Hello from the past

The Olympics in Beijing, it turns out, began for our team last spring. It was then, according to the analyses, that seven Russian track and field athletes, including five members of the Olympic team, changed their own doping tests in order to mislead the inspectors. Now the deception has been revealed, all these cunning people have been suspended from the competition, they are not going to Beijing, and the Russian team has lost, perhaps, as many as three gold medals (optimistically) or at least one gold (realistically).

The story is sad. And even stupid - against the backdrop of a pompous visit to the Kremlin, vows to give all their strength and fight honestly, assurances from all the numerous sports departments (and as many as three offices manage the sport!) of the purity of Russian Olympians.

However, this story is not so simple. But before delving into it, I want to remind you that I have repeatedly, including on these pages, written and said that the fight against doping has nothing to do with the fight for justice, that this is the same type of business as doping itself, that sport without doping is a utopia and an illusion. The story of our freshly caught athletes simply proves all this once again.

So, the outline of events is obvious, but there are questions. The first of them is: why do tests taken last spring become known a week before the Olympics? Every person has the right to defense and appeal. Every error must have the opportunity to be corrected, but error cannot be excluded even in the most obvious matter. Just as one cannot exclude the possibility of provocations, setups, substitutions, etc. It is obvious that all five of us (we will only talk about those who were supposed to go to Beijing) do not even have a theoretical chance of challenging anything. Is this a coincidence? If you think that it is an accident, that these are simply some procedural and technical features of the investigation, then I offer another option.

They would have taken tests not in the spring, but in June 2007. And then, with the same speed of consideration of the case, it would have been resolved just by the end of August, by the time the Olympic flame was extinguished. How nice it would be - immediately after the end of the Olympics, to deprive several people of titles and medals at once on the basis of analyzes from a year and a half ago, who are unknown where they were all this time. Meanwhile, world and European championships, a bunch of different tournaments have already taken place, and one of their participants has updated world records several times. Why can't you test your urine and compare it with another urine test sometime sooner? After all, the meaning of an Olympic victory is that a person comes to the finish line first, he is shown to the whole planet, he stands at the top, and the anthem of his native country is performed in his honor. This is a victory. What is the joy of becoming a champion based on the results of some meetings, retroactively, and receiving an award in the mail or in the hallway years later, when no one will be interested in it anymore?

However, I believe that the issue here is not the speed of the case, but the clash of many competing interests. And also in the desire to save the honor of the uniform... of the inspectors themselves. Because it is now reliably known that the International Athletics Federation (IAAF) had all the papers in hand several months ago, but did not make them public. Because in this case she herself appeared in a shameful form. Look what happens. According to the procedure, the athlete takes the test in the presence of a doping officer, who conducts a thorough search before the athlete, excuse me, urinates in a jar, after which the jar is sealed and a protocol is drawn up, in which the officer notes that everything went without violations, that he has no doubts and claims. This is exactly what happened with all our unfortunates! There were no complaints; according to the protocol, everything was flawless. That is, last spring these were absolutely legal samples!

I have said a hundred times that an athlete has absolutely no rights before any checks. For the sake of the mythical fight against doping, the presumption of innocence has been officially abolished! I'm not confusing or exaggerating! That's right. If the inspector comes to your home (and he has the right to do this without warning at any time and anywhere) and you are not there, you will receive a warning. The second such case is equal to a positive doping test! All doubts regarding the procedure are interpreted against the athlete. He must prove that he is not guilty of anything. The Anti-Doping Service is concerned about only one thing: the sample is not clean. And no one cares how “it” got there. The anti-doping law has retroactive effect - and this is also a fact. The samples are stored for eight years, in case during this time some new circumstances are revealed or the list of prohibited drugs expands, and then, when re-tested, it will be possible to find in the sample something that is now prohibited, but eight years ago was completely acceptable! Medals can be selected on the basis of sincere confessions that are not supported by documents (remember the “queen of evidence” so beloved by Vyshinsky?). Now the American athletes were deprived of six medals at once at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney! Will those who are awarded in their place be very happy and pleased to become champions in this way, do you think?

But let's return to ours. I believe that from the moment they submitted the samples, they were sealed and the protocol was signed without any claims - they can no longer be responsible for their contents. Yes, then it turned out that the test tubes contained someone else’s tests, but why does the blame fall on the athletes and only them? But isn’t the officer who took the sample and signed the protocol to blame? Why is this man not punished? Why is nothing known about who he is and whether any investigation is being conducted in this direction? Or maybe he received a bribe from the coach (or from the athlete himself), maybe the sample was changed later to hide the unfavorable result. Maybe the samples were replaced by competitors already in the laboratory. You never know what can happen to the tests after an athlete goes to the toilet with a jar! But there is a protocol in which there are no complaints, there is an officer who is considered to have nothing to do with it, and at the same time there is a verdict according to which the athletes and only them are to blame for everything! Where is the logic, tell me?

The conclusion is simple. On the eve of the Olympics, the IAAF staged a demonstration execution. Our Federation calmly surrendered its athletes, not wanting to contact a higher authority, fearing that it would be worse and not wanting to tease the geese right in front of Beijing. What actually happened to these samples is unknown. And five (even seven) athletes turned out to be hostages and bargaining chips. As happens in almost all similar stories. For one simple reason. In elite sports, unfortunately, victories without stimulants are almost impossible. Sport has reached the limit of human physical capabilities. And you have to perform at this limit not just once, but year after year. Those who get caught are not black sheep, but losers. They were out of luck. They failed to disguise themselves, cover their tracks, get out, etc. Those whose analyzes were “clean” either turned out to be more dexterous and successfully cheated, or were able to “negotiate with customs” - which is what happens most often. That's the whole difference.

However, this is not a reason to anathematize sports. Is show business more honest? And what fights, squabbles, meanness and vulgarity in the so-called “high” art. Is business honest? Is politics clean? In the end, look around you and say: where you work, or study, or live - is everything fair, according to the law and in accordance with conscience? If you answer me “yes”, then you are already in heaven.