There are three main players in the future of Russia’s track and field team charged with multiple doping offences – IOC president Thomas Bach, IAAF president Lord Coe, and the toughest and most fearless administrator in world sport Dick Pound.
Importantly, all three are former Olympians – Bach a West German fencing gold medallist from the 1976 Montreal Games, Englishman Coe a two-time 1500-metre track gold medallist from Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984, and Canadian Pound who was a freestyler at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
So far only Pound has shown his hand.
A former WADA boss from 1999 to 2007, Pound was appointed chair of an independent commission to look into alleged widespread Russian dope cheating at the 2012 London Olympics.
After a three-month investigation, and a 325-page report, Russia’s dope cheating in London is no longer alleged, but conclusively proved.
That includes the astonishing 1417 Russian drug and urine samples that were destroyed before the commission had a chance to retest them, an act that was assisted by the Kremlin secret service, according to Pound.
The destruction was so blatant, it defies description.
Involved were the then president of IAAF Lamine Diack and three others who will be charged with accepting up to $1 million in bribes to assist the cover-up.
Diack has since been suspended from the IOC.
In his summary, Canadian lawyer Pound was adamant: “Russia must be suspended from all competitions, including the Rio Olympics.”
But only Pound has been so forthright.
Coe and Bach are fence sitting, which strongly suggests Russian track and field will be belted with a wet lettuce, told to behave and lift their performance, then compete in Rio.
And that will open all sorts of doors for the dope cheats of the future.
The Russians have shown such scant respect for honesty, it makes you wonder how Russia won the rights to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, especially as Russian president Vladimir Putin and disgraced FIFA president Sepp Blatter are great mates.
So much so, Putin has suggested Blatter be awarded the Nobel Prize for his long-term service to football.
Service?
If that suggestion wasn’t so serious, it would be hilarious. Obviously it would never pass the sniff test, nor will Russia being awarded the World Cup.
So where do we go from here?
Next on the agenda of the sporting world watching will be how Lord Coe and Thomas Bach react, and who will be the next FIFA president.
The sniff test is on alert.
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