LIBS1100 - The Olympics: The Russian Doping Scandal - A Detailed Essay

This essay delves into the Russian doping scandal of 2016 as a significant 'Olympic Changing Moment,' examining its background, motivations, and future consequences. The scandal, involving widespread doping among Russian athletes, led to investigations, bans, and a re-evaluation of anti-doping measures within the Olympic Games. Motivated by the desire for medals and national prestige, the Russian administration and athletic establishments engaged in a large-scale conspiracy to enhance performance through prohibited substances. The aftermath included bans on Russian athletes, stricter anti-doping regulations, and a renewed focus on fair play in the Olympics. The essay concludes that the scandal has fundamentally altered the landscape of the Olympic Games, necessitating continuous vigilance and reform to maintain the integrity of the competition.

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The Olympics
Olympics are leading international sporting events that feature both winter and summer sports
competition in which thousand athletes take the participation across the world. The paper is
prepared with the motive to include the discussion related to the Olympic changing moment
which can be related to the events like scandal, protest, team, and any other. The event that has
been selected for the paper includes Russian Doping Scandal in the year 2016. In addition, it
includes the background story with the motivating factors behind the event. In the end, the paper
reflects the fact that has been discussed after the investigation of any future changes due to the
Olympic moment which took place.
The Olympics are considered as commonly liked with the sporting excellence but the history of
this sports event is also littered with the precious moments of great culture, political and socio-
economic significance. In another world, it includes the changing movements of the Olympics
that have brought changes in the functions of the Olympics. The major scandals events that took
place in recent years in Olympics are related to the Russian Doping Scandal in the year 2016. In
the games of Olympics in Rio 2016, the international committee took the step top review athletes
slated to compete in the response of the allegations of widespread doping (Roberts, 2018). After
the inquiry, 271 Russian athletes were approved with the motive to compete and 116 athletes
were banned. This has been found in the research that the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada)
has suggested a blanket ban for entire Russian athletes in Olympic Games in Rio. In the research,
it was found that Russia full Olympic team include 389 competitors. Out of which approx. 271
vacant to take the part by a three-person International Olympic committee panel (BBC News,
2016).

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The event happened because of the use of doping which it refers to as the use of the prohibited
drugs or method with the motive to improve the training and results of sporting by the Russian
athletes in the Olympics (BBC News, 2016). The background of the event includes the fact that
in London 2012 Olympics there was corruption on an unparalleled scale that was done by the
Russian administration and athletic establishments. They concluded to confirm that their sports
stars who take the participation in the Olympics were able to take a cocktail of disqualified
performance in improving the drugs yet avoid doping tests. The research reflects that 144-page
report by the appreciated Canadian law professor Richard McLaren on the behalf of the World-
Anti doping agency originate that more than 1,000 Russian athletes in additionally 30 sports
(BBC News, 2016). The research reflects that worked on an exceptional scale and pointed the
figure on a Russian ministry of security services, sport and the Russian anti-doping agency that
contribute in generating an recognized conspiracy across winter, summer and Paralympic sports.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said that results reflect that there was a important
attack on the honesty of Olympic Games and in the sport in general. In addition to it was found
that samples were collected from the Russian athletes in the year 2012 in London. The findings
of the report include reflect over 250 doping sample from Russian athletes in the year 2014 Sochi
winter games. The motivation behind the scandal was just to win the gold and the silver medals
in the Olympic Games due to which the Russian athletes started taking drugs which contribute in
enhancing their capacity of taking the training and performing the operations. This is evident
from the medals won by the Russian in the Olympic Games which include 24 gold medals, 26
silver and 32 bronze medals (Ingle, 2016). Further the motivation was to increase the value of the
country which will increase after winning the medals in Olympics. In addition to this, it was

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found that not a single athlete was found to be positive at the time of testing for the prohibited
substance at the times of games.
This event leads to the numerous future consequences that created the impact on the Russia
which include there was the announcement that the Russian athletes won’t be able to take the
part in the Winter Olympics. In addition to this, the use of doping not only affected the athletics
who were involved in the activity of doping but also for those who are not involved in the
Olympics. In addition to this, after this 2016, the Olympic event organizers took strong steps
towards the Anti-Doping which is the only way through which they can stop athletes for
participating in the Olympics after doping (Cherry, 2017). In addition to this, before every
competition, the athletes need to undergo a test which will evaluate that the athletes are
consuming the drugs for winning the games or not.
The research also reflects that countries who are promoting will take years to bring the change
for reducing the use of doping by the athletes for the sports activities. In the Olympics, there will
be new rules and regulations that will contribute effectively in reducing the number of
participants with doping. These rules and regulation will include the strict actions towards the
athletes involved in the doping and participate in the Olympics (Wada, 2013). These actions can
include a ban in the Olympics and taking the medal back from the participants. These are some
of the future changes that will take place because of the Russian doping scandal.
In the end, it can be concluded that the Olympic Games also have the changing movements
which brought the changes in the future trends of the Olympic. One of the major events which
took place is related to the Russian Doping Scandal in the year 2016. The allegation of Russia
leads to the rise in issues for Russia and for their athletes as they were not able to contribute in

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the winter Olympics games. In addition, they need to go through the highly secure testing of the
doping in the Olympics. This scandal also leads to the impact on the activities of the Olympic
Games organizer as there will need to bring the changes in the policies and plan.

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References
BBC News. (2016, July 18). Russia state-sponsored doping across the majority of Olympic
sports, claims report. Retrieved November 11, 2018, from,
https://www.bbc.com/sport/36823453
BBC News. (2016, August 6). Rio Olympics 2016: Which Russian athletes have been cleared to
compete?. Retrieved November 11, 2018 from,
https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/36881326
Cherry, G. (2017, August 6). Olympics: Russia doping culture will take years to change – a
whistleblower. Retrieved November 11, 2018 from, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-
olympics-2018-russia-stepanov/olympics-russia-doping-culture-will-take-years-to-
change-whistleblower-idUSKBN1E00BI
Ingle, S. (2016, December 9). Russian state doped more than 1,000 athletes and corrupted
London 2012. Retrieved November 11, 2018 from,
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/dec/09/more-than-1000-russian-athletes-
benefitted-from-state-sponsored-doping
Roberts, K. (2018). 15 of the Biggest Scandals in Olympic History. Retrieved November 11,
2018 from, https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/g17014547/biggest-olympic-
scandals/
Wada. (2013). WADA Prepares to Shape Future of Anti-Doping in Sport. Retrieved November
11, 2018 from, https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2013-11/wada-prepares-to-
shape-future-of-anti-doping-in-sport

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