Russians were drugged, but we're the dopes

The Olympics are nothing if not a source of nationalistic pride, platform for individual accomplishment and home to dramatic achievements. They are also a microcosm of global politics and political aspirations, as well as a reflection of a nation’s status within the international community. The catastrophic run up to the Olympics in Rio have likely altered the type of nation that will be asked to host the Games in the future, but aside from that, no actual change will stem from these particular Games, as the Olympics will continue to remain a proxy for planetary ideology, rather than an agent for reform. They are a reflection of the world, not an influence upon it.

There is no country more isolated on the world stage right now than Russia. Even more reclusive China is starting to enter the global market, going so far as to deal with the ideologically disparate West, as well as more dependent local nations like North Korea and Mongolia. Russia, meanwhile, is at war with the Ukraine and within its own borders in Chechnya and Dagestan, and at odds with nearly every other country in the world over their appropriation of foreign lands and strong-arming dependent nearby nations. Other nations deal with Russia, but not willingly, and only if there are no other options.

It’s easy, then to figure why Russia might try so hard to show us how strong they are athletically. They want to remain a superpower, and they want the world to continue to respect them. Short of open warfare, the Olympics are the best measurement of competitive strength between nations.

It’s also not particularly surprising that Russia is lashing out at its Western nemeses now that wide ranging doping among its Olympic athletes has come to light. Whether or not there was culpability with the Russian government was immaterial. The IOC’s decision to ban many Russian athletes was a conspiracy by the Americans, in the eyes of the Russian state run media.

Evgeny Tishchenko wins gold

When the Games actually began, many more athletes were kept in suspense as to whether or not they would be allowed to compete. Those that did were lustily booed. In the heavyweight boxing gold medal match for example, Silver Medalist Vassiliy Levit of Kazakhstan had to admonish the crowd, as it was so hostile to Evgeny Tishchenko, the man who had just defeated him to win Russia a gold medal. This must have been a wakeup call to the Russians that were able to sneak out from under the purview of the ever watchful eye of Vladimir Putin’s government. Certainly, they couldn’t have anticipated the negative response from fans in Rio de Janeiro.

In 2014, when Russia was hosting the Winter Games at Sochi, their athletes were extremely successful. Of course, we now know that their athletes were artificially enhanced. While they were putting on a strong face for the athletic community, they were also occupying the Crimean Peninsula and waging war in the eastern Ukraine. The projection of strength on the athletic stage was a small scale manifestation of their geopolitical activity.

Following the suspension of their athletes and the pariah status of those that made it, the Russian government’s official response seemed to be petulance. There is the blaming of the West by the Russian government, and the lambasting of the IOC and WADA, the drug enforcement agency of international sport, by those that support the country. Those that still made it to the games continued to excel for their home country, though, with Russia still finishing in the top five in the medal count.

Will the international community’s dismissal of all those athletes, and the hostile crowd for those that competed humble Russia? Likely not. Will the success that the country achieved, despite the odds against them by the dismissal of so many top performers, embolden the country in the face of a world that has thumbed its nose at them? That seems a bit more suitable for Russia and Putin’s personality. /

The first sign that Russia is going to assert their strength rather than take their lumps is coming internally. There are several reports of the Russian government leaning on whistleblowers, trying to threaten those that have spoken out against the doping program, and there are even allegations of political assassinations of high ranking Russians that have testified against the Russian Olympic federation.

That is an obviously draconian response to the exposing of a sports scandal, further suggesting that this means more than simple athletic competition to the Russian elite. With any impropriety scrubbed from the Russian media, Putin and his government seem to have closed their grip on power and the good favor of his people, broadcasting a message of victimhood domestically in response to their failure to achieve their accustomed success during the games. The world, in the eyes of Putin’s Russia, cannot tolerate Russian strength, and is out to undermine the Russian people.

Vladimir Putin

Now Russia seeks to insert themselves into the international community once again. It appears as the Russian strategy has been to ingratiate themselves with nations that are also on the outs with the rest of the international community. They’ve sided with the regime in Syria and Turkey, who are both recently in the process of putting down coups and rebellion, but are generally ideologically different from each other in nearly every way, save for their functioning autocratic governments.

Another example of Russia’s insisting itself upon international hot spots occurred in the Arabian Peninsula. Since the games ended, Yemen, a long time foil to Western activity around the Red Sea, offered Russia use of its airports in an effort to fight terrorism. Of course, Yemeni terrorists have never really been much of a threat to Russia, but the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula is a strategically important part of the world that Russia will benefit from having a presence in, while Yemen can  thumb its nose at Saudi Arabia and her allies.

Russia gets to put forth a strong face and stand up to the IOC because they are such a strident contributor of resources and athletes, hosting the games twice and regularly sitting atop the medal count. Likewise in the real world. They can throw their weight around in the international arena because of their vast geography, and huge population. They have tremendous access to natural resources, notably gas and oil, which they can leverage in any negotiation with their neighbors in Europe.

They employed such a strategy to expand their coffers in headier times, however, Russia’s economy has taken a hit thanks to sanctions thrust upon them in the wake of the Sochi Games. Of course, it wasn’t the Games that resulted in the sanctions, but their concurrent actions in the Ukraine, and their annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. When Russia was freer to take independent actions, they could be more overt with their intentions.

These current troubles have forced Russia into a more coy international strategy. They are seeking other international outcasts like Yemen or Syria for some sort of gallows friendship. They have also come through the scandal with confidence and a sense of infallibility, given their internal political fortification and their athletic success despite limited access to the games. Russia has somehow come away from the scandal prouder than when it was before the news broke.

What seemed like a firm stance against the Russians, doesn’t seem to have had the desired impact. Usually, in the United States, we think that punishments are corrective and will encourage a change in behavior, but the outcry by the rest of the world only seems to have emboldened the Russians. It affirmed their course of action, rather than deterring it.  

Now we sit in October, with the Olympics long over, and our focus on other sports and other news. We have all but forgotten about this scandal in the West, but may revisit it in two years. You can believe that Russia won’t forget, and will stew until Pyeongchang. Not just the athletes, but the entire government.