon every individual Russian athlete.  Very bad call!  I am afraid that most of them will go for all sorts of more or less understandable reasons which they will eventually regret.  After all, athletes are trained in their sports and not to access the political implications of their actions.

I am sure that many will disagree with me, but I believe that a total boycott by Russian of the next Olympics is the least bad solution.  I would even recommend that the Kremlin organize a competition in Moscow not to try to match the immense commercial, social and political magnitude of the official Olympics in Seoul, but just to let the Russian athletes not only show their best, but to show the bastards at the IOC that they don’t “own” sports.

None of that will happen, I know.

In the meantime, here is a quick look at the main sponsors of the IOC:

and, just to complete the picture, here the list of the folks who currently compose the IOC:

Mr Thomas BACH, Germany
Mr Zaiqing YU, China
Mr Juan Antonio SAMARANCH, Spain
Prof. Ugur ERDENER. Turkey
Ms Anita L. DEFRANTZ, USA
Mrs Gunilla LINDBERG, Sweden
Mr Gian-Franco KASPER, Switzerland
Mrs Angela RUGGIERO,USA
Mr Sergey BUBKA, Ukraine
Mr Ser Miang NG, Singapore
Mr Willi KALTSCHMITT LUJÁN, Guatemala
Dr Robin E. MITCHELL, Fiji
Mrs Nicole HOEVERTSZ, Aruba
Mr Denis OSWALD, Switzerland

Except for one lonely Chinese (does anybody know how he voted?) – the rest are all representatives of the Empire or of its colonies.  QED.

That’s all I have to say.  I am disgusted beyond words, mostly by the deafening silence from a world where Russia truly has very few friends.  That’s okay – we are used to that.  But it still is disgusting.

The Saker