More Doping Scandals At The Olympics

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. More doping is plaguing the Olympic Games. Of course, not to worry, as the popped athletes are – again – token nobodies from politically expedient teams in backwater events that nobody cares about.

First there was the Japanese speed skater who was projected to win nothing and didn’t, as he was PyeongChang’s first IOC/WADA/CAS sacrifice. Then, there was the attractive but pretty normal-looking Russian curler gal who lit up the social media boards and had to be knocked down a peg, so her meldonium-taking hacker husband got popped, with the IOC stripping the Bronze from the Russian team (a.k.a. the OAR, because politics) and awarding it to the Norwegian team (who actually lost to the Russians 8-4). Now, an also-ran (12th place) bobsledder from the Russian Women’s Bobsleigh team has “tested positive” for some other nonsense, a heart drug called trimetazidine.

So to recap: three athletes from two “deplorable” countries (Korea hates Japan and Russia is the global boogeyman of the 2010s) have tested positive for trivial drugs that pale in comparison to the superstar stuff that the top competitors in the top sports consume all year long, all in an effort to demonstrate that the Olympics – by sniffing out the “cheaters” – is “clean.” Bah and/or pfft.

There is, of course, a silver lining to all this, at least for folks paying attention: The Olympics is dopey, just not in the way you think. Consider the real dopey stuff going on at this year’s games – stuff that, by my reckoning, is a lot more harmful to any “integrity of the game argument” that anyone might put forth in support of these token drug busts. Take American Elizabeth Swaney, for example. She rigged her way into the Olympics by scamming her way through the freestyle skiing World Cup circuit, then tricked Hungary into letting her compete for them in the Freestyle Ski Halfpipe event in PyeongChang. We all know how that turned out. Consider also this shirtless, oiled-up Tongan from Australia who “learned” to ski in two months on gravel and was allowed to compete in the world’s most premier Cross Country Olympic event on snow (where he finished second to last against some other poser). Another dopey piece of work is the Nigerian Women’s Bobsleigh team. Apparently, all it takes to get into the most competitive tournament on earth in that sport is to group-fund enough cash to buy a bobsled and rent some slide time, have your government “establish” a token national Bobsleigh Federation, and hey presto, Olympics! And a last-place finish. A true watershed moment!

Having unworthy competition showcased on the national stage is far more damaging to the credibility of the Olympic Games than any alleged “doping cheat.” Indeed, when athletes are on the gas (and the fact that curlers and bobsledders have “tested positive” even though they compete in arguably the least physically taxing events should tell you a thing or two about the reality of the rest of the field when it comes to PEDs), that still makes for a level playing field. However, when people who cannot compete at a high level are allowed to insult those who can (and everyone else associated with their self-serving ignominy), that actually harms those other competitors, their events, and the entire Olympics itself.

Forget about doping. If the Winter Olympics are ever going to be fixed (i.e. stop being a sham), OlympicBettingOdds.com thinks three things need to happen:

1. Cease with the meaningless, selectively-enforced drug bans.
2. Cease allowing non-competitive competitors to compete.
3. Cease hosting the games in communities and municipalities that cannot afford the aftermath.

Then, and only then, will there truly be no doping in the Olympics.

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