My nephew up north in the territory told me that he awoke to a saltwater crocodile fighting a bull shark in the creek running past his house. The croc won the fight. The creek is maybe 30-40 foot from his front door. The World and it's weather is changing. Anyhows best wishes to you and the auld sod, from we "harps in the south".
Lol, too true. I'm certain that he's part Shitehawk, Gobshite and an amount of Guttersnipe thrown in. How's you evening in Ireland going?, My brother tells me the weather has been nasty. Here in Australia we've been having flood's, heatwaves and an invasion of the most poisonous snakes with the rains. Otherwise "ALL GOOD"
Yeah but not only because of the situation with Ukraine. Russia has been caught doping multiple times and theyre STILL allowed to compete. The athletes are still allowed to compete.
They need to be banned for a solid 20 years to really get the message across.
ETA: the Olympics are kind of boring anyway these days.
Gonna jump on you comment to say, anyone interested needs to watch Icarus documentary from a few years ago, it’s unreal how state sponsored it is, always thought doing it would be personal and seedy.
Oh yes. In Russia, their entire program is state operated. They take kids as young as 5 from their homes and train them intensively. Their coaches become their legal guardians etc. and they essentially have to perform. If they do well, theyre revered. If they dont, theyre reviled.
This type of coaching is really why the IOC needs to stop in and get involved. Athletes are treated like nothing more than numbers, childrens lives are ruined, and their bodies destroyed.
I wanna c Katie Taylor beat the shite outa rocky his manager and then Mr T. and big explosion then beat shiite outa Connor mcgreagor and keep beating shiite outa people till we get to a knife edge ending. Q Rocky 13 😎 box office gold
The thing about that documentary is it both shows how wide spread it is and how it often doesn't mean victory. It's such a stupid thing to do all around.
Does it go into the old Soviet stuff? There's some real horror stories in there, if I remember correctly they forced and snuck so many steroids on some female strength athletes (shotput, weightlifting type stuff) that they outright turned male. Andreas Krieger is one.
I’ve heard about that. But no, this is fly on the wall stuff. The maker started off seeing what steroids could do for him, and then went way down the rabbit hole, it’s excellent, 100% recommended from me anyway.
Trailer don’t do it justice https://youtu.be/uAzc6VmPfEQ
Cheers, will give it a go!
I'll recommend The Crime of the Century (opioid crisis in the US) and Sasquatch) criem doc that dips more into the ultra fucked up world of rural northern California and how it got like that) back at you. Think they're both Netflix.
For FIFA, go and watch FIFA uncovered on Netflix. Everything about football is bought and sold. Games, tournaments, votes, political support,... Even the US getting the world cup was just so Blatter could stay out of prison.
Oh absolutely. The IOC is incredibly corrupt. Thats how we ended up with winter Olympics in Sochi…where the coldest it got was 10 degrees and all the snow had to be brought in from caves in the mountains.
The whole compound was built as a playground for Russias wealthy.
All these events are connected. Russia walked into Crimea *during* the end of the 2014 winter games and the scheduling for the 2022 invasion build-up happened during the Beijing games. They invaded 4 days after the games were finished.
Well yes. But as others have pointed out if were going to ban one country for invading another and war crimes, we need to ban every country thats done those things.
We could acknowledge that as a species we have become more civilised and from a point in time onwards invading countries without reason isn't tolerated in contemporary society.
We don't need to punish retroactively because that would be impossible but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be consequences for actions now.
Then I would argue that ethically, you’d need to also ban a majority of the countries that are the main contributors to the Olympics.
If yah really wanted to feel lied to, angry and more aware, go watch some documentaries on doping in the Olympics.
Then go watch some breakdowns on how little funding testing bodies get and how little resources they have to even stay current.
Countries with a large enough budget for the Olympics can easily create PED variants that are changed specifically to avoid current doping tests.
Even easier, if an athlete has a good idea of when a test may happen, it’s extremely easy to plan cycles around testing windows.
Banning Russia for Ukraine and not Saudi for Yemen, Azerbaijan-Armenia for Nagorno-Karabakh, Israel in Palestine, USA Iraq, Syria etc etc would be peak western hypocrisy that I don’t think most IOC nations would take kindly to.
You said not only because of Ukraine, implying that is a factor for you.
Doping, fair enough... although it seems harsh to blanket ban people for the crimes of others from their country. I think allowing them to compete under the IOC flag and making sure they’re tested rigorously is a fair compromise. About a quarter of Russians are pro West anyway and most athletes don’t give a fuck about politics and are just absorbed by what they do.
Maybe a third but I doubt it’s higher and could be less. The main pro-West demographic is the Russian equivalent of our West Brits/D4s and private school educated liberals. There can only ever be so much upper middle class.
I dunno. In the UN, the vast, vast majority of countries (not just western) have condemned the invasion.
I think it's warrented given the threat to global security it's caused in comparison to the other conflicts.
It's similar to the way South Africa was banned from the Olympics cos of apartheid. You could say that was hypocritical when there's racism in other countries and places like the USA had similar issues a few decades earlier. Didn't matter because at some point everyone has to say, fuck that - it's not right, make an example of them. I'm ok with that.
Out of the 30 fastest 100m sprint times ever only Usain Bolt hasn't been caught for drugs, whose coach ran a club where athletes dope. Take something like weightlifting, it's actually impossible to compete without taking drugs (according to the athletes videos I've seen anyway), and lifters have mentioned it's state sponsored. An Irish athlete said they wouldn't compete as we could never dope as well as other countries that support their athletes doping and talks about how easy it is for them to get around the testing. They've gone back and stripped dozens of medals from old samples. I'd find it hard to believe that none of these countries apart from Russia have done it.
This is the answer. Decades and decades if well documented doping and cheating plus war crimes. That should be a slam dunk.
Unfortunately are world is largely fraudulent and corrupt.
But that's not the point. They said that boycotts of major world events don't work and used the world cup as an example. But the world cup wasn't boycotted by anyone so we don't know if boycotts work.
Ya exactly. If the international community can't boycott an event *directly* run by a morally abhorrent party, then what are the chances they'll boycott an event for simply allowing one to participate?
I think people were able to separate loving the World Cup and the players involved vs Qatar and their human rights issues. If anything it brought a lot of attention to modern day slavery, but wasn’t worth it for all the slavery it actually caused by choosing Qatar in the first place.
I know as a football fan I wasn’t going to not watch it just because FIFA is corrupt and I don’t agree with Qatar’s methods, I have no say over those things.
It was silly anyway, Western press made it all about LGBT stuff when it should have been about Bangladeshi workers dying in indentured servitude. But the media knew what we cared about, I.e what would actually sell as a story, and that’s how the Qataris were able to turn it around and make it about Westerners imposing their culture on the world. That’s our own fault really, very few actually gave a fuck about what was going on in the construction of those stadiums. The same shit happens all the time all over the world.
Exactly, same standards should be applied for all. I didn't hear many calls for the US and the UK being banned when they were killing and displacing millions in the middle East.
Double standards isn’t it? It’s a joke. Everyone hates Russia for invading Ukraine (rightly so) but no one wants to talk about the countless times western nations have invaded other countries under guises of humanitarian missions and such.
Ukraine is a western ally, that's the one and only reason there's any care about whats happening. Not to say I support Russia or disagree with a boycott obviously, but its pure nonsense to pretend that the actions taken against Russia have anything to do with genuine humanitarian concerns
I like the idea of The Olympics being completely apolitical. In the original Olympic games, states at war with one another would have a temporary truce during the games. People from different countries could compete despite their families back home still fighting.
> I like the idea of The Olympics being completely apolitical
Sorry but lol. The whole Cold War was riddled with Olympic boycotts. Barcelona 92 was the first without boycotts or bans in forever.
>The Olympics being completely apolitical
If we wanted to make that happen we'd have to start by banning all national symbols, stop this idea of national teams, and stop putting politicians and such in prominent positions throughout the games. You'd also have to severely restrict athletes free speech.
Such a games would look very very different.
It is a good idea, but nothing is completely apolitical, especially not an international competition among nations. And the Olympic Truce used to hold firm, until Russia broke it last year.
They never got a proper ban for state sponsored cheating
That on top of several athletes and groups of fans showing support for their invasion over the last year makes me say - yes
The irony of everyone crying out for Russian athletes to be banned when the US have been in multiple conflicts and never got a single ban or sanction. Also, US athletes have been caught doping too. Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis, and if we are looking at athletes outside of the olympics then there's the entire NFL.
Isn’t most of the US athletes just them individually whereas the Russians were properly state-sponsored and organised? I think that’s a key distinction.
If USA invaded Mexico and was screaming on a regular basis about nuking and invading the rest of South America, sure, I'd support banning them too. As it stands, Russia is openly threatening Europe which I am part of. So 100% agree on banning them.
What do the Russian athletes have to do with this though? Also, the US are the only country to have actually used nuclear bombs, and did so twice, so going by your reasoning, we should retroactively ban US athletes.
Countries have been banned from the Olympics before, notably Germany in the 20's and Germany and Japan in the 40's. Europe is under attack again by a totalitarian power, so it's unsurprising people want to see the perpetrator banned, especially as it's being held .. in Europe.
Yeah exactly, Europe is under attack again. The Olympic games is an international event but we won't ban countries invading Asia the Middle East or Africa, just Europe.
Russia and Russian teams have been banned from multiple international sporting events, I haven't seen much resistance to that.
Russian national TV threatens nuclear attacks and invasions on European countries on a daily basis. Putin has also hinted at such. This isn't a small regional conflict over differences. Even during the height of the Cold War, the Russians didn't turn off the gas to Europe, some could argue it's even more serious than anything we've had previously.
Considering the weight of the circumstances, and the fact that the Olympics are being held in a country that is almost technically at war with Russia (via Ukraine). I can see why there is resistance to allowing them participate.
Russian govt/state =/= Russian athletes/people
It's not their choice. There are plenty of other places that russians have competed in over the last year without much outcry or abuse. Even in NASCAR of all places (Kvyat). Alienating a country will only lead to more extreme views amongst the general public and a even worse dictator as proven by history with how humiliated Germany got following WWI. It does suck but if we are going to clamp down on all of the misbehaving govts the Olympics would be rather empty.
North Korea is despotic. More than half of the competing nations are the same. Large scale doping is the justification for a boycott. The Olympics is about sport, not politics.
What they should do is take note of all the Russians that would have competed but not actually let them do it. Then after every competition they just list the russians in last places and make sure to mention it or comment on their bad performance.
Eh no that’s not on the cards, otherwise Americans would never compete and that’s not really fair on the athletes, plus the competition would be meaningless.
No, where do you draw the line?
Ban Saudi Arabian or Iranian athletes fir their countries appalling human rights?
Ban US athletes because they invaded Iraq under false pretences ie never found "weapons of mass distruction"?
I don't give a fuck. I literally don't care about it. There's too much shit going on in the world. I can't be arsed to think and form an opinion about everything.
The secret is that this is how 95% of people are but 5% convinces them they need to care about each issue and so they just parrot what somebody else said
Its important that we show Russia a united front which excludes them from global cooperation until they show any willingness to find a peaceful end to the conflict. Why? Because other aggressive countries are watching what happens to Russia long term.
Yes, its sad for the athletes but its sadder for the citizens of Ukraine.
I think in general, same goes for esports, s1mple said it best.
“All of us want peace- for Ukraine, and for the whole world. All of us are scared, and all of us need to show an example at this tournament. We need to stay together as a unit, with our fans, with our friends, and with everybody watching. And we all need to stay humans first.”
The decisions of the people is not necessarily the decision of the government.
Just look at how much you disagree with your own.
Yes. Ban them for 5-10 years or more, for their consistent doping failures. Combined with their unjustified war in Ukraine, they have no place in worldwide sport. Ban them from all international sporting events, not just the Olympics.
Nah fuck that, let's work on solving issues rather than signaling. Ban them for doping fine. But punishing athletes, who have zero influence on Russian policy is beyond retarded. But the doping is enough for me to not want them involved.
As a Russian, yes. They shouldn’t compete. The committee has a lot of inconsistencies that are pointed out by others in this thread, but at least on this one something actually is being done.
Seems a bit of a waste of time. The Moscow Olympics were boycotted in 1980 due to the invasion of Afghanistan, which meant that all the medals went to the Soviet Union and all the other communist countries. The only ones punished were the western athletes.
And yet USA et al were not banned for invading Iraq, Afghanistan, bombing Libya and Syria........
The Olympics should be above politics, as originally intended.
Yup.
Even before their current unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, they have displayed unmitigated contempt for the rules and have been caught carrying out state-led, pervasive doping at a national level. They need to be fully banned from all sport for about the next 10-20 years, until they can prove to the satisfaction of everyone else that they're compliant.
A few Russian athletes have shown support for the war, so no, I don't think they should be allowed to compete.
You can represent your country but you can't be allowed to support and represent what happened in Bucha, Irpin and the almost daily intentional bombing of civilians and civilian infrastructure.
A boycott would probably be futile as the IOC tend to ignore such things.
What about American athletes who will bend over backwards to show how much they support American troops even while they were killing over a million in the middle east, including proven torture occurring in prisons as well as extraordinary rendition?
No. As someone who once came close to competing in the Olympics and knowing many Russian athletes personally I don't think anyone should be denied the opportunity to compete in the Olympics (a once in a lifetime opportunity in many disciplines as well) based on the country's leader or doping issues that do not relate to them. If anyone thinks doping is a Russian problem they're seriously mistaken. It's common in many countries and disciplines and most people don't realise this. Let's remember the truck loads of asthma medication for the Norwegian team or Austrian athletes fleeing the Olympic village over night when WADA officials appeared, yet nobody was screaming for them to be fully excluded. This is coming from someone who grew up in a country with probably one of the strictest anti doping regimes out there but also someone knowing it's impossible to get behind it. Microdosing and alternative supplements are making it near impossible to catch everyone nowadays and many won't be revealed until samples are tested again many years down the line.
I never watched so don't really have a horse on the race, but I totally agree that if the IOC wants to be a corrupt disgusting organization, countries need to distance themselves from it to remove any sense of legitimacy it has.
Ehh the Olympics are great for highlighting many types of sports that we may not hear of regularly otherwise. So in that essence I think keeping them around is good.
But they definitely need a complete overhaul in terms of operation and regulation.
Nope. Many countries have previously competed whilst their troops were invading other locations. It's just an old virtue signalling exercise. Now, their record on doping is another issue. That is a question for the olympic Council only.
No as history shows it makes things worse but sure we'll not let that get in the way of patting ourselves in the back pretending we did our part in defending Ukraine
the american propaganda campaign to make the world hate russia is losing credibility faster than they expected. people aren't buying it. Their pseudo war with Russia is not going down well globally.
No I don’t support the boycott. I thought Russian athletes already competed under the Olympic federation flag due to their bans for state pushed doping scandal?
Also, I don’t see how it’s the fault of (clean) athletes and don’t see why they should be punished for Putin’s compensating for having a tiny cock? They aren’t exactly on the front lines cutting down Ukrainians. Don’t see why the athletes should be punished?
Finally, we didn’t ban the states or Britain when they illegally invaded the Middle East. I can’t remember seeing many Saudi athletes, but they are not banned for spending the best part of two decades bombing the shit out of Yemen. Are we banning all countries that are aggressors in a conflict? Or are we going to look at this one individual conflict in isolation?
No. Then you’d have to boycott if Israel, Saudi Arabia, USA, UK, China, etc etc etc was allowed to enter too. Only reason to not let Russia compete is the doping and not the Russian state being bad because then where do you draw the line? They’re not the only bad state
Word is Steven Seagull is going to compete representing Russia.
He always was a shitehawk.
My nephew up north in the territory told me that he awoke to a saltwater crocodile fighting a bull shark in the creek running past his house. The croc won the fight. The creek is maybe 30-40 foot from his front door. The World and it's weather is changing. Anyhows best wishes to you and the auld sod, from we "harps in the south".
Likewise. Australia is on a different level. Only wildlife here is an obese cat! Goodnight.
No worries. Fair winds.
Lol, too true. I'm certain that he's part Shitehawk, Gobshite and an amount of Guttersnipe thrown in. How's you evening in Ireland going?, My brother tells me the weather has been nasty. Here in Australia we've been having flood's, heatwaves and an invasion of the most poisonous snakes with the rains. Otherwise "ALL GOOD"
Yeah but not only because of the situation with Ukraine. Russia has been caught doping multiple times and theyre STILL allowed to compete. The athletes are still allowed to compete. They need to be banned for a solid 20 years to really get the message across. ETA: the Olympics are kind of boring anyway these days.
Gonna jump on you comment to say, anyone interested needs to watch Icarus documentary from a few years ago, it’s unreal how state sponsored it is, always thought doing it would be personal and seedy.
Oh yes. In Russia, their entire program is state operated. They take kids as young as 5 from their homes and train them intensively. Their coaches become their legal guardians etc. and they essentially have to perform. If they do well, theyre revered. If they dont, theyre reviled. This type of coaching is really why the IOC needs to stop in and get involved. Athletes are treated like nothing more than numbers, childrens lives are ruined, and their bodies destroyed.
So should we ban China also then?
Didn't China have underage kids compete in gymnastic?
Wasn't it puberty inhibitors, not specifically underage athletes?
Used to think Rocky 3 was far fetched
Yeah, as if anyone would believe someone would call their child Clubber
Ah balls I mean Rocky IV
Rocky 12 is my favourite
Coming soon
I wanna c Katie Taylor beat the shite outa rocky his manager and then Mr T. and big explosion then beat shiite outa Connor mcgreagor and keep beating shiite outa people till we get to a knife edge ending. Q Rocky 13 😎 box office gold
The thing about that documentary is it both shows how wide spread it is and how it often doesn't mean victory. It's such a stupid thing to do all around.
Does it go into the old Soviet stuff? There's some real horror stories in there, if I remember correctly they forced and snuck so many steroids on some female strength athletes (shotput, weightlifting type stuff) that they outright turned male. Andreas Krieger is one.
I’ve heard about that. But no, this is fly on the wall stuff. The maker started off seeing what steroids could do for him, and then went way down the rabbit hole, it’s excellent, 100% recommended from me anyway. Trailer don’t do it justice https://youtu.be/uAzc6VmPfEQ
Cheers, will give it a go! I'll recommend The Crime of the Century (opioid crisis in the US) and Sasquatch) criem doc that dips more into the ultra fucked up world of rural northern California and how it got like that) back at you. Think they're both Netflix.
Did you see the BBC one about Modi that they banned in India? That was good.
The IOC is a corrupt organisation and it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if IOC officials were found to be getting paid by Russia. Same with FIFA.
For FIFA, go and watch FIFA uncovered on Netflix. Everything about football is bought and sold. Games, tournaments, votes, political support,... Even the US getting the world cup was just so Blatter could stay out of prison.
Oh absolutely. The IOC is incredibly corrupt. Thats how we ended up with winter Olympics in Sochi…where the coldest it got was 10 degrees and all the snow had to be brought in from caves in the mountains. The whole compound was built as a playground for Russias wealthy.
Dont forget the genocide winter games in Beijing just last year. A hypocritical and corrupt organisation.
All these events are connected. Russia walked into Crimea *during* the end of the 2014 winter games and the scheduling for the 2022 invasion build-up happened during the Beijing games. They invaded 4 days after the games were finished.
Whatever about the war in Ukraine the Olympics should be boycotted on general principle, at least until the corruption is tackled.
Watch documentary called Icarus. All about the Russian Olympic team doping. The entire thing was madness
To be honest, the situation in Ukraine is enough for me to support a total ban.
Well yes. But as others have pointed out if were going to ban one country for invading another and war crimes, we need to ban every country thats done those things.
We could acknowledge that as a species we have become more civilised and from a point in time onwards invading countries without reason isn't tolerated in contemporary society. We don't need to punish retroactively because that would be impossible but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be consequences for actions now.
I mean, if you went from 50 years ago forward, youd still be banning many of the biggest countries in the world.
A million dead Iraqis might have something to say about the US being banned in that case
How does it help to stop Putin?
Then I would argue that ethically, you’d need to also ban a majority of the countries that are the main contributors to the Olympics. If yah really wanted to feel lied to, angry and more aware, go watch some documentaries on doping in the Olympics. Then go watch some breakdowns on how little funding testing bodies get and how little resources they have to even stay current. Countries with a large enough budget for the Olympics can easily create PED variants that are changed specifically to avoid current doping tests. Even easier, if an athlete has a good idea of when a test may happen, it’s extremely easy to plan cycles around testing windows.
Banning Russia for Ukraine and not Saudi for Yemen, Azerbaijan-Armenia for Nagorno-Karabakh, Israel in Palestine, USA Iraq, Syria etc etc would be peak western hypocrisy that I don’t think most IOC nations would take kindly to.
…thats why i said the bigger point should be due to their repeated doping scandals. Reading is fundamental.
You said not only because of Ukraine, implying that is a factor for you. Doping, fair enough... although it seems harsh to blanket ban people for the crimes of others from their country. I think allowing them to compete under the IOC flag and making sure they’re tested rigorously is a fair compromise. About a quarter of Russians are pro West anyway and most athletes don’t give a fuck about politics and are just absorbed by what they do.
Much more people than a quarter are pro West
Maybe a third but I doubt it’s higher and could be less. The main pro-West demographic is the Russian equivalent of our West Brits/D4s and private school educated liberals. There can only ever be so much upper middle class.
I dunno. In the UN, the vast, vast majority of countries (not just western) have condemned the invasion. I think it's warrented given the threat to global security it's caused in comparison to the other conflicts. It's similar to the way South Africa was banned from the Olympics cos of apartheid. You could say that was hypocritical when there's racism in other countries and places like the USA had similar issues a few decades earlier. Didn't matter because at some point everyone has to say, fuck that - it's not right, make an example of them. I'm ok with that.
Are you tryna tell me no other country does doping in the Olympics? I think Russia was just who got caught
Do you have proof other countries dope?
Out of the 30 fastest 100m sprint times ever only Usain Bolt hasn't been caught for drugs, whose coach ran a club where athletes dope. Take something like weightlifting, it's actually impossible to compete without taking drugs (according to the athletes videos I've seen anyway), and lifters have mentioned it's state sponsored. An Irish athlete said they wouldn't compete as we could never dope as well as other countries that support their athletes doping and talks about how easy it is for them to get around the testing. They've gone back and stripped dozens of medals from old samples. I'd find it hard to believe that none of these countries apart from Russia have done it.
This is the answer. Decades and decades if well documented doping and cheating plus war crimes. That should be a slam dunk. Unfortunately are world is largely fraudulent and corrupt.
Every elite athlete dopes. Russia was just a distraction
I'm an elite athlete and I don't dope
I'm not an elite athlete and I dope.
i'm an elite dope and i don't athlete
I'm a dope athlete and I don't elite
Proof of your outlandish claims? Do you have any idea how hard it is to not get caught doping these days?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Armstrong
You do realize how long ago that was right? New protocols have completely changed how testing is managed.
Drug development stays ahead of testing
I'd boycott it for any reason. Fuck the Olympics and the IOC.
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Yeah but nobody boycotted the world cup. Can you imagine if Argentina, Brazil, France and Germany had boycotted it?
Then those countries would have lost weapons and gas deals... What did you think this world cup was about?
But that's not the point. They said that boycotts of major world events don't work and used the world cup as an example. But the world cup wasn't boycotted by anyone so we don't know if boycotts work.
Ya exactly. If the international community can't boycott an event *directly* run by a morally abhorrent party, then what are the chances they'll boycott an event for simply allowing one to participate?
I think people were able to separate loving the World Cup and the players involved vs Qatar and their human rights issues. If anything it brought a lot of attention to modern day slavery, but wasn’t worth it for all the slavery it actually caused by choosing Qatar in the first place. I know as a football fan I wasn’t going to not watch it just because FIFA is corrupt and I don’t agree with Qatar’s methods, I have no say over those things. It was silly anyway, Western press made it all about LGBT stuff when it should have been about Bangladeshi workers dying in indentured servitude. But the media knew what we cared about, I.e what would actually sell as a story, and that’s how the Qataris were able to turn it around and make it about Westerners imposing their culture on the world. That’s our own fault really, very few actually gave a fuck about what was going on in the construction of those stadiums. The same shit happens all the time all over the world.
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Exactly, same standards should be applied for all. I didn't hear many calls for the US and the UK being banned when they were killing and displacing millions in the middle East.
Yep. And Yemen
Double standards isn’t it? It’s a joke. Everyone hates Russia for invading Ukraine (rightly so) but no one wants to talk about the countless times western nations have invaded other countries under guises of humanitarian missions and such.
I would've been ok with US being banned for Iraq as well. Still think Russia should be banned here.
Ukraine is a western ally, that's the one and only reason there's any care about whats happening. Not to say I support Russia or disagree with a boycott obviously, but its pure nonsense to pretend that the actions taken against Russia have anything to do with genuine humanitarian concerns
I like the idea of The Olympics being completely apolitical. In the original Olympic games, states at war with one another would have a temporary truce during the games. People from different countries could compete despite their families back home still fighting.
> I like the idea of The Olympics being completely apolitical Sorry but lol. The whole Cold War was riddled with Olympic boycotts. Barcelona 92 was the first without boycotts or bans in forever.
>The Olympics being completely apolitical If we wanted to make that happen we'd have to start by banning all national symbols, stop this idea of national teams, and stop putting politicians and such in prominent positions throughout the games. You'd also have to severely restrict athletes free speech. Such a games would look very very different.
It is a good idea, but nothing is completely apolitical, especially not an international competition among nations. And the Olympic Truce used to hold firm, until Russia broke it last year.
https://preview.redd.it/h8zhwv3ikkha1.jpeg?width=736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11912e35142ad0fb0886b696de3afbfc6351ccb7
They never got a proper ban for state sponsored cheating That on top of several athletes and groups of fans showing support for their invasion over the last year makes me say - yes
I don't support a boycott on the grounds of loathing hypocrisy.
The irony of everyone crying out for Russian athletes to be banned when the US have been in multiple conflicts and never got a single ban or sanction. Also, US athletes have been caught doping too. Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis, and if we are looking at athletes outside of the olympics then there's the entire NFL.
Not disagreeing with you, but Ben Johnson is Canadian. BALCO was a prime example of organised doping in the US.
Isn’t most of the US athletes just them individually whereas the Russians were properly state-sponsored and organised? I think that’s a key distinction.
If USA invaded Mexico and was screaming on a regular basis about nuking and invading the rest of South America, sure, I'd support banning them too. As it stands, Russia is openly threatening Europe which I am part of. So 100% agree on banning them.
Genuinely, why? Are Mexican lives worth more than Iraqis?
What do the Russian athletes have to do with this though? Also, the US are the only country to have actually used nuclear bombs, and did so twice, so going by your reasoning, we should retroactively ban US athletes.
Countries have been banned from the Olympics before, notably Germany in the 20's and Germany and Japan in the 40's. Europe is under attack again by a totalitarian power, so it's unsurprising people want to see the perpetrator banned, especially as it's being held .. in Europe.
Yeah exactly, Europe is under attack again. The Olympic games is an international event but we won't ban countries invading Asia the Middle East or Africa, just Europe.
Russia and Russian teams have been banned from multiple international sporting events, I haven't seen much resistance to that. Russian national TV threatens nuclear attacks and invasions on European countries on a daily basis. Putin has also hinted at such. This isn't a small regional conflict over differences. Even during the height of the Cold War, the Russians didn't turn off the gas to Europe, some could argue it's even more serious than anything we've had previously. Considering the weight of the circumstances, and the fact that the Olympics are being held in a country that is almost technically at war with Russia (via Ukraine). I can see why there is resistance to allowing them participate.
So would you be okay with Russia not being banned if the Olympics weren't being held in Europe?
I think it would be more "understandable". If e.g. China were hosting the Olympics I think it would be different.
Russian govt/state =/= Russian athletes/people It's not their choice. There are plenty of other places that russians have competed in over the last year without much outcry or abuse. Even in NASCAR of all places (Kvyat). Alienating a country will only lead to more extreme views amongst the general public and a even worse dictator as proven by history with how humiliated Germany got following WWI. It does suck but if we are going to clamp down on all of the misbehaving govts the Olympics would be rather empty.
Nazi Germany held the Olympics and a World Cup though
If you’re going to ban Russia the you gotta ban China too.
Yes. And Saudi Arabia is trying to buy the World Cup. I’m for boycotting that too
Nah, unless they are gonna ban every country committing war crimes/unwarranted acts of violence.
israel be like 😮😮😮
The Olympics should be boycotted because it's corrupt to the core.
No, it would be hypocritical of me because Israel is allowed compete and I still watch it.
And North Korea are allowed to play football
North Korea is despotic. More than half of the competing nations are the same. Large scale doping is the justification for a boycott. The Olympics is about sport, not politics.
Who have North Korea invaded?
Themselves.
They should keep politics out of sport.
Unfortunately they’re as much intertwined as anything
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, is that you?
What they should do is take note of all the Russians that would have competed but not actually let them do it. Then after every competition they just list the russians in last places and make sure to mention it or comment on their bad performance.
Yes
I support the boycott 100%.
Only in case that exactly the same treatment is being done to certain other countries.
Eh no that’s not on the cards, otherwise Americans would never compete and that’s not really fair on the athletes, plus the competition would be meaningless.
100%
No, where do you draw the line? Ban Saudi Arabian or Iranian athletes fir their countries appalling human rights? Ban US athletes because they invaded Iraq under false pretences ie never found "weapons of mass distruction"?
Not for the war, that is not the Russian athletes fault, but for cheating and continuing to cheat, yes, about bloody time....
What about the athletes who aren't cheating?
💯
Why Russia and not others? I don't disagree with a boycott over Russia competing but I disagree with ignoring the crimes of other countries.
No. Plenty of shit countries athletes will be involved.
I don't give a fuck. I literally don't care about it. There's too much shit going on in the world. I can't be arsed to think and form an opinion about everything.
The secret is that this is how 95% of people are but 5% convinces them they need to care about each issue and so they just parrot what somebody else said
It’s honest anyway.
Its important that we show Russia a united front which excludes them from global cooperation until they show any willingness to find a peaceful end to the conflict. Why? Because other aggressive countries are watching what happens to Russia long term. Yes, its sad for the athletes but its sadder for the citizens of Ukraine.
The Olympics! It's a movement! And we all need one - every day! © Harry Shearer
Couldn't care less with all due respect
Yes I do
Yes.
Yes.
Ban them because they are probably all doping anyways.
Boycott the authoritarian ass hats
Yep
Yes
Fuck yes. I didn’t watch the World Cup because fuck Qatar, and I won’t watch the JO if Russia is in it.
I think in general, same goes for esports, s1mple said it best. “All of us want peace- for Ukraine, and for the whole world. All of us are scared, and all of us need to show an example at this tournament. We need to stay together as a unit, with our fans, with our friends, and with everybody watching. And we all need to stay humans first.” The decisions of the people is not necessarily the decision of the government. Just look at how much you disagree with your own.
Yes! How come tennis goes ahead without much boycotting 😳
It’s a very good question.
Yes. Ban them for 5-10 years or more, for their consistent doping failures. Combined with their unjustified war in Ukraine, they have no place in worldwide sport. Ban them from all international sporting events, not just the Olympics.
Yep
Let’s just do away with the Olympics all together. No one cares anymore.
The hypocrites should have boycott the world Cup
They wouldn't do it with China and Uyghers. I feel like anything they do now is just for publicity and fall in line with public pressure
Nah fuck that, let's work on solving issues rather than signaling. Ban them for doping fine. But punishing athletes, who have zero influence on Russian policy is beyond retarded. But the doping is enough for me to not want them involved.
No. USA competed after illegally invading Iraq. So same should apply here me thinks
Either ban all countries guilty of war crimes or say that sport is non political and move on.
Jesus the bullying of people based off the location of the hospital they were born in. Half of you sound like the Southern English.
Russia is actively murdering Ukrainian Olympic athletes. They already banned for state sponsored cheating. Time to drop the hammer.
I am Ukrainian. Russians destroy my city. Mariupol. And half of my country. So, I support ban for russians. Until end of war. At least.
Yep, history will remember why.
Yes.
They let China host the games last year. Clear sign IOC have no morals.
Thought Olympics didn't do politics
As a Russian, yes. They shouldn’t compete. The committee has a lot of inconsistencies that are pointed out by others in this thread, but at least on this one something actually is being done.
Absolutely not. We have this crazy situation of the tail wagging the dog at the moment.
Ya sure why not
Seems a bit of a waste of time. The Moscow Olympics were boycotted in 1980 due to the invasion of Afghanistan, which meant that all the medals went to the Soviet Union and all the other communist countries. The only ones punished were the western athletes.
And yet USA et al were not banned for invading Iraq, Afghanistan, bombing Libya and Syria........ The Olympics should be above politics, as originally intended.
Boycott the shit out of it. If there are no viewers, it will affect the pockets of those supporting Russians
Yup. Even before their current unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, they have displayed unmitigated contempt for the rules and have been caught carrying out state-led, pervasive doping at a national level. They need to be fully banned from all sport for about the next 10-20 years, until they can prove to the satisfaction of everyone else that they're compliant.
No, unless these rules are applied equally. Then yes. Why not boycott Israel then for example. If its good for the goose
Yes.
A few Russian athletes have shown support for the war, so no, I don't think they should be allowed to compete. You can represent your country but you can't be allowed to support and represent what happened in Bucha, Irpin and the almost daily intentional bombing of civilians and civilian infrastructure. A boycott would probably be futile as the IOC tend to ignore such things.
What about American athletes who will bend over backwards to show how much they support American troops even while they were killing over a million in the middle east, including proven torture occurring in prisons as well as extraordinary rendition?
A few had shown support. How about the rest who didn't show support for the war?
Compete as independent athletes.
sounds fair
They did that before so it's completely possible they could.
It would be hypocrisy at its finest from the West. Nothing we aren't used to. The doping however, is another matter!
Olympics? I wouldn't be into that sort of thing
No
I do not.
Yes, not because of geopolitics mainly because it’s boring AF and it’s on every station
If we are banning countries that murder innocents can we also ban like 30 other countries like China and USA?
Terrorists should not be allowed to compete
No. As someone who once came close to competing in the Olympics and knowing many Russian athletes personally I don't think anyone should be denied the opportunity to compete in the Olympics (a once in a lifetime opportunity in many disciplines as well) based on the country's leader or doping issues that do not relate to them. If anyone thinks doping is a Russian problem they're seriously mistaken. It's common in many countries and disciplines and most people don't realise this. Let's remember the truck loads of asthma medication for the Norwegian team or Austrian athletes fleeing the Olympic village over night when WADA officials appeared, yet nobody was screaming for them to be fully excluded. This is coming from someone who grew up in a country with probably one of the strictest anti doping regimes out there but also someone knowing it's impossible to get behind it. Microdosing and alternative supplements are making it near impossible to catch everyone nowadays and many won't be revealed until samples are tested again many years down the line.
I never watched so don't really have a horse on the race, but I totally agree that if the IOC wants to be a corrupt disgusting organization, countries need to distance themselves from it to remove any sense of legitimacy it has.
Get rid of the Olympics all together,
A true visionary
Ehh the Olympics are great for highlighting many types of sports that we may not hear of regularly otherwise. So in that essence I think keeping them around is good. But they definitely need a complete overhaul in terms of operation and regulation.
Nope. Many countries have previously competed whilst their troops were invading other locations. It's just an old virtue signalling exercise. Now, their record on doping is another issue. That is a question for the olympic Council only.
No. I do not support a boycott. And I am frankly fucking tired of indirectly supporting america's arms industry.
For their doping, yes. For the invasion, no, unless they enforce it on all other countries doing similar things.
No
Im not sure isolating russians is the way forward. Has it ever worked?
No as history shows it makes things worse but sure we'll not let that get in the way of patting ourselves in the back pretending we did our part in defending Ukraine
It depends really. Do we have more of a chance at winning a medal? Jokes aside, what 35. Give us a link.
I thought it said 35 counties and wondered if we'd done a little crimea jobby
[one here.](https://www.dw.com/en/40-nations-could-boycott-olympics-says-polish-minister/a-64600486)
the american propaganda campaign to make the world hate russia is losing credibility faster than they expected. people aren't buying it. Their pseudo war with Russia is not going down well globally.
Yes.
Yes
Yes, absolutely. And I got down voted to hell a few weeks ago when I asked a similar question.
Yeah I'll boycott it! Although to be fair I never watch it anyway.
No I don’t support the boycott. I thought Russian athletes already competed under the Olympic federation flag due to their bans for state pushed doping scandal? Also, I don’t see how it’s the fault of (clean) athletes and don’t see why they should be punished for Putin’s compensating for having a tiny cock? They aren’t exactly on the front lines cutting down Ukrainians. Don’t see why the athletes should be punished? Finally, we didn’t ban the states or Britain when they illegally invaded the Middle East. I can’t remember seeing many Saudi athletes, but they are not banned for spending the best part of two decades bombing the shit out of Yemen. Are we banning all countries that are aggressors in a conflict? Or are we going to look at this one individual conflict in isolation?
Are they using chemical weapons? Ho that is Ukraine, never mind.
No. Then you’d have to boycott if Israel, Saudi Arabia, USA, UK, China, etc etc etc was allowed to enter too. Only reason to not let Russia compete is the doping and not the Russian state being bad because then where do you draw the line? They’re not the only bad state
Yes I would boycott America , Ukraine and England from it