Alex Popov: Russia Stuck Its Nose Into The Business Of Doping, So Guess What…

Editorial:

Oh dear: Alexander Popov, hero to so many in swimming, just messed up his turn. It is not that Popov spoke out for doping nor anything like that but the words of the quadruple Olympic swimming champion of 1992 and 1996 and a smart man at that, showed how blinding patriotism and the bind of politics can be when it comes to facing up to the sorrowful history of his sport.

Here’s what he told reporters in Rio today as the International Olympic Committee faced tough media questions over the doping crisis topped by what an official World Anti-Doping Agency Report described “beyond reasonable doubt” as state involvement in cheating and corruption:

“We admitted not everything is in order maybe in Russian sport, but this is our internal problem. And we really don’t like when somebody else sticks their nose into our business.”

We admitted … maybe? Sorry, Alex, not good enough. The evidence – for some of it is just that – and allegations are searingly serious and overwhelming; Russia is lucky to be in Rio at all and still there is a ‘maybe’ attached to your words; but it is the last part of that sentence that causes most concern:

“… when somebody else sticks their nose into our business.”

Alex, systematic doping, any doping, cheating, corruption and the things uncovered by media, investigators and laid out in three WADA reports, demands scrutiny – and independent scrutiny at that.

This is not about how Russia sets its taxes, what laws it attaches to sexuality and education, how its communities and societies function, what speed limits are set for traffic in Moscow and so forth.

What we’re talking about, Alex, is a deputy sports minister agreeing that clean urine should be collected and stored – and that top-rabnked anti-doping officials in your country colluded to swap that clean urine for filthy samples through a hole in the wall at the Winter Olympics.

We’re talking about the involvement of people like Dr Sergei Portugalov in track and field but also in swimming. We are talking about 25 swimming doping positives in seven years, Alex. Look around the world – how many others do you see with that count on their books?

We’re also talking about two missing epo tests among swimmers never reported to WADA. Have you asked about those? I only ask because I have asked and good people tell me that the Russian swimming federation know the name of the athletss, the name of the doctor who supplied the EPO and know a few more details, too… and yet none of that reached …

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